Browsing Category: "money"
Your chance to win…
Just a quick post to announce that I will be holding a competition early next week. I’m off on holiday to Spain shortly and I know that for many people a holiday abroad is out of reach. So, I want to help someone improve their financial position. The prize will be paid membership of Global Pension Plan where you will be in line for a substantial financial return.
I will post the full entry details early next week (they won’t be that onerous) so encourage your friends, family and colleagues to check my posts regularly for a chance to win.
Mike’s Money Making Mission points the way…
It seems that Mike Perry of Mikes Money Making Mission has returned from holiday with renewed vigour and is again writing informative and interesting posts. One such was titled Make Money with Advertorials which caught my eye. Mike has dabbled in sponsored posts over the last few months with some success. Like myself and others he has found this to be a genuine way to make money whilst blogging although with some limitations. Primarily the downsides relate to finding products or services that suit the content of one’s blog and having enough traffic to be eligible for some of the sponsored posts.
Mike has taken action to combat these negative aspects by writing what he calls advertorials. These are posts that are specifically related to products or services that he endorses and if readers go on to purchase Mike will receive a payment. As Mike explains he is keen to ensure that readers are not hoodwinked into a purchase without them knowing that Mike has a vested interest in the purchase.
The post appealed to me because I have been somewhat torn in how to present various online investing opportunities or products. Up till now I have used contextual links in my posts that include a referral link such that if anyone clicked on the link and subscribed to the product or service I would receive a fee. I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with this as many people could feel that my endorsements were purely motivated by the fact that I would receive a fee.
So, I’ve decided to stop using referral links in my posts unless I specifically identify a post as being a product or service endorsement. By doing this I believe I will provide a more objective way to discuss various opportunities. I will still discuss products and services I use in terms of performance but will only use a referral link where I am making a specific recommendation for readers to partake. I will also make sure that the blog post identifies the post as a specific referral review or commentary.
Protection against the dollar slide…
Given the sliding value of the US$ it’s hardly surprising that much focus is being placed on the weakening value of this currency. Many commentators feel strongly that the US Government has not been honest with its citizens in creating this situation. The continual printing of paper money to try and seal the cracks has been highlighted by the US Congressman Ron Paul as one of the real scandals of the current government.
Dr. Russell McDougal has written a series of 4 articles in the Investors Daily Edge that gives even more detail on the currency decline. He concludes his articles by saying ‘these four articles on the dollar’s woes point to a historic dollar bubble and an international fiat monetary system that is thereby extremely stressed. The serial bubble blowers have outdone themselves. If this somehow ends without calamity, it will be a first’
One of the ways in which people can protect themselves from the damage being wreaked by the weakening dollar is to invest in gold. This has historically provided a shelter from the storm of currency woes and the current situation seems to be another example of where this will be true.
To buy gold directly you can use an online facility at Bullion Vault with the knowledge that your purchases are fully audited and you can check this every day without even logging on to the site. By clicking on the Daily Audit link on the home page you will be directed to a list of all members holdings which is verified by Lloyds TSB.
The gold you purchase is held in one of three highly secure centres, London, Zurich or New York. The centres are managed by Brinks who have a worldwide reputation for bullion storage.
Whilst the cost of gold may seem high for many people you can always take advantage of a regular saving scheme so that, for example, you transfer a sum of money over each month into your Bullion Vault account. With this money you will then be able to purchase some gold at highly competitive prices.
For new users there may be a lot to take in but the Bullion Vault help pages provide an invaluable source of information that will help them gain a greater understanding of how everything works.
Global WealthBuilders Offshore Privacy Club (GWOPC)
There is a new program being promoted on the internet that is in pre-registration and this will close on April 15th. The program is called Global WealthBuilders Offshore Privacy Club and there are some 67,000 people currently pre-registered. When you sign up you are provided with a website link that allows you to find out more about the clubs aims.
Having spent some time reading through all the material it does seem that there is a good sense of realism about the people who will be keen to join. There are primarily two groups, firstly those people who will keen to buy and/or sell at a discount a range of digital products and items such as health supplements. Interestingly there is also a sub-group identified that relates to US citizens who are no longer able to participate in online gambling and who hate the idea of not having freedom of choice. Secondly are the group who just see this as a money making opportunity by signing up a large number of people in their matrix.
The club distances themselves from being a true MLM organisation by saying that paid up members will not need to purchase any products whatsoever to remain in the club and to benefit from the various compensation plans.
Once pre-registration to the Global WealthBuilders Offshore Privacy Club is closed on April 15th there will be a period when the pre-registrants will have to decide whether to become fully paid members. There are 3 levels of membership with the highest level offering some interesting additional rewards.
It is expected that the membership upgrades will be complete with the formal launch of the club taking place on June 01. After this time the only way to join is to become a paying member.
As the Global WealthBuilders Offshore Privacy Club is based in Panama there are some slightly awkward hoops to pass through for getting membership fees to them. Whether this proves a show stopper for a lot of people remains to be seen.
One other reason that you might consider joining is the fact that there will be advice provided to full members about protecting your assets within legal frameworks that mean you do not have to pay any tax on your earnings so this may be something you might be interested in learning more about.
Who can you trust with your money…
One site that has been featured quite heavily on CEP Coast recently is Kip Fund and I was drawn to the statistics that they were reporting. Online since October 2006 they
show a membership as of today of 37. This seems very low given the time running and the investment figures don’t seem to be that encouraging either. A total of $2032 invested, $183 earned and $0.56 withdrawn.
show a membership as of today of 37. This seems very low given the time running and the investment figures don’t seem to be that encouraging either. A total of $2032 invested, $183 earned and $0.56 withdrawn.
