22Dollars.com: If you had to sum up your book in one sentence, what would you say?

Timothy Sykes: This is a story for anyone who has ever loved the stock market—all the risks, rewards, joys, frustrations and exhilarations.

22: What is your favorite passage from the book?

TS: “…the incredible lack of freely available information regarding financial speculation and hedge funds hurts society as a whole. Industry regulations have created an environment that is ripe for fraud and manipulation, which leads to unnecessary losses, not to mention it hinders people’s abilities to learn from past successes and failures. These are the dark ages for hedge funds. No longer will I play by these misguided rules. I should be free to discuss my business, for I am an American entrepreneur. I call this freedom of finance. Freedom of finance is the concept of a hedge fund manager’s right to discuss business freely without fear of penalty or censorship. I practice what I preach; this is my story.”

22: Are there any parts of your story that you were unable to include in the book, but would be of interest to the readers of 22Dollars.com?

TS: Yes, the book is not very technical because I wanted it to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. For those who understand trading, I’ve posted the charts of the trades mentioned in the book on my website, http://www.timothysykes.com. The readers of 22Dollars.com should definitely check them out because these charts are unique to smallcaps and they are responsible for ALL my earnings, both from the long or short side.

22: We’ve heard that you are going to try to repeat your early success, by turning $12,000 into a fortune again. Is there anything you’ll do differently this time around?

TS: Yes, one month into this challenge, I’m up to $14,000 and change! This time around, I’ll be much more conservative because I want to promote responsible financial speculation (yes, there is such a thing). Also, I’ll be detailing every trade, idea and basically everything I do in pursuit of this goal on my website and I’m encouraging everybody to ask questions in the forum on my website because I believe in full transparency. It’s sad that honesty is a revolutionary business model in the finance world, but I truly believe we must detail our failures in addition to our successes because it’s only through our understanding of the past that we are better prepared to take advantage of the future.

22: What does the future hold for you? Where do you hope to be in five years?

TS: I have no idea—nobody in finance has ever tried anything like this, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out. Whatever happens, I’m loving every second of it because now that I’ve closed my hedge fund, I’m free to discuss everything openly. In five years, I’ll probably be about 1/3 of the way to my $1.65 million goal, but the real achievement will be determined by how many people will see the kind of hard work, dedication and discipline required to be a successful trader. And, I’m not sure if I’ll have accomplished this by then, but I hope to show everyone how fun finance can be, how amazing smallcaps and penny stocks are (if you understand what to look out for) and how a life devoted to learning, working and teaching is more fulfilling than a life devoted solely to making money.

22: Are there any quotes you live by? What are they?

TS: “The four most expensive words in the English language; ‘this time it’s different’” —Sir John Templeton

22: Do you think financial/investing experts are made or born? Why?

TS: I don’t think there are any financial/investing experts. Everybody spouts out information drawn from their own studies and experiences; some are right more than others, but everybody’s conclusions could be wrong. All we can do is share what we believe and if we do it honestly, we are all experts.

22: Finally, what advice can you give the readers of 22Dollars.com in managing their own finances?

TS: Don’t be afraid to take risks to go after big rewards; but if you are going to take these kinds of risks, make sure you understand what you’re getting yourself into. You have to be thorough and go over every detail—no matter how minute—time and time again, seek out opinions from everyone (especially those with experience), and most importantly, remain open to all prospectives—your research might lead you to the exact opposite of what you initially believed—good—in the name of capitalism, don’t be afraid to adapt in the pursuit of success!