It only took an hour a day to learn how to take my retirement into my own hands. I used to burn my lunches scrolling through my phone, talking about nothing with my coworkers, or wasting money at mediocre restaurants. But once I heard about Try2BFunded, I realized that I could use my time in the break room to not only better myself, but better my and my family’s future. Starting out, I didn’t know anything. I couldn’t tell short from long, the Wall Street Journal from USA Today, or the NASDAQ from the S+P. And I didn’t know where my money was going. I had a 401k that I sometimes put money into, a fledgling savings account, and a mortgage that was weighing on me. Whenever I watched CNBC, I was lost, no matter how loud Jim Cramer got. But Try2BFunded made learning easy in three ways: 1) It laid out everything simply. The straightforward interface that uses real quotes and combines them with pro trading platforms helped me learn step-by-step. Not to mention the real time trading statistics, which helped keep tons of information synchronized. 2) I was allowed to mess up. That was important to me because I was so new to trading as a whole. By offering a qualifying round that didn’t access my funds right away, I was allowed to make mistakes without impacting my bank account. I was even able to make multiple accounts to try different strategies, then move on from there. 3) It made trading fun. Because there are different challenges to meet, checking in on Try2BFunded every day was something like playing a game. I like things that are challenging but also reward me. Try2BFunded was just that. It’s not just about profits. While it’s easy to view trading as a profit only oriented, Try2BFunded taught me a very important lesson every single day at lunch: you have to mitigate risk. That’s how you avoid boom and bust. That’s how you stay in the game for a long time. If it weren’t for the qualifying round in the Your Chance section, I wouldn’t have learned how to take care of my portfolio properly. Investing is a lifelong game—remember that. Once you have your strategy down, it becomes easy to unlock the next stages. With each new stage comes more learning, more expertise.