We have written about M-Commerce in the past and still believe it is the wave of the future in regards to payment processing. Self Bank Mobile is the newest player on the block that appears to have the infrastructure and management in place to take it to the next level. They could possibly be the next “PayPal”, but much better.

Why would we write about an M-Commerce payment processor in our blog about alternative investments? Here is why, it is all a matter of reading the fine print and seeing the hidden opportunity. Self Bank offers both a free user account and paid merchant accounts. While we like the affiliate program that earns residual monthly commissions from referring new users, we really like the opportunity to own an equity stake in the company.

Just those two factors alone have set them apart from other online payment processors like PayPal, Alert Pay, Safepay or standard credit card merchant accounts. When was the last time you got paid from your current online payment processor for introducing your friends to them? The opportunity to earn residuals month after month and being able to receive equity shares in what will become a powerhouse is enticing. To find out more you will have to sign up for a free account to get all the details.

There is much more to this company that will ensure their eventual success. Among the benefits are lower transaction fees, no charge backs, a rewards program and a soon to be launched world’s first mobile social networking site called Meet Franklin. A percentage of interchange fees and advertisement revenue will go to the affiliates that help promote their services.

Self Bank will soon launch in the USA/Canada & UK first in early 2009 then to all other countries internationally. The time to get involved is now while it is still on the ground floor. This is a secure service that millions of people will want and need. Ask yourself this:

How many people around the world do not have credit cards?
How many people around the world do not have a banking account?
There are 10 times more people with a mobile phone than there are PCs!

Unlike many of the current M-Commerce competitors, the service will be hardware and telco independent. Self Bank Mobile is the killer app solution for all people to be able to buy and sell both online and offline. It is in our opinion that they will capture a large share of the multi Trillion dollar payment processing market in the next few years. Wouldn’t you like to own shares in this company when that happens? They are definitely in the right place and at the right time.

$100 Dollar Sign Up Promotion:

The company has a goal of giving out $100,000,000 dollars in ‘Cash Advance Dollars’ ($100 per user or $500 per merchant signup) in the next 90 – 120 days. When the program goes live after the BETA launch, then you will be able to redeem your ‘Cash Advance Dollars’ at participating SelfBank Mobile Merchants through your own personal spending. When you spend money at participating SelfBank Mobile merchants, above all other discounts provided by the merchants, 25% of the interchange fee collected by SelfBank Mobile from your purchases, will go back to you.

Why pay more for transaction fees than you have to? For more information and get your sign up bonus, visit Self Bank Mobile.

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Once in a while, a new technology comes around that reinvents a product that has not been changed much for over a century. Take for example the incandescent light bulb and the latest fluorescent adaptation. It is a “green” product, therefore with the higher cost of energy, the newer light source will soon replace the outdated and inefficient incandescent. This is what is known as a paradigm shift.

A similar change is happening in the world of fasteners. Yes, the seemingly boring bolts and nuts industry. The standard product as we all know it has changed little for over a hundred years. Its uses and applications are ubiquitous; almost taken for granted.

One company is out to capture a share of this huge market with their revolutionary self-locking and vibration proof fastener system. Permanent Technologies Inc. (PERT.PK) holds multi issued and pending patents in the U.S. and internationally for its TineLock Fastening System.

“PermanentechTM Technology fasteners feature an advanced, lock-in bolt channel design which engages the nut at predetermined intervals. The nut incorporates exclusive lock-in tines which eliminate vibration, help make products safer, lower warranty costs and guard against vehicular rattles.”

The applications are endless when it comes to fasteners. This includes automotive, marine, aerospace and avionics, off-road equipment, industrial machinery, defense, road, bridge and highway construction, steel construction, railway, medical instruments and electronics.

Recent news of collapses in aging bridges and fastener failures in the infamous Boston’s “Big Dig” tunnel means that Permanent Technologies has come out with a winning product at the right time. Global demands for industrial fasteners are projected to grow nearly 5% per year through 2010.

Permanent Technologies Inc. is in a good position to receive its fair share of the $50B dollar a year industrial fastener demand.

It took over ten years to develop the breakthrough technology. Permanent Technologies Inc. came out of the development stages and went public late last year through a reverse merger on the pink sheets. All their required filings can be found on pinksheets.com.

At its current share price of .16 per share, we believe that PERT is a good buy for long term speculative holdings. Their success now will be dependent on marketing and licensing. A positive outcome from the U.S. Navy’s testing of the product may result in a near term share price appreciation and set a tempo for future licensing agreements.

