In my post The Ups and Downs of 2006 I reviewed where I was in relation to the investments that I was actively trading at that time. Now, at the end of the first quarter of 2007 I thought I’d do another quick review to see what progress, if any, has been made in the past three months.

I’ve not really done any more with my Sports Arbitrage trading at Risk Free Profit as I’ve maintained my focus for active trading on Fixed Odds Trading using the recommendations from Matt Shaw and more recently the Market Excellence service from Martin Corkish. Overall results have been mixed as many of Matt’s recommendations took a dive in the early part of the year. Things have started to improve but I am still using a fairly conservative approach where his recommendations are concerned so that I limit the risk even more. I’ve explained previously that Martin uses a very conservative trading strategy so whilst his recommendations have traded well the returns are fairly modest.

As a way to increase the returns from Market Excellence I also joined the trading club where Steve Hoven makes trades on FOREX. Unfortunately as soon as I joined the results dived and March has been a fairly disastrous month. The one good thing is that I am guaranteed to make a profit before any more fees are paid so I am hopeful that April will start to turn things round.

My account at FXIG has now been moved to Sharndor and it has taken some considerable time for funds to migrate across. The trader has resolved to expend all his efforts on bringing the trading back to profit as soon as possible but there is always a threat that impatient investors may scupper his plans. Luckily I was able to recoup more than my original investment so I’m now using profits when and if trading resumes. Again time has been somewhat unkind to Divinius Opulentis as progress was expected before now but fortunately some good news right at the end of March should see things accelerate in the very near future.

One of the shining lights in the last quarter has been CEP Coast and the whole CEP family of programs. CEP Coast continues to pay out at 2%+ a day and as I reported in mid-February they are now in a position where the returns are guaranteed. If I was starting out in online investment I would make sure that CEP Coast was the first program I joined.

Whilst I’ve been happy with Fantastic Pay as an investment they have encountered problems and are currently working through the resolution of these. This is not a major area of concern as I’m positive that they will come through and be stronger for it. Investors are still waiting for the first bonus cheques to arrive from Shop Right so performance here is somewhat below expectations. Having said that the organisation is still marketing strongly and provides a very positive outlook.

Since the New Year I’ve also started to invest in gold by way of Bullion Vault and GoldClaim although the offerings from both are different. With Bullion Vault you can purchase gold directly and it will be held in the vault of your choice in London, Zurich or New York. I make a monthly payment so that over time I hope to have a reasonable portion of my investment here. On the other hand GoldClaim use the money you invest for projects that they are involved with. At the the end of a defined period the aim is to return your funds and profit so that you can then buy gold coins. Recently the Admin advised that payments were being suspended for 120 days due to problems with banks so I would caution anyone thinking about investing in GoldClaim to hold fire for the time being.

Another worth an honourable mention is Global Pension Plan as is it fast approaching 50,000 members and the forecast is that the 100,000 target will be reached in September this year.

So, what’s the verdict for the past three months? Well whilst some programs have performed well others have under-performed so I would say that I haven’t advanced as much as I’d hoped. This doesn’t mean to say that all is lost, mine is a long term strategy and I can see very positive signs in many areas. Let’s see what the next three months brings.

The wait still continues for issue of the first bonus pool cheques (checks) from Shop Right and reading the latest news there is not an exact date when mailing will start. Alex Jakubowski, the Shop Right founder has said that whilst this first payment is taking longer than anyone had hoped he is confident that subsequent payouts will be on the regular 60 day cycle.

Having heard Alex on some calls I’m sure he is someone of integrity and will try to make sure that his assurances are kept, only time will tell.

One thing that is providing some comfort is the fact that membership renewals ($149 per member) will not be levied until three bonus payments have been made. At least we now know that Shop Right have a vested interest in keeping their members happy as if they don’t perform (and every member will have their own perception of what performance is acceptable to them) then they don’t receive any income as members elect not to renew.

The main thrust of the program in the recent past has been encouraging people to join so that they can be in a position to afford their own house by taking advantage of the Shop Right system. I don’t have any firm data on what they take-up on this service has been so it’s somewhat difficult to gauge what the long term potential is. In theory the product is good, especially in a country where land is available to build.

One thing that the company is very active in is holding training/marketing calls to introduce the opportunity to prospective members and to help new members become better at marketing the program in general. I joined one of the spin-off services but for whatever reason the service never performed as I’d been led to believe. This may not be the case for everybody so I would still give a qualified recommendation to check out the Shop Right offering as a potential investment.