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Guys and Gals, be warned, this blog is going to be a rant.
One thing that has the power of getting under my skin is when I see products and services promising the world with no effort. There are two industries in which these types of offers abound: the world of Internet marketing and in the world of trading. I thought I had seen all the possible variations - 100% returns in 3 months; 96% winners etc etc. But this week an offer hit my desk that left me wondering if the copy writer who wrote the drivel had any respect for his market.
Here was the offer:
- A newsletter that suggested incredible returns:
- 1,721% rise in Intuitive Surgical (a leader in robotic surgery). That’s like turning every $5,000 into $90,000!
- 472% rise in Baidu in less than a year (the Chinese Google). Each $10,000 invested would have become $57,000 with this gain.
- 323% rise in Taser in four months (anybody who has seen a cop show knows what Taser produces) . . . Investing $25,000 in this stock would’ve given you $100,000 at this return.
- 300% rise in XM Satellite Radio over four months (the name says it all). If you were fortunate enough to invest $50,000 in this stock you would have made $200,000.
- 290% rise in TIVO in around 10 months (you may be recording your favorite shows with it right now). Your $100,000 investment would have become $390,000 if you captured this gain.
- A promise that the promoter would invest his own 1 Million into the recommendations and give the subscriber a 48 hours head start before he bought any shares.
- A 60-day guarantee that the subscriber could opt out of the service for a full refund.
- The cost to you is US$1995.00 for a two year subscription and US$1295 for one year.
Now let’s see if I have this right. I have a US$1M to invest for incredible promised returns . For a mere US$1295 (or US$1995), I am going to allow you, the untold numbers of Joe Public, to take position ahead of me, not knowing your trade size - which means you could push prices up any percentage you can think of if the recommended stock is thinly traded. In turn this would probably affect my own bottom line. Hmmm….
Does that make sense to you?
My rant is not with the service but with the hype.The marketing treats the investor as a sucker who won’t think beyond his greed.
By the way, as a concluding thought: lets’ assume that the service is as accurate as hype claims; note that the probability remains (and probably a ‘high probability’) you will lose money unless you exercise some prudent risk management. If you have been trading for a time, you will recognize the truth of that statement; and if you are a newbie, take it as an article of faith from someone who has been trading for over 30 years.
Do take care out there and do look past the hype before you accept a proposal.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