It should be noted that the company may be a victim of manipulative stock email spamming in which they have publicly denied any involvement with. This is just one of the obstacles that small upstart companies face when they decide to go public on a venue like the pink sheets or OTC.

Fundamentally, the company is sound with a real product that is revolutionary and superior to existing fasteners on the market. They would not have wasted years of development and have 21 issued and pending patents applications just so they can manipulate their stocks. It will take time to make sales and licensing.

To find out more about Permanent Technologies Inc., visit http://www.tinelok.com.

Permanent Technologies, Inc.
1393 Veterans Memorial Highway
Suite 412N
Hauppauge, NY 11788
1-866-TINELOK
info@tinelok.com

As of September 30, 2007
Shares Authorized: 500M
Shares Outstanding: 244,451,578
Public Float: 20M

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Interested in short term stock options trading? Learn how to trade options from a professional trader with the Star Trading System at mastersoequity.com. Founded by Jason Ng in 2004, he is the President of Masters ‘O’ Equity Asset Management (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Chief Option Strategist of Masters Capital Inc (Seychelles).

The system is one of the least expensive training you can obtain for the price and having access to Jason Ng as your mentor. There are not very many training programs where you can learn from a seasoned hedge fund manager. The performance results from this system can be verified by a third party, pro-options-profits.com.

If you are too busy to learn how to trade on your own, you might want to consider two other services provided by mastersoequity. The first one is the pay per performance options picking service. As its name suggests, if a pick does not result in a profit, you will not be charged for it.

There are three flexible subscription plans for the option picking service. Three picks, 5 picks and unlimited picks per month. Prices start at $189 for the 3 pick and up to $399 for the unlimited picks per month. The picks are based on their flagship Star Trading System and here is what comes with each pick:

Every pick comes with:

• Stock name: The specific stock to buy options on
• Max number of contracts: Liquidity is calculated to ensure you don’t end up with a huge position that is hard to sell
• Proportion of your fund to commit: A recommended percentage will be suggested to you in accordance with the assessed market risk
• Where to place your stop loss: There is no guesswork. An objective, automated stop loss point is given so that you need not monitor the market at all
• Profit taking point: Initial profit targets will be given. These targets will be updated daily and revised as necessary
• PLUS, action to be taken on a pick is updated daily in your account before the market opens. This way, you’ll be able to take profit immediately upon market opening.

If you do not know anything about trading options and sign up for at least the 5 pick per month subscription, you will receive their Basic Option Trading Workshop for free.

For those that are really busy, do not want to learn or use the options picking service, there is one additional service provided by Masters O Equity. It is the Master’s Managed Account service. A minimum trading account of $50K is required to utilize this service. Monthly profits are split 50/50 between you and the service. This may sound steep, but the conservative strategy aims to earn at least 20% returns per month, while the aggressive strategy has no limit to the upside, but with higher risks.

The money will be held safely in your own trading account while the trader has access to trade via a limit power of attorney that you grant. At the end of each month, you will be invoiced for the share of the profit in which will be wired to the trader’s account. You can terminate the service at any time you wish with at least 5 days notice.

Investors interested in the Star Trading System, the options picking service or managed account can visit www.mastersoequity.com to find out more information.

Contact Info:

Email Founder@mastersoequity.com

Call at +65 68275629 Mon – Fri 11pm to 4am EST
Or U.S Fax at +1 206-888-4773
Or Singapore Fax at +65 62952567

Head Office Singapore :
152 Beach Road, Level 28 Gateway East, Singapore 189721

Investment Office Seychelles :
2nd Floor, Jivan Complex, Mont Fleuri, Mahe, Seychelles.

Representative Office Shanghai :
Shi Jie Lu 43 Nong, 33 Hao, 1303 Shi Shanghai, China 200438

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The truth is that many are not transparent as to their performances and use a hypothetical model or historical back testing with their strategies or “system” which in most case is inaccurate. This can be costly if your trades based on their recommendations turns out to be losers. In addition to your trading losses, the expense of most advisories can be pretty hefty.

Before spending several hundreds or a thousand bucks for an advisory subscription, do a thorough background search. An easy method is asking questions on investment web sites, on blogs or in investing forums for clients that may have used the advisory service and get some feedback.

It is guaranteed that if customers are unhappy about an advisory service or think they have been scammed, you will hear about it. Instead of spending a large amount upfront on an unknown advisory, you can invest a little with an unbiased third-party entity that tracks, ranks and analyze these advisories.

