BenefitAll is a program of SG & Associates started in 2007! Simply, it serves as a conduit between vetted charities and the community, businesses and individuals. On inception it was designed as a key factor in Phase 1 of the Traders’ Life Cycle for the non-profit, Colleagues in Trading… to give traders something ‘bigger’ than themselves to ‘work for’ and help them hold commitments to their selected trading strategies. Due to market collapse, those efforts collapsed in the 2008 time-frame. Its evolution, as the intended, dedicated receiver of a major portion of profit from the artist, Ehsan’s, found it expanding into its current role: identifying, obtaining and distributing needed resources, from throughout the community, to vetted charities. See more on BenefitAll.
SG & Associates ventured into the online trading arena in 2005 with its non-profit, 501c3, Colleagues in Trading, (CIT) in Southern California. Specifically founded to help aspiring and active traders avoid the typical pitfalls in trading AND prevent them from unsustainable losses, CIT became the only ‘brick and mortar’ trading support facility in the country. CIT was equipped with all reputable trading platforms, donated and executing on donated computers, and nearly 400 donated trading books, by the industry’s best. CIT became the ‘darling’ of the industry for real, honest, reliable, trustworthy support and information for those interested in trading in the financial markets. CIT was NOT a training facility… quite the opposite.. It was a support organization aimed to help avoid trading pitfalls, including even opening accounts!! Critical to the success of the organization was the outstanding support for strategy ‘verification / debunking’ provided by Rollin Girulat. His TRAids, TC-Companion backtesting program, based on Telechart 2000, was an industry favorite to readily detect likely successful, versus unsuccessful strategies. Together, with a myriad of the highest caliber brokerages, speakers and traders, CIT mada great impact and inroads to better ‘awareness’ and knowledge of aspiring traders. Unfortunately, with the downfall of the markets in 2008… CIT closed it doors in 2010 as it was unable to discourage trading in dangerously volatile markets.
Thanks to the background of SG & Associates, CIT developed a “Traders’ Life Cycle” (TLC) of 7 phases; dedicated to helping aspiring traders walk through ‘check points’ to determine their viability, suitability and best options for potential trading activities… whether or not they ever traded. (For example, one might ‘opt out’ at Phase 4, and focus on different strategies and their applicability; research, write, teach, develop, etc. ) In 2007, just prior to market collapse, a Seminar was held in Tempe, AZ, based on the CIT-TLC, featuring the best (vetted) traders and support persons in the industry. It was received with great fanfare; attendees were introduced to ‘real’ insights to the industry to help them make better decisions about if, when and ‘how’ to trade. in 2010, TLC’s future looked promising as a start-up for several investors. Their financial objectives, however, did not align with the ‘protective’ objectives of the framework. Again, given market instability, CIT’s TLC was sidelined. (For details on, or to pursue, TLC revival, email. )
