As promised some time ago, here is the info you need that could allow you to realistically make anywhere from $500 to $25,000 or more from your portfolio by next Wednesday depending on how big it is.

If you are not set up to trade options in your account, you might want to consider doing so as you won’t be able to do what I am about to show you if you don’t.

The CBOE or Chicago Board Options Exchange was nice enough to put this program together for you which is partially the reason why more money flows through them now than any other exchange in the world including the New York Stock Exchange, and the Nasdaq.

Plus, I really like these guys, they have their act together.

So without further ado here is a link to their page and I want you to download their GREAT Education Program they have put together that shows and explains the mechanics behind the options plays we have been doing here. It is user friendly and is right on the money…pun intended.

Just click on the box and it will take you to the download. Do that and then I will show you what you can do with it although since you are hear, you are smart anyway so I think you will see the light and see how I have been able to pull in 50% + return on the plays that I have been showing you.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers,

Andrew

PS A word of caution. Do not let your broker give you a rough time about setting up to trade options in your account. Most are clueless about them. Make sure you tell him/her that you just want to do covered ones and that should put out the fire in their underwear.

Remember too that if they were so brilliant at giving advice on how to invest, they would not be working for someone else, they would have been able to take their own advice and be retired by now…

Just something to think about.

That being said, I am not offering investment advice here just my opinion and you should always seek the advice of a qualified (please note that word and good luck finding one) investment professional.

Catchy title is it not? The kicker is that it is true, so read on and find out why.

This is yet another interview with one of Sir Richard Branson’s latest Adventures in Capitalism, which is Virgin Money.

OK, here it is!

This is an interview with Helen Payne Watt from Virgin Money USA. Virgin Money also operates in the UK, South Africa, and Australia. So, all of you readers there listen up too!

If you have ever thought about looking for Private Money or becoming a Private Lender yourself, you NEED to listen to this interview.

It is full of my normal “umms”, “aaaa’s ” and “Wow’s” and “Holy Smoke’s” of course, as well as my scintillating interviewing techniques, but really beyond that it also full of things that I bet you probably have not heard of before that you can use right away.

• How about a Reverse Mortgage Alternative for those of you with Aging Parents?

• How about Private Student Loans?

• Real Estate Loans Of All Types?
  

And of course as you know, I think that…… no let me take that back. I know that Private Lending should be your first choice if you are looking to fund your business if at all possible. This can be true regardless if it is an established company, or a brand new baby. Listen to the interview and you will hear why.

We also discuss how to do a Private Loan with family members. Contrary to what you may have heard, I highly suggest doing so if you have the means. This is the best way to keep wealth in the family. Plus if done right, it can be done without a single headache or a hassle and actually bring the family together.

Keeping further in-line with the Private Lending theme, I am announcing one of my new pet projects that has been in the works for about four years now.

Where Can I Find Good Borrowers and Lenders For Private Lending?

One of the questions that I keep being asked repeatedly by people interested in Private Lending both from Borrowers and Lenders is this. “Where can I find a good Borrower or Lender?”

Well, I have been nosing around the Internet for quite some time and I have not found “the place” for Private Lending. In everyplace I looked, I found what was offered did not live up to my expectations or was what I thought really expensive for the services offered once you looked closely. They looked nice but they were all Hat and No Cattle.

Well, I am happy to announce my solution to bring together Private Money Lenders and Borrowers is www.FundingDesk.com. Can you believe I got the domain name for $6 bucks? (Domain names are a whole other investment success story for a later date!)

We are in Pr-Launch mode at the moment but what I can tell you is this.

It is going to be the best place available anywhere for Private Lenders and Borrowers to meet, learn, and to transact business.

Think of it as a dating and information site for Private Lending, with a lot of other information on loans, business, and money.

You will be able to find Private Lenders and Borrowers, take a look at what other people have to say about them, exchange information in a professional and private manner, as well as have access to some really great tools that I will let you in on very soon.

Of course we will also have some other innovative Commercial sources for money as well, but the site is going to focus on the Private Lending side of things.

