Meet the ‘Irish Wolf of Wall Street’ who wants to help you get rich quick – and says he turned £9k into £220k in nine months
MEET the ‘Irish Wolf of Wall Street’ who wants to help you get rich — and quick.
Zed Monopoly from Dublin says he turned £8,839 (€10,000) into £220,965 (€250,000) trading stocks in just nine months.
Inspired by movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, the 25-year-old Dubliner ditched his nine-to-five job to make his fortune on the stock market using just his laptop.
Zed, who now makes £883.86 (€1,000) a day in mere minutes, said people used to laugh at his single-mindedness — now they ask him to teach them his ways.
He explained: “I went to college, graduated with an honours degree, went to work, good jobs you could say. But that wasn’t my dream . . . the nine-to-five lifestyle.”
The former Google employee found himself inspired by movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street and Limitless and by flashy stock traders like Timothy Sykes.
The DIT business graduate explained how he used his life savings of £8,838.60 (€10,000) to grow his nest egg, saying: “I worked as a waiter during college and I was a good saver. Also, when I worked nine-to-five I saved more.
“Then I realised, ‘What can I do with that money? I can’t get a mortgage.’ I thought about investing, but the return was too slow.
“Then I considered the stock market. All I had to do was open up a brokerage account and put that money in there.”
ONLINE EDUCATION
Zed learned how to trade using YouTube tutorials, and said: “If I didn’t have education I would have lost that money. I am glad I got educated and learned.”
And he added working with huge sums of money doesn’t rattle him: “Once you make that first 10k and double your account the rest doesn’t faze you.”
Investing mustn’t be underestimated though – after all it’s a risk and there’s no guarantee that you’ll end up quids in. Zed found out the hard way.
TAKE STOCK OF MY TOP 5 TIPS
ZED shares his top tipd on how to make it trading in the stock market from your laptop:
1. EDUCATION
The school system only teaches you how to go to college and get a job and get someone else richer, but they don’t tell you how to invest in companies or how to trade stocks. So you will need education from those who have succeeded before you (mentors). I give half of what I know away for free on YouTube (Zed Monopoly).
2. THE IRISH WOLF OF WALL STREET
SOME of my followers on YouTube call me the “Irish Wolf” because what I teach them is what the movie talks about and that’s penny stocks. Penny stocks are stocks worth $5 and under which are just in the developing stage and are easily manipulated — i.e. they’re worthless. Which means when they are being pumped…I know why they’re being pumped so I can bet against them to fail. Don’t trust the hype, 70 per cent of penny stocks will fail eventually.
3. FUNDAMENTALS
DON’T forget the fundamentals: the news will always move the stock higher or lower. Analyse the news and be ready to take your profits quick.
4. DON’T be afraid of price movement
Without it how can you make money? Learn how to find stocks that are volatile in one direction.
5. EVERYTHING that goes up has to come down
So be patient and don’t be too eager to buy a stock and don’t be too greedy.
He explained: “The biggest loss was £3,535 (€4,000). I curled up in a shell and learned from my mistakes.
“Honestly, when you lose, it’s like the market is cheating on you, it’s like getting stabbed in the heart.
He went on: “Getting a steady salary wasn’t something I was fond of. I was like ‘screw that’. I want financial freedom, I want flexibility.
“It wasn’t even about the money, it was about being able to survive while travelling using just a laptop.
“I call it laptop money. Good things happen when you put in the time. I know people making a million from just a laptop.”
Zed urges anyone stuck in a rut to break free. He said: “I want people who feel the same way to know, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t have to work nine-to-five. If you don’t enjoy a job, don’t work it.”
But he warns: “Be prepared to sell your soul. All you’ll care about is your money, your success. You disregard drinking, partying, opinions — that is the most important thing.
“There are closed minds everywhere. And sometimes your own friends can get in the way.”
Zed now has a YouTube channel with 25,000 followers where he teaches others to play the market.
He said: “I am playing it safe, on average a day I make $1,000 (£3,164.12).
How to start investing safely
BEFORE investing you need to be aware of the risks, as unlike cash, what you save can go both up and down.
This means you can be left with less than what you started with.
And you’re not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which covers cash up to £85,000 per financial institution.
There are of course ways to reduce the risk of investing – for example you could opt to invest in cheaper so-called “passive funds” that track the fortunes of various stock markets, such as the FTSE100 or FTSE All Share indices.
Investing in actively managed funds – that pool different types of investment together – is also less risky than just investing in individual companies, known as shares. This is because you’re spreading your risk across a range of companies or other types of investment, such as bonds or property.
Robo-investing – where a computer determines what you should invest in based on a questionnaire of your preferences – also comes with lower risk as it’s spreading your investments.
If you feel confident, you can start investing by setting up an account on an investment platform – a sort of supermarket of different investment products. And you can do all of this within a Stocks and Shares Isa wrapper. Do check the fees first.
If you’re unsure, you should always seek professional advice – you can use comparison services Unbiased or VouchedFor to find a suitable financial adviser.
“Penny stocks keep you up at night because they are so volatile. Now I am trading high cap stocks like Nike and Apple.
“We call it day trading, it’s getting in and out of a stock quickly, within five-ten minutes. Each company will release financial statements.
“We know the exact day those will be released and when that statement is released the stock will move by one to 10 per cent.
“On average stocks don’t move by that much but on the exact days we know that they will spike, they will.”
Not everyone is successful when it comes to risking cash for an investment.
John Walker from St Ives lost £66,000 life savings to scammers pretending to be investors and he had to sell his home to recuperate the costs.
Dad-of-two Kevin Holmstrom also lost his £150,000 life savings to an investment scam on Facebook.
If you’re thinking of investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, then it’s worth reading our guide to the risks before going ahead.
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