If you subscribe to many investment websites, your mailbox probably gets inundated with stock spam and investment “teasers”. The spam can go straight to the trash bin; however, the teasers are more of a curiosity. These stock teasers are usually from some “guru” or “expert” trying to sell a subscription or membership to their newsletter or stock picking service.

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Occasionally, a hot investment opportunity or situation appears when you are not very liquid in capital to take advantage of it. If you only had the funds, you would get in this sure thing, but where can you get a short term loan to do so? A personal loan from your bank is definitely out of the question because of the high interest charges. Here is one way, albeit a bit gutsy.

First of all, as a fair warning, do not attempt this strategy unless you fully understand the risks, can afford to take a financial hit should your investment opportunity goes south and that you are able to make a minimum monthly debt repayment from current income.

If you are fortunate enough to have low debts, good credit ratings and have credit cards with a generous credit line, you probably have received more than one offer in the mail from these credit card companies with blank checks attached. The offers range from 0% interest for 12 to 18 months or 3.99 - 4.99% for the life of the loan.

Read the rest of this entry »

First there was DoublingStocks .com and now a new site PromoStockPicks.com promises to make investors rich from their stock picks. (It makes us wonder if it’s the same people that created the stock trading robot.) The sales pitch is actually convincing and so are the testimonials; unfortunately, it’s all one big blatant lie.

“The following must be read in its entirety before purchasing and/or using any information contained on PromoStockPicks.com”

We don’t have to say it in our own words because they do a good job telling you in their “disclaimers”. So go read it and save yourself $47. If that’s too much work, here’s an excerpt from the Information Warning and Investing/Trading Stocks section of the Disclaimer.
Read the rest of this entry »

Gold prices have hit an all time high; so, many investors are starting to take notice of silver and its low trailing price as compared to gold. Depending on the source of data, it is hard not to get excited from reading the articles by experts giving out historical price data of how silver at one point reached a high of $50USD in 1980. Compared to today’s price of $16.89/oz, silver is just plain cheap if adjusted for inflation, but before you start loading up silver, let’s take a step back in time.

There is one piece of information that many of these writers seem to leave out when they talk about the highest price ever of silver that was touched briefly in 1980. The real story behind it will also explain the quick tumble soon after.

Do the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the silver market ring a bell? Nelson and William Hunt were the heirs of H.L. Hunt, the oil tycoon and were one of the wealthiest families in America at the time. They started buying silver as a hedge against inflation in the early 1970s and continued for nearly a decade.
Read the rest of this entry »

It is a known fact that franchise owners usually have a better chance of success as a business operator than an independent start up owner. The likelihood of success can be attributed to a proven and tested business model, existing market brand, support and training from the franchisor. The question is, are there advantages to investing in the public stocks of franchises?

Comparing the actual ownership and operation of a franchise to owning the stocks is like comparing apples to oranges. In terms of just an investment hypothetical, there are some clear advantages. We will take McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) as an example.

The start up capital requirement for owning a McDonald’s franchise ranges from $500K-$1.6M. It would take a number of years to break even and turn a profit on the money invested. Since it is a franchise business, there are royalty payments to be paid and the time expenditure of running a business can be hefty.
Read the rest of this entry »

Investing in a Direct Participating Program (DPP) like oil/gas drilling is out of reach for most small investors based on the accredited investor requirements. The rules and regulations imposed by the government may appear to favor wealthy investors over the less funded investors. Fortunately, there is a way for individuals to invest in partnerships similar to a DPP, but without having to be an accredited investor.

“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).
Read the rest of this entry »

Our U.S. economy for the past seven years can be summed up in two words, “It Sucks”. Hard earned money is being sucked from the American consumers because of higher costs for goods and services. There is only one thing that should be on an investor’s mind and that is capital preservation.

Many so called experts and analysts did not think gold would be where it’s at today, or oil reaching $100 a barrel or how weak the U.S. dollar would become. Today, smart investors are laughing all the way to the bank because they were dismissed as fools a few years ago.

Savvy investors foresaw the dire economic situation and hedged their portfolios with oil, currency and gold investments. By doing so, in a balanced portfolio they have offset any losses in their stock portfolios. Their buying power is not affected because of the profits from the oil and gold investments. They are also paying less taxes this year.
Read the rest of this entry »

Socially responsible investors select investments based on a company’s contributions for the social good. Businesses that are involved in things like alcohol, tobacco, and weapons manufacturing are often avoided for companies that are good to the environment, practicing workplace diversity and increasing product quality and safety.

Morally responsible investing on the other hand, takes the “social good” aspect to new extremes as in faith based funds –mixing in an investor’s morals and religious beliefs. One such example is The Timothy Plan, a collection of mutual funds built on the basis of Christian ideology and principles.

“The Timothy Plan® family of funds are based on the biblical stewardship principles of I Timothy 5:8, 22. The Timothy Plan mutual funds screen out companies that are involved either directly or indirectly in abortion, pörnography, anti-family entertainment, alternative lifestyles, as well as those directly involved in the production of alcohol, tobacco or gambling.”

Read the rest of this entry »