For years, you couldn’t get me to talk about money. Not only did I find it tactless and uncouth, I didn’t want to reveal to everyone that I was ignorant. When the subject of the stock market or the economy came up, I’d find a way to excuse myself from the conversation. I’ll admit, the main reason was shame. I simply didn’t have a handle on my finances, didn’t have my retirement set up, and I certainly didn’t know enough about the stock market to carry on an extended conversation. And, to be frank, there’s not as much social room for women to talk about money. I’ve found that you’re either expected to know everything or nothing. For a long time, it was much easier to fall into the latter category. Fortunately, I got turned on to something that both helped me learn the ins and outs of the stock market and helped me get some serious supplemental income. Ever since I discovered it, I’ve been singing its praises to friends and family alike. Somehow, I'd not heard of prop trading in all of my years on this earth. If you’ve not heard of it either, I’ll give you a quick breakdown. If you have heard of it, well, you’ll have to listen to a description again. The premise is simple: use other people’s money to trade with, split the profits. That means your bank account isn’t at risk and your hard work translates into payouts. What’s the catch? Well, it depends on how you define a catch. For the site I use, Try2BFunded, the catch turned out to be a blessing. I’ll admit that, at first, I was a bit irritated. I had to prove, over about 6 weeks, that I was capable of handling the $100,000 I would be given to trade with. Why? Well, no one wants to lose $100.000. And no one wants some random person to lose their $100,000, in particular. How did I prove this? By balancing risk with reward, by maintaining growth consistently—in short, by not messing up. Now, when i said it was a curse that turned into a blessing, here’s what I meant. The 6 weeks I spent proving that I could handle the $100,000 turned out to be the best economic crash course one could possibly hope for. Because Try2BFunded is so well laid out, with an interface that combines classic stock market aesthetics with video game fun, I was able to navigate the site quickly. From there, I was able to test—for free—a variety of strategies, learning as I went. If something went wrong? Well, I was able simply make a new account and try a new approach. It really was that easy. Now, months later, I see a new deposit in my bank account every two weeks, and I’m more than happy to talk stocks—so long as the other party can keep up.