SUBMITTED: Monday, January 30, 2006
POSTED: Monday, January 30, 2006
First, I want to say poster David is right: NOBODY ought to be in any inevvestment venue whether it is equities (stocks), debt instruments (bonds), commodities futures, etc or any other type of investment UNLESS you fully understand the background basics and inherent characteristics of each as well as all the conditions that can affect the market or indices you are involved with; because, when you trade your own money, I GUARANTEE you, your emotions and life will become engulfed 100% because you are risking your hard earned monies (and know this mentally), and paper trading IS NOT a good indicator of real time, real life performances ( I don't care what anyone tells you). You can, and many do, lose all or part of their investment monies, or can gain as well- under US securities laws all securities firms of any nature of investment MUST give you full disclosure that you can lose all of part of your capital- PERIOD!
DO NOT USE MONIES YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE IS MY ADVICE BEFORE YOU EVER CONSIDER OPENING A MARGIN/TRADING ACCOUNT AT ANY BROKERAGE...
Now moving forward, I was about to go to a conference this afternoon in Greenville, SC which I caught on yesterday's TV about this WizeTrade program to see what it is about. it did sound very intereting indeed.. To be honest, after reading all these posts (pro & con), I am seriously bothered this is just another over spun mental manipulation of the masses that if you go to their informatinal program you will be made to feel like you can gain from purchasing our software and pay ongoing fees for counseling, etc.. This is the problem I have, and YES, it concerns me! Because, here in western NC, I have seen countless similar programs pop up on TV from real estate investing to securities trading, etc. and it is all in the end, a scam to get a large percentage of people minimally duped into buying software as if it will give them an edge, and that simply is a fantasy! Here, there is a HUGE en masse influx by baby boomers with $$$$ in their hands (able to buy 2nd, 3rd homes in the millions of dollars), as well as mass localized unemployment and low-wage Wal Mart type jobs with over 250,000 local "living wage" industry jobs lost to Mexico- so you have a formula for "people with more money than they know what to do with" as well as "desperate people seeking a way to become rich and not lose their homes that are going into foreclosure", and these national traveling marketing gurus know this and the demographics before they come to these areas... GOOD information costs money, sure. But GURUS like this WizeTrade and many others always amazed me, if they have such full-proof systems, why the hell go through stress wasting their time on the average American who may not even have the "jazz" to become a half decent investor in the first place? It is purely capitalism, and as long as their TV adds and literature run a small disclaimer somewhere that you can lose all your money by investing, they stay on the side of "legal"... And they have a group of very wize and smart associates all working together to ensure they stay just on side of "legal" with a hint of "scam" to lure gullible folks along the way... McCorkle is one that coems to mind who did this (he is still in prison) and many other investment gurus over the years, and now, I see this Wizetrade as nothing different overall...
I tell you, I used to trade. I traded a lot and for about 10 years. I had a plan, paid for information daily to disseminate charts as well as fundamental matters globally. Remember, you are now in a global economy- NOT a national economy like the old days used to be. Factors across the world 24/7 will and can affect any damn thing you risk your monies into so you better understand what you are playing around with. It is an animal with its own life and NO EMOTIONS about who you are. I used to specifically trade futures contracts and options (preference) besides various other investments which I supported and funded initially from my original business years ago and that was the right way. Set aside speculating income you do not need to exist on, because you can lose all of it. I won't go into all the programs, courses and training I participated in over 10 years of my former life, but I was successful and used to average like $5,000.00-$8,000.00 per week on a very good week. I was NOT day trader (bad in my opinion), but a mid to long term positions trader/investor and managed positions I analyzed for weeks and months before even getting into them and placing "stops" along to way to lock my profits. Sometimes I did well, other times I was caught in Limit Down positions against my own positions and not a damn thing you can do until they unfreeze the market- and hope to God you can recoup part of those losses and not be wiped out...
Anyway, I know markets well enough, and had associations to principels in securities markets as well to confer with, was into making weekly private newsletters, etc the whole bit- but I lost everything in a divorce several years ago, and because I always had a love of the markets anyway, I never have been able to recoup or make income like I used to, to even seriously consider opening a margin account these days- and the way I know it needs to be done safely... Point is, I thought perhaps this WizeTrade was possibly something informative and as I look through this Rip Off report today, it is apparent, it is another well orchestrated chain of people that on the surface ride that thin line between legal and illegal scam, and I give up after this; because what they are trying to do, is tap into the only last bastion of wealth in USA, and that is of us baby boomers who are fortunate enough to have assets, capital, pensions, etc. going into retirement, and trying creative ways to get at those dollars- just like the real estate community is trumping up homes hundreds of percent above what they truly are worth, and I fear many will become debt/bankruptcy victims long term with marketers like these people...
These marketers, in all honesty, ARE NOT giving you anything more than you can find if you have the patience, and take time to research so much information avalaible to you free today at various sources. Including what you would get from any reputable securities brokerage firm as a client anyway. Remember, these gurus are "middle men" and anytime you go through a third party you cause yourself more waste of time, money and energy in my opinion. But people are gullible and stupid in my opinion. Regardless of proof or facts in their face, always some ego driven baby boomer or youngster will think he can outsmart the markets (falls for these gurus marketing ploys) and knows more than those who manipulate and control the markets globally... Do what you want with your money, but my advice is, before you invest thousands into 3rd party information readily available today for FREE (if you get off your ass and do some homework), you will find you will casue your life, family, and bank account more stress than is needed....
Remember, the best quotes a private investor can get at even a nominal monthly price (from their brokerage, futuresource, futurelink, etc..) will be 10 minute clips of market activity- a hell of a lot can happen in 10 minutes in today's total electronic world.. So to get "real time" information, quotes, and live streaming information (like the big forms utilize) you better realize what price that comes with and many times thousands of dollars per month charge to do so (for each module or specific marker you are tracking)- So you need to be a serious, educated, and healthy enough person to say you are a serious investor and have the right tools in place before you "go to work" as the case may be... Truth be told, 80-90% of all "wanna be" private investors" lose all their margin accounts in time... Something to think about.
These gurus do make me sick, preying on people like they do. They know what makes people tick. And if Wizetrade or their respective associates are actually trying to defraud people (as I suspect creatively at the least), it is time for the FBI (and SEC) to get involved and really track and watch these groups doing this, as they are everywhere today, and we have more fraud, identity theft, scams, etc today than ever before in history and people have to be wize to reality verses hype daily... Problem with SEC (dealt to them and every law enforcement agency on planet in my former consulting biz), is as long as a group adverises "no investment advice given at seminar" it clears the group from SEC regulations. And as far as FBI, unless a purposeful crime can be proven to have taken place, they too cannot step in... And these gurus all know the limits they can push, believe me...
In the end, remember this, We are in a time of scandals. Sure there always have been, but major securities regulated companies in fact have even become part of scandals themselves.. It is a dangerous time and you need to be 100% sure what you are doing and with whom before you expose your monies to global risk factors... And also, every securities regulated brokerage company out there offers each client several options of resources, help, direction, training, and aid depending on your level of expertise; so why go through some 3rd party marketing guru?? Because in order to make any trade, you MUST execute those trades through the brokerage directly which you hold margin account and NO 3rd party guru can ever do this for you!!! They only confuse you, get in the way, and make messy an otherwise streamlined operation as far as trading your money into any market...
Good Luck !!