Many people believe that investing and trading in shares is something reserved only for the wealthy.

And while sure, the uber-rich have an advantage because they've got capital to invest right away, it doesn't mean that they'll succeed.

In fact, a lot of them also lose money. And they do so for various resons:

• Having a larger portfolio can lead to carelessness — Having a large cash cushion can create an illusion that it's okay to lose money and be more risky with investments (after all, high risk = high return right?), but that's just silly. Regardless of your portfolio size, one should always focus on risk management. That's the advantage you have as an everyday investor — when you start small, it allows you to make smaller mistakes, iron out the creases in your investing system before deciding to scale up to a larger account when you're ready.
• They're targeted for dubious investment schemes — one of the downsides of being uber-wealthy is you're usually targeted for cons into dubious investments OR tax-minimization schemes. Examples of this are TimberCorp and Great Southern Plantations in Australia many years ago – companies that operated schemes where investors could claim generous upfront tax deductions on their investment on top of generating returns – only to fall apart as soon as the government abolished the tax scheme.

One thing you must also remember is that everyone starts somewhere – in fact, most 'rich people', like you, also started out from scratch!

I'm not talking about people with the fancy Lamborghinis, big mansions and private jets or the people who inherit their wealth. I'm talking about the secret millionaire next door — regular people who become wealthy by being careful and smart about their money (i.e. living below their means, accumulating their income and having money work for them by investing properly and consistently).

As you'll see from our success stories page, all of our students are normal people from all walks of life. In fact, you can get started with investing with as little as $100 (and treat it as a savings plan).

Here's just a few examples...