There are several questions that need to answered for anyone who is even remotely thinking of attending one of these seminars, in this article I'm going to attempt to at least point out a few of the pitfalls and help guide you to making a more informed buying decision.

The volitile market of the last few years has taught people that making money in the market on a consistent basis is not so easy, and requires a good financial education. The market crash during 2001-2003 showed that profits can disappear as fast as they come if you do not know what you are doing.

Some of the companies that that advertise extensively on late night TV are Investools, Optionetics, Bettertrades and Star Trader. I'm very familiar with these companies as I've attended the free warm up selling seminar for all of them, and actually bought and attended seminars from 3.

The purpose of the infomercial is to get you excited about trading enough for you to take the trouble to attend their free warm up seminar at a local hotel. At the hotel expect to get a little more free trading infomation, and a lot more selling of the seminar. These sessions can last from 45 mins to a couple of hours and will try and get you to open the cheque book and sign up on the spot.

Usually an attractive discount incentive is offered at these free seminars to encourage you to sign up on the spot, which is not normally available, so be prepared to be tempted, if you are weak willed by all means attend but leave your credit cards and check book at home. More often you will be given a set of DVD's, manuals and website login immediately allowing yourself time to study before attending the live seminar.

The following points should be born in mind before signing up for a seminar:

1. Check what the return policy is very carefully as this can vary a lot. Sometimes it is 2 weeks, sometimes it is up until noon of the 1st day of the seminar, sometimes until the end of the 1st day etc. The important point is to use this time wisely and fully evaluate the materials that have been given to you. If you are not happy or satisfied be ready to ask for a full refund before your return period ends, otherwise these companies can play hard ball.

2. If you are allowed to bring a 2nd person to the seminar at no extra cost, then take advantage of this. It is very valuable to have a 2nd opinion about the merits of a seminar since it will be an expensive investment. If you are not allowed a 2nd person it may not be a good deal.

3. Check that you are paying the lowest price possible for the seminar. You don't want to end up in the seminar and find that the person next to paid a lot less for the same seat, just like on airlines!

4. Be very sure that the seminar you have signed up for is going to cover what you want to learn. Sometimes the agender is vague and the speaker goes off on their own favourite topics. If you want specific training on stocks, options or Forex make sure that they will be covered in detail in the seminar.

Here is the bottom line about these beginner trading seminars. They are not going to teach you everything you need to know to be a successful trader in 2-3 days, there's simply too much you need to learn. They all have follow on intermediate and advanced courses like Options, Advanced Options, Technical Analysis, Advanced Strategies, and so the list goes on. Expect the selling process for these follow on seminars to begin during the expensive seminar that you just paid for!.

During your beginner seminar expect the presenters to consistently tell you that you have just begun your educational journey and that if you really want to make the big money you need much more education. I know it sucks but it's not illegal, it's how corpoate America works!.

I would only recommend buying additional seminars or material from a company if you are very satisfied with what you have seen so far, and only buy in small increments. The reason is that usually you don't get any refund period guarantee's on additional buys other than the usual state 3 day cooling off period, which is not much use if you are just signed up for 2 years of seminars!.