One such service is Pro-Trading-Profits. For as little as $49 bucks, you have access to the published results of over 150 advisory services and more than 250 trading strategies that are sold. They analyze the results and let you compare them with your own criteria.

Armed with this information, you can make a better decision on choosing the right advisory service that suits your requirements. There are many advisories and newsletters out there that make big promises. Just like any other service or product sold, investors have a right to do comparison shopping as well.

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Most of these teasers are nothing more than sales letters. They do not name the stock outright, but give out little hints about this next “big” winner. If you want to know more about this un-named stock and other picks, you’ll have to shell out some money for the info. Prices usually ranges from $99 to over $1000 for a few months or up to a year for this service.

Not everyone has the money to spend on these newsletters or stock picks. In most cases, with a little bit of sleuthing one can figure out the stock they are talking about. So, before spending some money to satisfy your curiosity, check out the StockGumshoe.com site. It’s a great blog that does a good job of deciphering these stock teasers and has some humorous commentaries to boot.

If you are just looking for some free stock picks, then swing on by www.platinumpicks.blogspot.com for some daily picks from Nick Darpino. It’s a fairly new stock picking site with the goal of building 10K to 1M in a year by trying to make a small 2.5% gain per day with a 3% stop loss protection. So far, since its initial launch, he’s showing an 87% win rate. As of January 15th 2008, has recorded 80 Winners and 10 Stopped Loss.

Day trading may not be for everyone, but if you are so inclined you may also want to check out TimothySykes.com. If experience is a must, then Timothy Sykes’ claim to fame gives him the credentials. In 1999, Tim invested $12,415 of his Bar Mitzvah gift and by 2002 turned it into $1.65M. He is attempting to repeat this success on his blog, but this time, his trades are publicly exposed for everyone to follow.

There are no guarantees that you will profit following other people’s stock picks from a blog. However, it is fun to watch and maybe even learn a thing or two if you are new to stock trading.

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“Publicly traded partnerships (PTPs), often known as master limited partnerships (MLPs), are limited partnerships which are traded on public exchanges. A share in a PTP is called a “unit,” and PTP shareholders are known as “unitholders.” PTPs can be found on the New York, American, and NASDAQ exchanges, as well as many regional exchanges.” – National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships

PTPs/MLPs are a unique class of investments and currently contain a small group of tradable securities numbering a little over 80 companies. Few investors even know about them except for maybe the high profile or new issues like The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX).

While the Blackstone L.P. is related to real estate, the majority of the traded partnerships fall under the Energy sector. This includes oil and gas pipelines, compressing, refining, marine transport, exploration and production. Propane, heating oil, and coal are other energy related securities. Only a small handful deals with timber, real estate and mortgages.

Those familiar with U.S. and Canadian Royalty Trusts or like to invest for income may find PTPs to be equally enticing because of the special tax treatment of the distributions. In a typical PTP, 80-90% of the distribution paid is tax free until you sell. Some of these partnerships have been paying double digit distributions for 10 years straight and in addition to the capital gains of the units.

One such high flyer is Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE:KMP). Since its inception, its unit price has risen from a split adjusted price of $5.75 to $55.94. During this period, Kinder Morgan has increased its cash distribution 29 times from $0.60 a unit to $3.68 now. That’s a 973% return on top of all the distributions.

The growth and distribution payout of most of these “midstream” energy asset PTPs may continue for much longer periods of time than Royalty Trusts because of one big difference. Royalty Trusts usually have assets that get depleted over time, however, “midstream” energy assets like pipelines, storage tanks, terminals and ships are hard assets.

Non-energy related PTPs have not done so badly either. Take for example Terra Nitrogen Company L.P. (NYSE:TNH), a fertilizer company based in Iowa, has shot up over 2200% in the last 5 years from $6.12 to its current $136.30 per unit with a Div/Yield of 8.60 (6.90%).

In an asset class this small and concentrated only in a few specialized sectors, the task of researching for some potential winners to add to a portfolio can be easier. To find out more about PTPs/MLPs or its tax treatment, visit the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships at www.naptp.org. There you can also find a listing of all the PTPs traded on the U.S. stock markets and begin your own research.

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Learning to trade in the Forex currency market can be a daunting task for investors wanting to diversify their stock portfolio to hedge against the weak US dollar. The Forex exchange may appear a bit too “foreign” to stock investors who are only familiar with trading on the stock markets. There is a better option in which an investor will not have to open a Forex broker account or change trading platforms just to add currencies to their investment basket.