Go click on the logo above and sign up for the Pre-Launch as I am going to shower you with a bunch of free goodies.

In addition, we are digging everywhere to find the best resources and information to help make your next Private Lending transaction profitable and a true Win-Win situation.

If not done right, they can blow up in your face and I will share my good and bad experiences with you so that you can avoid the bad situations and I have had some Doozies. They still hurt just thinking about them. But, the good news it that they are avoidable and I can make sure you have the information so they will not happen to you.

Here is just some of what will be on Funding Desk. I want to give you a few pointers that you can use right now, so here goes.

Setting Expectations

The biggest way to ensure good results in a Private Lending transaction is to find out and document the expectations and perceived obligations of both the Borrow and Lender.

Are You Reading The Same Book?

Do not assume you are on the same page even with supposedly obvious things. Discuss and write down everything, otherwise you might not only find out your are not on the same page, but you are reading different books!

Using someone like Virgin Money will help with the documentation but, what I am talking about is laying things out before you get there.

You need to sit down and write out on paper the what ifs. This may be a bit uncomfortable to do now, but it is a whole lot less so than getting into a misunderstanding later.

First off, what options are there for payments? Guess what? Things do not always go as planned. Do you have an interest only option? Do you have a skip one payment and add it to the back of the loan option?

If you are the Borrower, are you sharing your accounting information with your Lender? This may help establish trust and there are several ways to do this that I will share with you on Funding Desk.

If you are the Lender, do you have the option of stepping in and helping if things do not go as planned? If this mechanism is put in place upfront, it can save you some very big headaches and often times rescue the loan. Many times, just having open communications with the other party can help. In fact, it is essential in my book.

I am also going to show you what happens when you have a Borrower or a Lender that goes crazy and becomes irrational with you. I have had both happen. I will show you ways to avoid this and show you the Top 3 Warning signs that you are dealing with a squirrel that has a few nuts missing or worse, you have a kleptomaniac squirrel. It will help you avoid the Loons and the Crooks.

What else? I also want to show you how to deal with family members both as Borrowers and Lenders. I had to learn this the hard way and believe me, the price for those lessons was way too high. I will show you how to drastically reduce the tuition for that class.

Do you see why doing the Private Lending transaction correctly is one of the main reasons why I brought you this interview with Virgin Money?

As I hope you have gathered by now, I truly want to see you succeed in using Private Lending as a vehicle to create wealth. It can be done easily and profitably.

Private Lending is one of the most valuable yet misunderstood tools out there to achieve success and wealth. But once you know how to use it properly, you really can write your own ticket. I know I have had some awesome Private Lending experiences and that is how they should be and will be once you know how to put them together correctly.

But, in order to help make sure you have a good Private Lending experience, you need to have the proper documentation and servicing for both parties. Ding, ding, ding…. Virgin Money is the bell that you hear ringing.

Using Virgin Money separates you from the herd out there.

Just think about it. When you approach your Private Lender or Borrower, whichever the case may be, and you let them know that Virgin Money will be handling the paperwork and payment transactions, do you think that will lend a huge amount of credibility to you? Absolutely!

So, do yourself a big favor right now and listen to the interview below and see how Virgin Money is going to help you with your Private Lending transaction and then go sign-up for the Pre-Launch of Funding Desk. You will be glad that you did!

I can assure you that these are are two things that you will be thanking me for in the near future.

Enjoy, Learn, Do!
Andrew Anderson

OK, these are from Investor’s Business Daily, one of the few things I suggest you read for fairly unbiased Financial News. Thought you might enjoy them. Their Toons alone are sometimes worth the subscription. You can check them out at http://www.ibdeditorials.com/Cartoons.aspx#cartoon292186848105434

And no I do not make a dime from the recommendation fyi. I just want to help you get the right info so you can do well. I get my Jolley’s by helping people improve their lives. Guess I am funny that way…….  By the way, these do represent exactly my view on things.

