Was Einstein really so clever…

One of the most heavily quoted people when it comes to investing money is Albert Einstein who said that the miracle of compounding is the eighth wonder of the world.

Seems a very sensible and level headed way to look at things. But is it valid in all situations?

For many online investors I’d suggest the answer would be ‘it depends’. For those of us who have been swimming in the shark infested waters of online investing for any length of time it soon becomes clear that the allure of compounding at every opportunity can be fraught with danger and losses.

The temptation to rapidly grow what starts out as possibly a fairly small sum of money can be overwhelming and push good sense to one side. So, what should we do?

Is it always necessary to retrieve your initial investment as quickly as possible and then only have future earnings at risk?

To me the answer is not always the same. Whenever I invest I do so on the basis that the money I’m putting in is expendable and doesn’t stop me living my life or place me in any financial danger. So for me you’d think that I’d always compound earnings and only withdraw when I had a reasonable amount available to me.

Easy to say I know but in reality even I have a tolerance threshold where common sense tells me that I should recover the seed money first.

Now the question becomes what is that level of tolerance? I’m sure you all have different figures in mind as you read this post. Some people may say no sum is acceptable whilst others may be happy to invest many thousands. Of course it all comes down to personal preferences and circumstances.

As I write this post my first thought is 1,000 whatevers. And yet while I think about this a little I realise that I’m sometimes a little too carefree when joining a program so perhaps a more conservative figure would be better. Then again a 1,000 whatevers is a nice round number isn’t it? Any thoughts?

Global Traffic Matrix begins a major compression…

At the end of August I joined Global Traffic Matrix as I was convinced by someone who’s opinion I trust that this would be worth signing up for. At that time I invested in a co-op purchase that delivered leads to me that would potentially sign up themselves.

As directed I regularly contacted them and tried to make sure that I was there if they had any questions. As it happens the response I got was minimal and from what I can see no-one has signed up.

By taking the time to listen to the various calls and reading the Global Traffic Matrix blog I could see that even though I wasn’t having a lot of luck signing people up there was still opportunity for a solid business.

Apart from the matrix when you sign up for a full membership you get access to AdsonAutopilot, EdsWire and Toolbars4charity. Each of these have the potential to bring in people and hence create an income stream.

Given the time since I joined up and the lack of any people signing up below me I’m very glad to see that the site has been taken down so that a full compression can be done. Now I’m no network marketing expert but as far as I understand it what this means is that people who came in above me but never upgraded to full member will lose their position which should result in me moving up.

Clearly, this will mean nothing if I don’t have anything below me so I’m keen to see what, if any, difference it makes to my earning potential.

For those who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity but never had the funds for full membership there is also a way to join for just $20. This is known as the FAM membership so it is clear that the company are trying to help people start a business of their own.

My worry is that however much hype they create I’ve not had any success to date even when I followed the recommendations in generating leads. Let’s see what develops.

PTV Partner gets a cautious thumbs up…

Today I spent an interesting hour chatting virtually with members of a new investment opportunity, PTV Partner. This is a recently launched opportunity that shows real promise. You might be thinking that I was swayed by cheerleaders in the chat room and am not being very objective.

Well, whilst the vast majority of people in the chat room were very positive there was at least one who questioned whether PTV Partner could live up to its increasingly popular reputation, and more importantly, stay around to make payments. He pointed out that several programmes had started out well but in the longer term turned out to be untrustworthy.

Now, I can’t guarantee that PTV Partner will overcome any problem it encounters but I was reassured that the admin is genuinely interested in rewarding members for a long time to come. He attends the chat room on a regularly and publishes newsletter updates on a regular basis.

The plans on offer from PTV Partner are 110% for 10 days, 125% for 20 days, 145% for 30 days and 190% for 40 days. There is the ability to re-invest a percentage of funds determined by the member but until you are 100% confident about the programme you are encouraged to remove your seed money at the earliest opportunity and this is something I would heartily agree with.

I hope PTV Partner is here for the long term but none of us can guarantee this I’m afraid so by all means learn as much as you can (the admin actually encourages you to do this) and try a small investment to see if it suits your needs.

You can make an investment via Liberty Reserve, Perfect Money, StrictPay and the relatively new processor Global Digital Pay.

Vela Exchange saves me a lot of hassle…

When London Gold Exchange developed the new Global Digital Pay e-currency it upset Liberty Reserve to the extent that is no longer possible to buy or sell Liberty Reserve via London Gold Exchange.

For me that created something of a headache as I had gladly used London Gold Exchange to buy and sell Liberty Reserve for several years. The service was fast and efficient and as I could make deposits directly from my UK bank account it saved several intermediary steps.

I thought I would have to resort to using bank wires to an e-currency exchanger who would then provide the Liberty Reserve I needed.

Bank wires are effective but they can cost quite a bit especially if intermediary banks are involved and there is generally a time penalty involved whilst the system grinds its way through.

