Make Big Money in Financial Newsletters

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Introduction
Here is another example of a glorious claim: "Turn $1,000 into $10,000, $50,000 or even $100,000!" Can it be done? It is theoretically possible. It is more likely that you will not match the claims set out in these headings. You need to apply common sense. That's the approach taken with this report! There have been countless stories of the day trader (whatever happened to that fad anyway?) plucking down $30,000 and becoming an instant millionaire. The reality is most of those traders lost large amounts of money in a matter of days (and more often, within hours). Otherwise, don't you think if people were actually making money this trend would have continued? Imagine being allowed to play major league baseball without ever taking up the game. Do you think you'll be able to beat the pro players? It's the same in the stock market or any market for that matter. The market makers and specialists will destroy anyone going up against them, especially inexperienced ones. There are the few that got lucky. But in the l
ong run most end up losing even after initial success. The market makers and specialists have been at this game a long time (or at least they're companies have). They can spot a "newbie" when they see one.

Set Objectives and Understand the Philosophy of the Newsletter
In January of 2003, I decided to make a go of trading as a full time career. I jumped right in and started trading. Lo and behold, I was $5,000 poorer in a matter of weeks. This was not supposed to happen. This was going to be my ticket to financial freedom. I followed the advice of a newsletter that I had subscribed to. They made the claim that I could turn $5,000 into $90,000 in a matter of weeks. Who can refuse that kind of offer! What I should have done was match the newsletter's philosophy with my own investment objectives. The idea behind this particular newsletter is that you could lose over and over again and as long as you had some really big gains, you would make up for those loses from those gigantic gains. By not knowing and following that philosophy, I got out (or even in) of trades at exactly the wrong times. Perhaps the newsletter was a good one and I just didn't follow the appropriate steps. Maybe. But if the newsletter's philosophy and mine were matched, it would have been the right course o
f action. Whether the newsletter's advice was good or not, is irrelevant. I wasn't in tune with the style of this particular newsletter and this led to large losses. In short, this wasn't a style I was comfortable using. This lesson taught me that without aligning your style with that of the newsletter, I was sure to be on the losing side of trades.

a newsletter, unless you are one of the first to get in, the stock surges and you end up buying at the top. In fact, it possible that brokers and floor traders have people that subscribe to these newsletters as well so they know when a trade occurs, they can "fade" the newsletter knowing that the stock price will come back down to reality after the surge of buying is over. The newsletter was looking at a couple of weeks to a month as their time frame. I was looking to make it all that day. Two different philosophies with differing results! If you plan to trade stocks (or whatever) for a living, it is virtually impossible to view your success or failure on a day-to-day basis. The markets don't work that way. This is why it is essential to have a plan that follows a particular philosophy. You cannot use a newsletter that is geared towards longer term trading with a shorter term philosophy with say, day trading. In fact, it could be argued that it's next to impossible to have a newsletter for day traders becaus
e the markets move too fast for the advisors to get their picks out. I don't day trade so I cannot state that with any amount of authority. If I had to venture a guess though, I cannot imagine the likelihood of that being successful. Every decent financial newsletter should explain its philosophy for trading in detail. From this you should be able to decipher the style of the newsletter and the audience that it is intended for. Again, if you are a day trader, you will not get much from a newsletter that gives monthly recommendations, or even weekly ones. Is the trading philosophy fundamental (analysis of financial statements, etc.) in nature, more technical (charting), or a mixture of both? If you are unfamiliar with some of the terminology being thrown around here, please see the resources section for some web sites that can help. The newsletter should publish its philosophy well before you sign up for the service. If it doesn't, don't be afraid to email the writers for that information. This is a great way
to see how responsive the writers' customer service is and what its quality is. If you get a response that shows arrogance and you sign up anyway, remember that you are ultimately responsible for your own portfolio. I know I am beating that "dead horse" but that is the underlying theme of this guide. If you are unclear about this, please see the section on The Ultimate Responsibility.


Trial Periods
All newsletters should give a trial period. At the very least they should have a window of time for a refund. Any newsletter that claims they are so good that they refuse to give a trial period or a refund should be avoided at all costs. You need to get a feel for the content and approach of the newsletter before you shell out any bucks for the newsletter itself and act on the trades it recommends. You need to get to know the manager(s) of the service and feel confident they are on board with providing you with timely, useful advice that will help you trade. If a newsletter is good, they'll have plenty of people that are already subscribers and should have no problem refunding your money should you choose it is not for you. The most important aspect of the trial period is to record the exact date when the trial period ends and the procedure on how to cancel. Most reputable newsletters will allow you to cancel via their site, or at the very least, via email. Some of the less savory ones make you go through ho
ops before canceling and will have you call so they can try to convince you to stay. Make a record of who to contact, cancellation procedures, and when. Use your email system, i.e., Microsoft Outlook, to send yourself an alert a couple of days before the trial is up. Most of the trials will take your credit card information and "conveniently" charge it automatically once the trial period is finished. The better newsletters will still give you a full refund even after the trial period if it's within a reasonable time (a couple of days, etc.). Don't expect much if you wait two months after a 30-day trial and you simply forgot to cancel. It's all about reading the agreement. Don't skip this step.

The Ultimate Responsibility
If you get nothing else out of this report, make sure you understand the golden rule of success when using investment newsletters. Please do not forget this rule. Namely, it is: YOU ARE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TRADES. I think this is so important that I am going to repeat it again for emphasis:

YOU ARE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TRADES.
Please do not blame the newsletter writers for your not properly evaluating the service or a lack of adherence to a plan or money management techniques (more on these later). This may sound harsh, but if you grasp this concept you can stack the odds of using newsletters more in your favor.