Step 1: Figure out how much money you have to invest. This should be money that you can afford to lose. Most people can not afford to lose any money. Make sure that losing this money won’t devastate you financially.

Step 2: Make sure the course costs less than 50% of the money you have to invest. The cost of the course will not be invested directly in the market. You want to put most of the money you have to trade into your trading account.

Step 3: Make sure that the course does not have any hidden costs. You do not want to have to pay for a subscription. You should also find out if the company that sells the course has any paid subscription type services. If they have these types of services, chances are that their system will eventually require that you use them. (Free resources however, are always great!)

Step 4: Make sure you can practice trading in a demo account and still get a refund. There are courses out there that require you to place trades with real money before you get a refund. In this case, you would only need a refund if you lost all of your money!

Step 5: Make sure the information in the course teaches you how to trade independently. You need to be able to take the information you learn with you if you discover a better trading platform in the future.

You should follow the above 5 steps any time you look for an investment course. If the courses do not meet the guidelines listed above, you should move on to the next course.