I Thought I Knew…… And The Reasons Why I Am Helping You Make More Money

As I sit doing my every once in a while inventory of what is swimming around in my noodle I come to think about what I hope I Am An Investor does for people in changing the way they “thought” that a portfolio and a business for that matter had to be put together and run. This is true with all of my endeavors. It is having the effect of turning what they thought they knew upside down for most people, including myself.

This is not something new for me. My mental world started getting rocked pretty early as my parents seemed to enjoy a somewhat different lifestyle than most. My Mom was a History and English teacher and my Dad worked in the Government with Computers way back when they were the size of a whole building and they were fairly well politically connected and because of this I got to do some very unique things at a young age.

I was also encouraged to explore pretty much anything my intellect desired.

Because of my upbringing I got to meet Governor’s, Senators, and Congressman and later on the Kennedy’s (who at the time were a big deal) and I realized that there was something not quite right with all of them at a very early age. (more…)

Thanks to everyone that filled out the form for what you would like to see more of here. It really helped a whole bunch.

Out of the responses we have 3 recurring themes.

1. More how-to-Videos. I am not surprised by this one at all. I know I want to see more of them as well. They are fun to do and I think they can make for a great learning experience.
2. How to do the actual trade or investment. Get into the details and of the What, Why, and How. Here again, this makes sense.
3. What to do if you are just starting out. Apparently we have a lot of newbies which is GREAT! I love to see people taking control of their own lives and money is one of the most important areas you can do that in without a doubt.

I have to add to this that people did not want the “Normal” investment vehicles. They wanted the alternative ones, which I think is very good.
Well, you have spoken and so that is what you are going to get. If you have not sent in your feedback, I would still love to hear from you.

Thanks again to everyone that sent in a response! I truly appreciate it and it will make this site and your learning experience and your road to wealth that much better and easier.

You have no doubt heard of MySpace, but did you know that it and other sites like it such as Facebook, Orkut, and YouTube can be used as great research tools that can put you way ahead of the market?

Let me show you exactly how this works: Companies that are using these sites as a regular part of their business and media models have a huge edge over their competition who just don’t get it.

These sites represent many of the top 10 most visited sites in the world.

For instance just MySpace and Facebook alone get around 2.5 Billion with a B hits a day… A DAY!

The kicker is that the vast majority of the business clients that I consult with don’t have a clue about how to capitalize on these numbers. But those that do it right can see phenomenal growth no matter what business they are in.

This is part of the reason why I can base 95% of my consulting fee on guaranteeing to improve revenue and profit by 10% to 20% within just a few months for my clients no matter the size or type of business they are in or I don’t get paid.

How many other consultants will do that?

I am currently working on two books based on using these effectively. The one you see is for Investors and I will be giving you some of the best and most relevant concepts from it over the coming weeks.

The other one is a “How To” for businesses to show them how to capitalize on this.

The largest problem for many companies is that their IT people usually don’t have a clue about marketing, and their PR and Ad people don’t have a clue about IT. It is a double whammy. But for those companies that do get it, they have a huge advantage.

In the book I will teach you how to use these alternative methods and tools to find hidden and not so hidden gems.

First off, find out if the company has a MySpace or Facebook page and see how they are using it.

As far as I know, I have not seen a concise book on using these sites as a research tool. But then again, if someone is using them the way I am going to show you, more than likely they are not going to broadcast how they do it.

But there’s a rub – and it’s really ironic. The more people that find out about these tools and use them the better it is for everyone.

Want to see how it works right now? (more…)

I am always looking to improve the quality and relevance of what I put up here and I could really use your help.

If you are like me, I often have at least one concern or question rolling around in my head at any given moment about investing. Actually, it is more like a a half a dozen truth be told. I then do my best to get it answered as quick as I can.

With that in mind, I am looking to do the same for you. I would like to know what question or concern you have about investing and get them answered for you!

It might be answered by me or the best expert that I can dig up and I am very good at digging and finding the best person in the field. Now the best person does not always mean the most noted. I just look for skill and knowledge, not what package it comes in.

So if you have a question, take 30 seconds or so and jot it down below.  I will do my best to answer as many of them as I can. If you don’t want me to use your name, I won’t.

