paper trading doesnt work because most people do different trading when real cash is involved. i started immediately with money when i was young. i sold my internet business for 7000 and i put everything into stocks. its a different experience. risk management: i can add never have 10% or more in one position. thats pretty much it. for stocks i go for 10% and have 10-20 positions. for forex just one maximum 2 positions at 10% margin. in terms of emotions i totally agree. only observing my own emotions (my spiritual path helped a lot) i was able to distance from greed and fear completely