Browsing Category: "Shop Right"
Am I making Money Part II…
Well it’s half way through the year so time to step back and see how things have progressed over the last three months. The first quarter report can be found here and as you’ve probably realised by now I’m increasing the use of video to provide information so if you don’t want to read this post in full then you can hear my thoughts on this video.
As I recently posted I’ve decided not to continue with any more recommendations from Matt Shaw’s Fixed Odds Trading advisory service at Betonmarkets as the results have shown greater losses than gains. I’ve given this service a fair run for it’s money but I just don’t see it being consistent enough in it’s predictions. I know the markets have behaved somewhat awry over the last few months but for me Matt hasn’t been accurate enough in his forecasts. In somewhat of a similar fashion I’m not trading using recommendations from Martin Cornish of Market Excellence as whilst his advisories have been more reliable than Matt’s the returns on each trade has been small and consequently you are risking quite a high stake for a small return. I’m in the Steve Hoven FOREX trading pool at Market Excellence and will let this run on auto pilot.
The one bright light in the Fixed Odds trading arena is with City Beaters as I’m currently part way through my 28 day free trial period and already have 3 successful trades under my belt. The recommendations are made on FOREX pairs with returns of around 12% to 15% over a 7 day period. Also, the Nash brothers who run it provide useful updates on trades in-running and monthly advisories on currency trading in general. Well worth checking out in my opinion.
The most recent hiatus for me has been the problems associated with Colon End Parenthesis and GHPI which I reported on. It’s extremely frustrating to see what have been reliable paying opportunities suddenly stumble. The ensuing hue and cry and ill advised speculation creates a highly unstable atmosphere which in turn becomes a deepening crisis. In the case of Colon End Parenthesis the company is being informally investigated by the SEC and there is no clear indication of when a resolution will be reached. Rather more encouragingly GHPI seems to be slowly getting back on track mainly due to the efforts of the admin who seems to go the extra mile for his clients. That’s not to say that I think he handled everything in a wholly professional manner when things first started to go wrong but reading between the lines he does seem to have been reacting to negative elements from some members.
On a more positive note my recent post about CEP Coast does show that there is still opportunity to earn whilst some of these issues are being resolved.
Still waiting for the first bonus cheque from Shop Right (first promised for October 2006).
Still very much medium to long term both Sharndor and Divinius Opulentis are moving forward slowly.
On the gold front I was encouraged to see a recent press report from Goldman Sachs that predicted the price of gold rising to $1,000 an ounce (currently sits around $615 an ounce). So my regular contributions to Bullion Vault may well prove a sound move. All the reports I see about precious metals are bullish so it’s probably a good idea to hold a small portion on funds invested here.
Another program that is taking some time to re-establish itself is Fantastic Pay as they transition to Pot of Gold Real estate. Reading the forums you again get a mix of optimism and pessimism and whilst I can understand people’s needs to hear news both good (preferably) or bad there’s little that can be done until the admin decides otherwise. Another one where patience is very much a virtue.
In the last review I noticed that Global Pension Plan was approaching 50,000 out of its 100,000 target for membership. So, in the last three months over 20,000 members have joined, encouraging news to say the least. One small personal disappointment for me was that when I ran a competition with a prize of a full Global Pension Plan membership I didn’t receive any entries so I still have two memberships available (hint, hint). Recently I wrote a post about Imperia Invest which is a Traded Endowment Policy (TEP). For an investment of $50 you have the potential to earn $134,000. Thanks to Don Mills for spotting this one.
Overall I think you could say that my results have been relatively disappointing and I am now waiting for others to resolve various issues before I can see any real positive movement. However I should repeat that I am in this for the long term so onward and upward!
It’s clear from the above that relying on others to provide a steady passive income has its drawbacks and whilst I’ve always known this to be a risk I had never found a business that I wanted to get involved with so that I could have some influence over my own destiny.
Recently that has changed with my joining the MyVideoTalk business as I truly believe that there is a huge market potential for their products. Starting at just $5.95 a month you can send full colour video emails to family, friends, business associates, clients and prospects. Couple this with user friendly web based video conferencing starting at $69.95 per month for 5 users and you really have a strong stable of products. More exciting developments are in the pipeline so the future is really bright. I’m looking for a select number of people to join the business as my associate. If this sounds of interest please send an email to me here
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.
The wait goes on…
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.
60 day payments…
The latest news from Shop Right is that the bonus pool eligibility for the first payment was cut off on 01 February and bonus cheques will be delivered to those eligible by the middle of the month. So, whilst the wait has been longer than originally anticipated the rewards are about to bear fruit.
If you’d like to receive a bonus cheque every 60 days with minimal effort why not take a look at what the Opportunity is all about. Doesn’t it make sense to be involved with a programme that pays out every sixty days as the money comes back from the oil and gas venture that Shop Right is involved with? You can use this as a totally passive income if you so choose. If greater rewards are what you are interested in then you can earn substantial commissions for referring other people.
To see how you could be making a very lucrative income with only a small number of referrals then take a look here where everything will be explained in more detail.
Worth a look…
One of the programmes that shows some reasonable potential is Shop Right which I joined in early 2006. My main reason for joining was that it promoted itself as a true passive income generator with income coming from some oil and gas interests that they were partnering with. As the initial fee to join Shop Right was only $149 I felt that it was good value.
Like many things delays have impacted progress and the returns from the oil business did not materialise as originally promised. In fact the prediction is that the first payment will start in February 2007. Now in most cases this would probably have been all there was to tell, but Shop Right is different.
Not content to sit and wait the company has been very active in finding more ways for their members to benefit. There is a service that provides discounts at a host of well known retailers and discounts can be used at many food outlets in the US. This is not all, perhaps the biggest programme they now offer is one where you can build the home of your dreams at a price you can afford. I’m not one for hype but I do think that there is some genuine merit in this offering. You agree to pay $30 a month to become a member. You have over 10,000 house designs to choose from and the programme has a list of screened construction companies that you can use to help you build (or you could always do it yourself!). I should say here that this relates primarily to the US and Canada but the company will help you find reliable builders in any other country. You also need to find a plot of land to build on which can put constraints in place where land is scarce such as in the UK.
The great thing is that you only pay a small deposit (around $1500) to kick the whole building process off and you then have 12 months in which to complete the build. After this you should see a typical 20% equity in the house immediately, obviously this will be different depending where you are but it offers a great way for anyone to obtain a new home without massive upfront costs.