I decided that pain of bank wires was a bit much to bear so undertook to do some more investigation to see if anyone else was out there who could provide the same service as London Gold Exchange.

What I found was Vela Exchange. Here I could transfer funds directly from my UK bank account, obtain Liberty Reserve all at a reasonable fee. So it seems that once again I can rest easy knowing that my fund transfers will be quick and easy.

The Vela Exchange website is pretty basic and opening an account is very straightforward. You use an email address and password and you have to verify your details from an email sent to the named account. As with other processors you have to provide details of id and proof of address but this is pretty painless and they have live assist available if you run into problems. My account was setup within and hour and even though there was a problem with their online banking connection for a short while I transferred funds to my Liberty Reserve account very quickly, much faster than a bank wire would be.

So if you miss the convenience and efficiency of London Gold Exchange to buy and sell Liberty Reserve don’t despair as Vela Exchange is just as good (although the website is of a simpler design).

Thirty Dollar Unit indicate progress being made…

In the rather patchy world of Thirty Dollar Unit communication there has been a very recent update from the admin to say that progress is being made and work ongoing in validating all of the email submissions received to date. Still no indication of when payouts will commence though.

If you’ve invested in Thirty Dollar Unit and not been able to access the forum, which I know has happened, then you should be aware of what is needed.

As I stated in a previous post I’m not going to publish precise details here and would advise you to contact the person who referred you to Thirty Dollar Unit for more details.

If that is not possible then I’d suggest you try to register at the Thirty Dollar Unit forum again. They now have 2 moderators appointed so if you weren’t able to join before you may be able to now.

Imperia Invest publish timetable for payment…

After what seems an age Imperia Invest have published the timetable for payments. In summary members will be able to access their funds in the middle of next year. Anyone wanting to purchase new or additional Traded Endowment Policies (TEP) have until the 01 February 2010 to do so.

The full timetable is available in the Imperia Invest backoffice for members. Whilst it appears that the due diligence has been completed on the member forms there is still a lot of work to do on validating the database and setting up bank accounts for members.

In relation to bank accounts it’s not clear whether there will be a charge to set these up, the wording in the update isn’t explicit on this point so I’m sure more clarification will be published in due course.

Clearly, patience is still a major requirement but at least we should be able to track the steps to see whether the payouts will occur on time. Personally I consider all of these investment types to still be at risk until I can physically withdraw funds so I shall have to put this to the back of my mind for the time being.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of Imperia Invest I should explain that you can invest in a TEP for $50. This qualifies you for an $80,000 loan which is traded on your behalf. After six months the trade matures and you are eligible to receive a return of $134,000. You will have to provide evidence of ID and complete a trustee agreement.

The usual caveat applies here in that you should never invest funds that you need for day to day expenses. These types of investments have still to be proven in practice and until they are they should be viewed as high risk.

Are higher returns really that much riskier…

It’s been about twelve months since the world’s banking system went into meltdown. You’d think that the banks who were helped out would be still licking their wounds and trying to stay under the radar to avoid bad publicity.

But that doesn’t seem to be the reality. As it happens for some banks and financial institutions the last twelve months have been very profitable and headlines are again pointing the finger at huge bonuses for bank employees whilst the man in the street still struggles.

Is it any surprise then that when I see a television advert here in the UK proudly proclaiming that if I would hand over a mere £10,000 the bank would deign to give me 4.2% per annum return on my investment that I say some rather choice words under my breath?

Do they really think that we are that stupid to believe that such a paltry return is all that we deserve? Personally I feel totally dumbfounded, so it’s no surprise I spent many of the last few years searching for returns that are more acceptable.

The question now of course is what return should we consider acceptable. Rather than go into a whole lot of debate about this let me pin my colours to the mast and say that a return of 5% a week is not unreasonable.

In fact it may be more than this but I don’t believe much more than this is sustainable for the long run. How do I know this is possible? Well, the answer is very easy as there are several programmes that have been paying these sorts of returns for many years and they have the ability to continue at this level for the forseeable future.

Rather than provide names here I’ll ask you to do a little something for me before you find out. Just sign up for my private newsletter and I will provide you with details of programmes that provide such returns.

I’ll admit these programmes aren’t quite as convenient as your local bank but the little extra time needed in getting an account is paid back many times over by the increased returns.

Am I a Genius…only time will tell!

Following some transactions in my AlertPay account I discovered that I had some surplus funds which weren’t working on my behalf.

I decided to do some research and see whether I could find a home for these funds that had the potential to provide a good return over the long run. At the moment I’m more interested in building up a reserve that will be available to me in about two years. I didn’t need these funds for any immediate needs so am happy to invest elsewhere.

If you are a regular reader you will know that I’m invested in several Reverse Pension Plans and don’t feel that I need any more at the moment so I was more interested in a managed fund that could provide a reasonable return and would be around for the long term.

