Researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College recently measured that more than 40% of households may be at risk for seeing their standard of living decline in retirement. They also found that people born after 1955 have an increasing risk of living in poverty.

It is a depressing statistic that should scare you. Four out of ten “retirees” will probably not be enjoying their golden years and may have to continue working just to get by. If you have not thought about or prepared for your later years, there is no better time than the present to start saving and investing.

Since I am not a professional financial advisor or money manager, I cannot give personal investment advice; however, I can give you a starting point on saving and investing so you do not end up being a statistic.
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We are not going to rub it in or said we told you so. Really, we are not laughing at the duped “investors”, but feeling a bit saddened. How many times should one lose their money with some pie in the sky promises before one realizes that an online investment is too good to be true when it lacks transparency? Run as fast as you can if an investment insists on hiding in anonymity or doesn’t discloses the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ of the so call investment.

Legisi.com had high promises of big returns monthly, yet never said how the money was being invested to give such returns. Well, it appears that it was an elaborate Ponzi scheme after all. Half of the 72 Million dollars taken in was being paid out to earlier investors. The other half was either lost by the admin, Gregory McKnight, or spent for his own personal use in buying cars and gifting to family members.

If you are one of the 3000 to 4000 investors who lost money on Legisi.com, you can read all about the SEC’s litigation and complaint against them here. Contrary to popular belief, government intervention and the requirement for securities registration serves a purpose. There is a reason for an individual to be qualified and passing SEC exams to be able to manage investors’ money.
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Results look promising for 5 of the 6 IPAM Managed Systems offered by IPAM Inc. at Powerforex.com. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, they have six different managed Forex trading systems that are available for investors to choose from. The systems are split between two brokers, FXCM and IFX.

“Income Plus Asset Management, Inc. was founded in January, 2004, to assist clients by offering the management of funds. Although started as a traditional investment advisor, Income Plus Asset Management, Inc. (IPAM) is now focused solely on the Forex market and manages funds for clients from around the world.” – IPAM Inc.

The six IPAM trading systems to choose from are as listed: Platinum, Master and Select at FXCM. Armada, Power S-80 and PA5FX at IFX. The current performances in 2008 for each system are listed in the table below.
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FX Innovations is a privately held company based in Miami Beach, Florida USA that advertises a number of forex related services and products. Besides forex education, tools and an independent sales affiliate program, FX Innovations offers a managed account service.

They have two different managed account types; one called the IPAM Master and the other, IPAM Select. IPAM Master has a minimum of $500 to open an account, while IPAM Select requires a minimum of $1000. Performance for the first quarter 2008 stands at 14.77% and -30.2% respectively.

It appears that the IPAM Master short term trading strategy outperforms the medium term strategy of the IPAM Select account type. Looking at the cumulative returns for the past 12 months starting April 2007 gives a total of 137.95% for IPAM Master and 6.15% for Select.
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Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq:SBUX) may currently be the largest coffee house chain in the world, but it lacks in “star” power. A new player has arrived. Hollywood Espresso, founded by film industry veterans Roberta Pacino and her husband, Mark Oliver Richman. The couple aims to inject a little “Hollywood” into your daily coffee consumption.

If the name Roberta Pacino rings a bell, it is because she is the sister of Al Pacino, the movie Actor. That may not be enough to excite you, but then maybe the concept and ground floor investment opportunity will. Think “Planet Hollywood” the next time you have a cup of cappuccino.

The initial rollout will be 5 company owned stores in Hollywood, Chicago, New York, Miami and Houston to act as distribution centers 366 planned franchises in the coming 60 months. Each company store is an LLC where 49% is available to investors via private placement (DPP).
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At OWI, we love alternative investments and today, we introduce you to an investing concept that is beating the S&P hands down. The reason that we like them is that the results are verifiable. Since its inception in Q4 of 2005, the cumulative returns totaled nearly 70% and in 2007 a performance of 34.7% for the year.

The company is called PickLogic.com and before you discard them as another sports gambling service, we suggest you take a closer look. They have a system in which unlike a standard sports picking site, does not provide a hit or miss immediate return that a thrill seeking gambler wants. It is for the serious investor looking for consistent results over a period of time and while managing losses.

PickLogic is an alternative way to invest that is outside of the box thinking. You can sign up for a free month trial to see what it is all about. We must warn you, the service is as pricey as a top notch traditional investment newsletter. A year’s subscription will set you back $500.
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A secret of making big returns on an investment is being aware of the latest trends and getting involved in companies that are first movers with hot new products or services. M-Commerce is a fairly unknown sector that deserves some attention. Investing in the companies that are first to market and involved in M-Commerce has the potential of huge gains.

“As technology has advanced so have customer expectations and networks, and these factors are setting the stage for expanded micro payments growth across the mobile, Internet and physical channels,” – Edward Kountz, TowerGroup Analyst

What exactly is M-Commerce? It is the buying and selling of products and services via mobile phones. Basically, it is e-commerce transactions online or at a point of sales where buyers use their mobile phones as the payment gateway. This market is enormous.
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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.
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