If I was trying to promote an investment program I don’t think I would be tempted to show figures like this as I believe it would discourage rather than encourage new investors. My overall feeling is that the site is not genuine as they seem to use a website layout that is very reminiscent of previous scammers.
They do have a link to HYIP Investment which portrays itself as a HYIP monitoring site. Kip Fund is shown as number 18 in their list with recent comments showing that they are paying (how does that square with the $0.56 shown as withdrawals?).
So if Kip Fund are number 18 I thought it would be interesting to see what they regard as number 1. The answer is Open Trade which relies on FOREX trading to make variable daily returns to their members. Digging a little deeper and looking at some of the forums that they have links to on their site it is not really clear whether this is a genuine program or not. Whilst they seem quite happy to link to several forums and quite a few monitoring sites the forum comments leave several questions unanswered.
Personally I will steer well clear of programs like this for the time being as there seems little visibility of who is actually running the programs and what experience or qualifications they have for being involved. A year ago I would probably have taken a punt with a smallish spend but experience has taught me that lack of visibility and no communication with members is a serious sign of potential problems in the future.
Will this make me Money?…
A recent post I made was titled Money Making Ahead of the Crowd and was about a newsletter I receive on a fairly adhoc basis. The author, Gerald Deer, has provided some useful recommendations for investments to consider (you can subscribe to the newsletter by sending an email to geralddeer@safe-mail.net with IYCU as the subject line of the mail).
Whilst it is interesting to receive the recommendations it doesn’t necessarily validate any of the programs that Gerald discusses so I thought I would do somewhat of an experiment where I will invest some of my own money in one of his recommended programs to see whether a good profit can be turned.
The program I’ve chosen is ghpi which has a range of investments on offer. I’ve chosen the Real Estate Plan as it has a low minimum deposit ($100) and pays a return of 8% per week for a year. I’ve invested $125 so that the weekly return is an even $10.
None of the plans allow you to compound your investment returns so I will likely make a withdrawal for every $50 earned. This will then provide me with funds to either re-invest with ghpi or elsewhere.
If you are tempted to follow along with my example then you should note that ghpi are very close to closing to new members so you may not have much time to join. Also, whilst you can join for free you do have to make an investment into one of the plans within 72 hours or your details will be purged from the database.
It’s worth mentioning that I have read good reports about ghpi on other forums so for what they might be worth there is at least some anecdotal evidence that the program is sound.
If you do visit the site then you should be aware that the program admins are German so some of the English used may not sit all that well if you are a grammar buff, but at least it raises a smile now and then.
CEP – Golden Opportunity to make money…
Some great news in from Colon End Parenthesis (CEP) as they have decided to open for new members again for one week only starting on Friday 06 April.
If you haven’t already done so I would strongly urge you to join Colon End Parenthesis (CEP) as they are a stable company and are making regular payments. If you are unsure about investing money then don’t worry as there is no time limit on when you need to make a deposit. So, you can safely join as a free member, head over to the forum and just check things out until you are 100% confident that you have made the right decision
Colon End Parenthesis (CEP) have made the announcement today so that you have plenty of time to prepare. Don’t forget that this opportunity will only be available for one week from Friday 06 April.
It will be some time before they decide to open membership again. If you want to learn more about what Colon End Parenthesis (CEP) has to offer then head over to my post of February 12th where all will be revealed.
I know this post may sound somewhat pushy but I truly believe that you may miss a great opportunity if you don’t join this great program when the limited membership window opens.
Am I making Money?…
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.
Musings from 2 great Blog Meisters
Two blogs that I am a regular reader of are Dosh Dosh and Mike’s Money Making Mission as I find both contain useful information to help those of us interested in making money online (especially through blogging).
The reason I’m mentioning the two blogs is that they’ve been running two articles that complement each other and therefore confirming the old adage ‘Two Heads are better than One’.
Firstly, Mike is running a short three part series on Making Money with Free Blogs and describes in part 2 some of the ways to attract visitors to your blog, one way specifically being to join relevant forums. Clearly this is an essential element for someone who is looking to monetise their content. To add meat to the bones of Mike’s post Maki over at Dosh Dosh provides a well researched list of 26 Forums that anyone who wants to learn more and contribute their own knowledge would be wise to take note of.
Now you probably won’t be able to contribute to all the forums as you might have a life to live but at least a lot of the hard work in finding suitable sources has been done for you.
The reason I was able to pick up on the posts in question is because I have subscribed to the feeds on both the above blogs. If you find a source of information that you feel will be useful then I’d encourage you to seek out the feed link so that you will always be kept up to date with any new information.
Talking sense…
Two weeks ago I mentioned that I subscribe to Early To Rise as a newsletter that provides a great deal of useful information when you are looking to improve your knowledge, health and wealth. As you can appreciate the articles that appear in the newsletter are written by many different people.
One contributor that I find submits highly pertinent content is Robert Ringer and I am now also a subscriber to his own missives. Robert’s style is to discuss a particular aspect of wealth building by referencing case studies or by using examples from his own experience. I like the way that he makes a point succinctly and leaves you with plenty of food for thought.
A good example of his work is given by a brace of articles that he wrote on investing styles that I feel shows just how different peoples lives can turn out.
Robert Ringer does have a lot of content on his site and markets heavily for the products that he has available. Personally I don’t object to this but if you are someone who is turned off by regular marketing emails then you might want to consider if subscribing to his free newsletter is worthwhile but I would recommend that you at least take a look as the article content is very good.