Thanks, AA

OOPS! You forgot to upload swfobject.js ! You must upload this file for your form to work.

Here is a pretty cool new tool that you may not have seen before. It is a visual dictionary. You will have to mover the bar over the the right, but try typing in ” Capitalist” in and see what happens.  Then hover you mouse over the words.

Here is a direct link. 

Here is the First 21.5% Investment and information about  “The Guerrilla Balance Sheet”.

I am going to make this brief and to the point. In order for you to have 20% plus returns, you have to think out of the box. But as I have mentioned before, you don’t have to be an expert yourself, you just have to know where to find the reals ones and then figure out how to borrow their brain power and expertise.

In order to drive a car and make use of it to go faster and further than you could ever go by yourself for instance you do not have to be an engineer, a metallurgist, or a welder in order to build it. You just need to know how to use it. The same goes with investing.

While we are putting together your investing blueprint for your vehicle as it were and in order to bring out your inner investing Genius, we are going to do things differently.

As far as investing goes, the best investment you can make is yourself as I mentioned before and I want you to invest $7 dollars just like I just did. Don’t worry, if you don’t like this investment, you can get your $7 Bucks back. Wouldn’t it be great if all of your investments were like that? Talk about preservation of capital! Not only that, I will show you how to hit our magic 21.5% return off it right away!

Just so you know, this is going to be my first investment using my $100,000 virtual portfolio. I have a feeling that this is going to pay off far beyond our 21.5% benchmark.

If you have never heard of Jay Conrad Levinson, I want to introduce you to him. He has been my mentor for well over a decade even though we have never met. I have spoken with his daughter on numerous occasions though while working on a different project and she works with her father as it is a family business. Sharp group of people there indeed.

In case you don’t know, he is the father of Guerrilla Marketing and has approximately 17 million customers if you can believe it. With his first book “Guerilla Marketing”, he turned over the old way of marketing, and if you use this information, he is going to do this for your investing career as well.

While this report is primarily for Business Owners and not intended for investors per say, I want you to think of your portfolio as your business and to see if you can take some of these ideas and adapt them for yourself.

I will be discussing this report and information in detail and show you how you can take this information and re-source so it is applicable to what we are doing.

The report is called “The Guerrilla Balance Sheet” and it is how to turn your business expenses into profit centers. You read correctly. It shows how companies can take what normally would be an expense and make money off of them.

Guess what? Without them knowing it, they have put 90% of my investment philosophy into their report.

This is some pretty mind blowing information that you will be able to start to use right away. It will also give you an oblique way to start looking at future investments and the companies that you invest in.

Click Here to order the report. Remember, if you don’t like it, you can get your $7 dollars back! Not only that, but if you do order from here and leave me a comment, I will show you how to make an immediate 21.5% profit from it right away. In other words, that is $1.50 in your pocket. How is that for a way to start?

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you already know that I don’t hold much back You also know that I have the utmost confidence in your ability to manage your own finances. You just need a little help. You also need to not follow the herd as it blindly goes over the cliff. You need to do things differently if you want above average returns. Besides, average is far overrated.

Beware, if you continue to read this, you will never not be able to see where you are going or feign ignorance again. Not that you would or course but in order to see where things are going, you need a good road map, a compass, and some binoculars to see what is ahead, and then you need a blueprint to build your investment vehicle.

Here is a tool that both gives you a Micro and the Macro view on what is going on in a number of markets mainly housing, bonds, and mortgages. These also foretell a lot about the state of the overall economy.

I bet you have never seen this mentioned anywhere else. It is one that I have been using for years and it is called The Mortgage Grapevinee. It is about and for people in the Mortgage Business.

It is worth taking a look and reading some of the posts there on a regular basis. It is by far the most accurate source for seeing what is going on in the Mortgage arena today. Because it is raw, you have to take things with a grain of salt, but it gives you unedited data on what is going on in the the housing and mortgage business and it is the real deal and not some watered down interpretation by a talking head.