Thanks to Rydex Investments, investors can now trade and own currencies using Rydex’s currencySHARESSM Trusts. They currently have 8 different currencies corresponding to 8 different currencySHARES^SM Trusts. An investor has the opportunity to trade the currencies of the Australian Dollar (FXA), British Pound Sterling (FXB), Canadian Dollar (FXC), Euro (FXE), Japanese Yen (FXY), Mexican Peso (FXM), Swedish Krona (FXS) or Swiss Franc (FXF).

The shares of these currency trusts are ETFs that can be bought and sold on the NYSE Arca like other exchange listed securities and can also be bought with a margin account. CurrencySHARES^SM Trusts may be a simple and cost effective way for investors to gain similar investment benefits of holding the actual foreign currency.

Before you decide to add some currency ETFs to your investment portfolio, there are a couple of thing you should be aware of. While the actual Forex currency market is very liquid, the currency ETFs are not at the moment. It may be because it is still a fairly new product. The average daily volume on most of the currency shares has a hard time breaking 100K shares, except for the Euro and Yen which averages over 200K and 300K respectively. The second thing to be aware of is the IRS tax treatment of currency ETFs.

Currently, the CurrencySHARES^SM Trusts holds the underlying currency in a bank where it earns interests which are paid out as dividends and taxed as “ordinary income”. Because the IRS does not consider holding currencies an “investment”, there is not a long term capital gains tax benefit. When selling the shares for a gain, it will also be treated as ordinary income no matter how long it was held. This can be tax rate of up to a 35% on both the dividends and capital gains.

Consult your tax advisor or accountant to be current on any new tax issues. For more information on the CurrencySHARES^SM Trusts, you can visit Rydex Investments at www.currencyshares.com.

Contact Info:

Rydex Customer Service Department
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET

Phone: 800.820.0888 or 301.296.5100
Fax: 301.296.5101

Mailing Address
Rydex Investments
9601 Blackwell Road
Suite 500
Rockville, Maryland 20850

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The market is sometime quite “irrational” when it makes no distinction in pummeling a good stock from a deservingly bad one because of guilt by association. If history repeats itself, now would be a good time to pick up cheap shares in these smaller banks to see double to triple digit returns in the next two to four years. Similar situations have happened at least three times in the Banking sector as small banks were dragged down because of issues with bigger banks and an irrational market sentiment.

By owning an index of small community banks during the 1980s, between September 1982 and July 1986, an investor could have made over 250% returns. This same index of small banks would have made over 188% between November 1990 and October 1993. Another scenario appeared during 2000 when small banks were punished because of losses by big banks during a difficult rate environment. Over the next four years, the share price of the smaller banks skyrocketed once the market realized its errors with the smaller banks.

Today, with the subprime mortgage meltdown, the opportunity presents itself again. It can not be any clearer that the market is incorrect about smaller community banks that have nothing to do with subprime mortgages. Once again, profitable small banks are being indiscriminately being punished for the problems of mega-banks.

The challenge for the investor is whether to buy individual small community bank stocks, or a fund containing small banks. Big returns can be made in this situation by scanning for currently profitable small banks that have taken a beaten in share price, but do not have anything to do with subprime mortgages.

There are many small banks that only make loans to small businesses, involved in commercial real estate or non real estate financing and investments that make them immune from the subprime residential lending in the long run. These small banks will rebound once the market realizes this. Stocks like BUSE, CNB, VCBI, PRSB, CFR, NYB, EWBC and SMTB are examples of small banks that have no or very little exposure to subprime mortgages.

Owning an index or fund of small banks should make significant returns as well if an investor does not want to spend too much time researching individual banks. It is a conservative approach because diversification is achieved if a few banks in the basket may have subprime mortgage exposure. One such banking index containing small banks is KBW Regional Banking ETF (KRE). There are other banking funds and ETFs like Regional Bank HOLDRs (RKH), but they have too many of the big banks with the subprime issue as part of their holdings.

The opportunity is there to profit from the current decline in small bank stocks because of the subprime and housing fiasco the big banks are suffering from. Investors will have to make a move before the rest of the market realizes that the small banks are unjustly punished. As always, do your due diligence.

Today the traveling is made much safe by travel insurance companies. Several cheap car insurance policies are available at different banks. You can also get car loans on low interest rate to purchase a new car. If you are student you need not to work hard to pay your expenses because many institutions are now offering college loans. If you think you are buried in debt you can get debt consolidation loans, which will enable you to easily pay all your debts. To secure your enjoyment several holiday insurance policies are present. Free online mortgage calculators are surely a big help for mortgage loan seekers.