Also, of course, it had to accept AlertPay and in essence that was the toughest obstacle to overcome as there aren’t many about that do. Personally I like using AlertPay as I can transfer funds directly to and from my bank but it seems that they haven’t got the greatest working relationship with many program admins, but that’s another story.

Anyway, having done my research I decided to invest with Genius Funds and look forward to a long and profitable relationship.

Opening an account is very straightforward and it’s clear from the start that security is high on the list of considerations for members. As is becoming the norm you will need to activate your account via email and when you do this you will receive your account number which you will need to login with.

Apart from AlertPay you can also use Liberty Reserve, Perfect Money, SolidTrustPay and bank wire to deposit funds. The next thing to decide is which fund to invest in. There are 3 plans offering different investment terms. The first is a daily plan that returns between 1% and 1.9% per day depending on the sum you invest. Secondly there is the weekly plan where returns vary between 6% and 9%, again depending on the level of your investment.

You should note that the minimum deposit amounts vary depending on your chosen payment processor so please check that before going ahead.

The final option is somewhat different as they promote the HYDA plan as akin to a normal bank account. So, for a minimum investment of $300 you will receive a monthly return of 14%. If you invest between $5000 and $50000 you can receive 25% a month.

I don’t have space in a post like this to show all of the options available to you on Genius Funds but what I’ve shown should give you food for thought.

In terms of support you are able to contact them over live chat which is available 24 hours a day. If you look at the brochure which is available on the Genius Funds site you will see that they are based in Cyprus and provide an address and telephone number.

The brochure also explains how they achieve their investment returns and whilst I’m not an expert they do appear to have a workable strategy here. When doing my research it was clear that Genius Funds have a lot of loyal, satisfied clients so that also gives me confidence to invest with them.

Lunchtime Profit Alert makes Friday’s even more enjoyable…

I hate to admit this but I’d imagine like many other people the less work I have to do to make money the better. I always look out for services that give me the chance to profit with just a few minutes work on my end and I’m coming to the belief that Lunchtime Profit Alert gives me that luxury.

Coming from the Shortcut Publications stable I’ve mentioned previously this is one service that really is stress free when it comes to making your investment and has proven potential for making money.

Every Friday lunchtime you will receive an email containing 3 wagers that you need to place. As these relate to football (soccer) matches in the UK and Europe all you need to do is make sure that you place the wager before the game starts. A small caveat here as there are some weekends when International matches might mean no wagers but in these cases you normally receive advice on other aspects to wager on.

Each Lunchtime Profit Alert comes with a detailed explanation of why the author recommends the specific bet and also shows odds available from a range of bookmakers and the Betfair betting exchange at the time the email is sent. It’s advisable to place your wager as soon as you can as odds do change but if it’s impossible to place your investment when you receive the email you should still get reasonable odds up until the match starts.

Now, given that this is such an easy service to use you do have to accept that rewards can be relatively small. Most of the recommendations are given with odds that are either evens or odds-on. Because of this you should consider this a long term investment but still a viable one.

As with all tipping services there are going to be losing wagers and this has been the case since the official launch just over six weeks ago. Encouragingly the author is quick to acknowledge any loss but does make the point that over the long term profits can be made with Lunchtime Profit Alert.

The other very attractive element of this service is the investment you have to make to join. At only £27 for the first twelve months this is a very reasonably priced offer. In subsequent years the fee rises to £97 which is still not that bad.

Why can’t I trade market systems profitably…

I consider myself a relatively intelligent person and I know that to trade any sort of market  you need a system. I don’t have the experience to create my own system so for me the solution is to use one created by somebody else.

There are a whole raft of systems available to you as long as you are willing to make an investment up front for the material and then to put in some time applying what you learn. With any new system it is always advisable to paper trade or use a dummy account so that you understand things before actively committing your own funds.

All sounds terribly sensible and not that difficult to do. And this impression is reinforced by the many testimonials you see from complete newbies who with little trouble are raking in the cash. And yet for me it just doesn’t seem to work that well.

As soon as I get the course/manual/dvd’s I commit time to devouring the content in a bid to get myself up to speed as quickly as possible. In most cases the information you need is well explained and the steps to take make sense so it should follow that applying all of this new found knowledge should be a piece of cake. And yet somehow it never quite works out for me.

Did I suddenly hit one of the notorious bad patches that each system will inevitably suffer from? At least the majority of authors own up to the potential for losing runs so perhaps I’ve just hit one. But then again I still see updates that show others making money so that can’t be the answer.

Perhaps I’m being too ambitious or too cautious and ‘adapting’ the rules without admitting it to myself. This is another reason I could be failing.

Am I not focused enough and letting trades get away before I can react, there are other things that I need to do so perhaps I’m not concentrating enough? The whole idea of my using a system is so that I don’t have to watch the markets from dawn to dusk so I shouldn’t have too worry too much about getting distracted (or should I?).

As I’m sure you can tell from the ramblings above I’m not happy that my personal use of systems works that well. If anyone has any usable suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong I’d be more than happy to hear them.