Hello again,
I hope everything is going well for you and you are enjoying your weekend!
I was reading today that house prices are going down, again…
Didn’t they say that last year, and the year before, and the year before etc?
In fact, there were people on a certain forum who called the market top back in 2002. They sold their houses to start renting, waiting for the crash. Once the crash took hold, they planned to buy again at the lower price.
Obviously it never happened and they have now missed large returns from property. These people are now very bitter.
Moral of the story? Don’t call market tops and bottoms.
Simple as that…
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Louise Woof and Keith Cotterill
Got this email recently:
“Hi Ben,
I am seriously considering ditching my boring daytime job.
I am attracted to Louise Woof’s Forex scheme or Keith Cotterill’s spread betting system. I wonder whether you have received negative comment about either”
First of all, I haven’t bought either course so I cannot comment on the quality of either I’m afraid.
But there are several points to ponder whenever you think about making money from financial trading.
My own particular spread betting exploits have all centered around the methods I learned from Vince Stanzione’s course.
Vince doesn’t “do” day-trading or short-term trading, he concentrates on holding his trades for months at a time.
I like this particular method of trading because I do not want to be sat at a monitor for hours at a time. Besides, I have a day job which I do actually enjoy and I cannot trade during the day.
Last October, I started trading UK shares long term i.e. holding positions for at least 3 months. By March of this year I had made 4.95% profit on my money from a handful of trades.
Everything I traded was researched over a weekend or evening and then I placed orders to open positions the next day. Each trade I made included a strict stop loss and risked only 2% of my starting bank.
The actual breakdown of my results was as follows:
30 trades in total:
14 winners
14 losers
2 break-evens
Overall profit: 4.95%
It’s all on the blog:
It wasn’t a very exciting way to trade at all but it seemed to work for the 6 months I was doing it.
I had to stop to use the money for a house purchase but I will be starting again in the near future!
There is no doubt that some people trade more often than this and that some people make a whole lot more money than I did.
It’s all about discipline.
If there is no trade then you do not trade. No ifs, no buts, if your system does not indicate that you can trade then you leave it and come back the next day to see if anything “lines up”.
Money management is the key – never risk more that you can afford to lose and always use a stop loss.
If you can follow a system *to the letter* and trade only with non-essential money then it is worthwhile to try any system.
Also, you can use virtual trading accounts so that you do not risk any of your own money. Test out your system using a free virtual account.
If it works and you are happy with it, start to use real money. If it does not work for you, make sure you are following the instructions correctly and not trading on your hunches.
At the end of the day, these systems usually have money-back guarantees so you have nothing to lose by giving them a try, except maybe a little of your time.
As for giving up the day-job, DON’T be too quick to quit. With any biz opp, you should run it in your spare time if possible and only when it yields enough profit to cover your living expenses should you even think of leaving your job.
Quitting work to become a full-time trader puts you under enormous pressure to make money from your trades. All trading systems go through draw down periods i.e. a losing period. If this period comes at the very beginning of your trading career, it could end in disaster.
Please, don’t go quitting your job thinking that you can replace your wage immediately from trading!
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Passport to Wealth
Another email came into the BizOppsUK inbox this week:
“Hi Ben,
I wondered if you’ve had any info or experience with an opp called PASSPORT TO WEALTH?
A kinda network marketing deal that is very tempting.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks”
My reply was not particularly complimentary about this one because it reminds me somewhat of the extremely dodgy Prosperity Automated System.
That particular pyramid scheme crashed and burned last year leaving thousands of people nursing very heavy losses.
So I sent this back:
“Passport to Wealth is a pyramid scheme.
You have to make 4 sales before you are in any profit. Then the people you refer have to make 4 sales to get into profit and so on.
People at the top of the pyramid will make thousands. 90-95% of members will make absolutely nothing. In fact, they will end up being $997 or more DOWN.
Complete and utter rubbish – I wouldn’t touch it with a barge-pole if I were you.
To see what happens to these types of schemes, check out the PAS system:
Thanks,
Ben”
If you think I am being overly harsh, please let me know.
However, my personal opinion is that any scheme which calls itself a 1-Up or 2-Up is to be avoided.
Someone summed it up on a forum when they said:
“You’d get the same results by standing on top of a windy hill ripping up ten pound notes”
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Ultimate Entrepreneur Wealth Club
This particular opp was pointed out to me by a former PAS cheerleader called Julie Wilson.
She sent me an email claiming all kinds of huge earnings, none of which were verified in any way. Half a million in one to two years was her claim in this one…
When PAS was in full flow, Julie advertised heavily in the Sunday Times and all over the web, trying to get people into her downline. Looks like she has moved onto a very similar scheme now that PAS was shut down.
Anyway, I ignored her email but someone asked about this later on in the week:
“i wanted some advice on the ultimate entrepreneur wealth club and the secret of getting rich what do you make of these and also agel network marketing comapany . have you ever been involved in network marketing and what is your view on these types of businesses please be in touch i wait for your response . thank you”
Here was my reply:
“I’ve had a little look at this and it seems to be just like you said, a network marketing program.
Seems like you buy a set of products – DVDs, CDs and books for $1250 from your sponsor. He pays $250 for them and then takes the remaining $1000 as profit.
You then must sign-up 6 other people in order to become a “Director”.
I then assume, because the details are sketchy, that you sell tickets to the various other stages i.e. the cruises etc and get a large commission for each sale.
So, if you are a good salesman and believe in the product, I am sure you can make a good amount of money from this.
However, as with all network marketing programs you will be in competition with 100s if not 1000s of other people including anyone you introduce.
Also, if you are not internet savvy you will have to find another way to advertise this opportunity which could prove very difficult and expensive.
The same goes for Agel. I know very little about this opportunity but it is network marketing and I always stay well clear of this kind of scheme.
Instead of network marketing, why not learn more about internet marketing and providing real products of real value?
There is a seminar at the end of this month in London which deals with both property investing and also internet marketing.
Now, I went to the Birmingham seminar in April and it was very, very enlightening. I have written a little about it here:
http://www.BizOppsUK.com/entrepreneur_weekend.php
For a four-day event it is very inexpensive and the presenters are very business savvy and approachable.
I would recommend that if the internet or property is something you are interested in learning more about you should consider attending.
I will be sending an email out about it soon but it is something to bear in mind because you will get a lot more out of meeting people over a few days than spending $1000+ on a load of DVDs.
So, in short, I couldn’t recommend the schemes you asked about because I really think that network marketing is flawed – unless you are already an excellent salesman.
Offline seminars pay for themselves over and over again because of the contacts you make.
I hope this helps.
Many thanks,
Ben”
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So, a harsh review of a couple of new opps and a whole-hearted recommendation for the eConfex seminar at the end of this month.
If you are available that weekend and have an interest in property investing and/or internet businesses, make sure you have a good look at what is being offered at the UK Entrepreneur Convention.
Until next time, thanks for reading,
Ben