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Canadian Royalty Trusts are created so that the dividends are taxed as personal income and the corporation is not taxed at the corporate level, therefore avoiding double taxation. This is a great income generator for investors as many of the Royalty Trusts are paying double digit dividends annually just by holding these stocks, whether the stock goes up or down.

Most Royalty Trusts are based on a revenue source for a specific asset(s) that the corporation owns. These assets are varied depending on the company and can be in such industries or sectors as mining (gold, uranium etc.), timber, oil and gas or even a patent portfolio.

Today, I will focus on the Canadian Oil Royalty Trusts and give a few examples of some hot ones which have been giving some high returns in the past few years because of the rising oil prices. The double digit dividends are hard to argue with if you are an income investor. An added bonus is the appreciation in stock value as well because of oil prices.

Here is a small list of some oil and gas related Canadian Royalty Trusts traded on the U.S. stock market:

Precision Drill Trust was included as an example of a non oil asset trust, however, it is part of the oil industry that provides contract drilling, service rig, and ancillary services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. It is also pays out some handsome dividends as well.

While these are Royalty Trusts that are traded on the U.S. stock exchanges, the majority of them are traded on the Toronto Stock exchange. A good brokerage firm should be able to place the trade on a foreign exchange for a small fee. Some of the stocks traded on the TSE will also trade on the U.S. pinksheets, so you can find them there as well.

One thing to keep in mind, the dividends that these Royalty Trusts pay out can run for years or decades, however, some are limited because of the assets they own is finite. Meaning the assets, like oil or gas is limited to the amount of reserves that are still in the ground.

The best way to invest in the Royalty Trusts is find a company that has large reserves that stretch out for years and continues to add to their reserves through exploration or acquisitions. The dividends will keep on paying as long as the oil and gas supply is being produced by the company. The rising oil prices will also add to the value of the stock that you hold.

Note: It was brought to my attention from a reader that BPT was not a Canadian Trust, but indeed an American Trust, so it has been removed from the list. There is also a proposal on the table by the Canadian government to do away with the tax benefits of the Royalty Trusts by 2011 and be taxed at the corporate level. This can have a negative impact on future dividend payments. However, for the time being it is still a proposal; the bill must be passed by Parliament and signed into law. About 5% of Canadian voters own income trusts, which means if this passes they will see their spending power decreased if these trusts are taxed. I can not predict what the Canadian Parliament or politicians will do. Investors will have to make their own choices regarding their own money and investments.

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Today, Wal-Mart is trading at around $43 per share, giving it a market cap of about 175 Billion. Most investors know that Wal-Mart has stores all over the world, but what few investors know is that one of it’s subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico SA (OTC: WMMVF) is publicly traded on the stock exchange.

Before you dismiss the idea of trading stocks on the over the counter market or pink sheets take this into consideration. Most investors do not invest on the OTC because of the belief that it is risky and unregulated. While that may be somewhat true, what they fail to realized that a large number of big name international companies and ADRs trades on the OTC.

WalMex as it is known in Mexico, is no exception to being a huge company. It has over 8.5 Billion shares outstanding after its 2-1 split early last year. The current quote has WMMVF trading at $3.65 per share giving it a market cap of over $31 Billion. Not such a small “pinkie” after all.

Wal-Mart is not only the largest U.S. corporation; Wal-Mart is also the largest private employer in Mexico. Thirty percent of Wal-Mart’s 2,760 foreign units are in Mexico, that’s over 980 stores and growing. In the past 6 years, Wal-Mart de Mexico has created more than 53,000 new jobs in Mexico. All of this can only mean one thing.

Wal-Mart de Mexico SA the subsidiary will continue growing because it is based on the same successful business model of its parent company Wal-Mart USA and managed by the same top level management. The question investors will have to ask is, “do I see a pattern and opportunity here?”

If WalMex follows the same growth path as its parent and reaches the same market cap, the stock share price will be over $20 per share. Here are some interesting facts to consider.

• Insiders and the parent company own more than 60% of the company.
• Its sales represent about 2% of Mexico’s domestic gross product.
• It controls about 30% of all supermarket food sales in Mexico and about 6% of all retail sales.

Having a financially secure parent company, proven management, a stable government, positive track record and a dominant market position are traits of a successful company. Will you let opportunity walk on by or will you be like first group of fortunate Wal-Mart investors back in 1971?

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