There are some lively political discussions as well. You can also get another take on those ignorant brutes called mortgage brokers that the media so readily vilifies for taking advantage of the poor people that signed 86 pages of documentation on their loans and yet proclaim not to know that their payment might go up. LOL

We would love to know where you hale from! While we can see where you are, let others know that your town or country counts too. I know we have people from all over the world visiting the site.

You can use this fun location and visitor map. You can even put your name, or make one up in there too.  Everyone should have at least one Internet handle anyway.  It is a fun tool that I will show you later how to use to help your investing career.

It is easy to use and you can’t hurt it. If you click on it and hold down your left mouse button, you can move the map around or click on the - or + signs to zoom in or out on the map.

Tool Number #1

Communications

Ok, here is the first Tool I am going to recommend. This not only has uses for your investing, but in all parts of communications. I have been using this for a while now and if you have never heard of this and you are not using it you should do yourself a favor and signup for it right now.

(more…)

The new Technorati are laying to claim to the world. But unlike the days of old, they numbers in the millions. They are us. We have more technology at our fingertips today than the richest person in the world did just 20 years ago. The kicker is most of it is free.

We can make free phone calls around the world, we have access to free email, the latest weather, recipes, stock and market prices with more tools to analyze them than you can shake a stick at. Plus about a 1,000 other things that are working behind the scenes that we take for granted.

(more…)

This is going to end up being a huge section. I will be evaluating a long list of Tools that can help directly and indirectly with your Investing.

This topic is going to cover a wide variety of products and services that range from keeping you organized, to communications and actual trading tools.

Rather than putting all of these items into one page, I will be putting them into one Category called “Tools and Resources”.

I want and need your feedback on the recommendations. So, please feel free to let me know what you think and if you have a Tool or Resource that you would like me to review, just post a comment here and I will be in touch!

Tool Number #1

Communications

Ok, here is the first Tool I am going to recommend. This not only has uses for your investing, but in all parts of communications. I have been using this for a while now and if you have never heard of this and you are not using it you should do yourself a favor and signup for it right now.

Get Skype for your Business – free conference calls and video calling. Free and Low rate local calls

Skype allows you to make free calls to other members around the world and to any phone in the world at a low, low, price. You can also do free conference calls and free video calls. Want to record a call? You can do that as well.

They even have a business service that you can integrate with a snap. Sign up, it is FREE. Once you try it you will be amazed at the quality of the calls. I call Russia, Australia, and India on a regular basis and the calls sound better than most of my domestic calls.

In order to have an automated voice mail and to be able to have message follow you, after you get Skype, you will want to download Pamela below. It works seamlessly with Skype and adds more features. Oh, yea, you can download it for free too.

This is one of those services that I still find a bit amazing. How does this compare with Vonage? Well, most of it is free, and if you want to use a regular phone, it only costs your about $3 bucks a month, versus $24.95 a month. So, the question is, do you want to save $21 dollars a month and have more features or not?

As far as a stock play, I think that Skype and some of the other options I will be mentioning, could end up taking Vonage out of the market and is one of the reasons for their big decline in value. That and the fact that EBay owns Skype means they have some deep pockets to keep adding to their services.

I like Skype and I think you will too! Oh and I almost forgot one thing. You can also add a tool called KishKish which is a real time stress tester. So, you have a good chance at telling if the person your are talking to is, how shall I say this, taking creative liberties with what they are telling you. Not sure how accurate it is, but it is fun.

If anyone wants to test it with me, add a comment here.

A couple of other features that you get with Pamela and Skype.

Using Pamela, you can add notes to your call recordings. I don’t know about you, but it I had recorded every called in Trade I would have made I know that I would be tens of thousands of dollars richer just from missed or blown trades by various brokers.

It also allows you to transfer a call to another Skype user. Talk about a virtual office set up. You can even have callers leave you a video message and transfer files to you as well! It sure makes doing deals a lot easier.

These two products are definitely the dynamic duo. Look for more great tools like this. Click below to listen to the quality of the sound of the phone and messages.

Enjoy!