Increasing Your Wealth Without Unnecessary Risk

Total Transparency If you've ever wondered whether investment gurus follow their own advice, then you're going to love today's guest article from Mark Ford, who shows you exactly what happened when he put his skepticism aside and starting following a new Palm Beach Income approach. Craig Ballantyne "Transformation can only be achieved through education." – Matt Smith This Options Program Seems to Be Working...But Do You Understand It? By Mark Ford Today I want to update you on my experience with Palm Beach Income, the options-trading program that we introduced earlier this year. If you were a subscriber back then, you know that my initial reaction to the idea was negative. "Options are risky," I thought. "I don't want to expose Palm Beach Letter subscribers to unnecessary risk." But Tom was insistent. There are seven ways to trade options, he told me. Five of them are indeed risky, but two of them are actually safe. He showed me data to support that statement. More persuasively, he showed me the results he had been getting on his own account. The historical numbers were enticing, but I've been fooled by "past performance" before. I told Tom that before I would endorse the service, I'd have to try it myself. I sent my broker $200,000. The initial results were very impressive. On my first trade, I earned $1,149 after Tom spotted some unusual activity in a key corner of the gold markets. Then, another pocket of the market was expressing some unusual behavior. Within the hour, $454.99 appeared in my account. Last year, on June 22nd, two more transactions led to instant income payouts of $1,689.97 and $909.98. Exactly one week later, on June 29th, I performed this transaction four separate times in a single day and earned $499.99, $499.99, $549.98 and $674.98. Not bad for a day's work. The results were so good that I felt comfortable telling my youngest son to invest the $25,000 he got as a college graduation present into one of these options accounts. As you can see here, he also had some good results. So the initial results were all very good. I was almost ready to endorse the program, but I had one concern. Options are complicated. The success my son and I had enjoyed was easy as pie because Tom and my broker were executing all the decisions. I wondered whether PBL subscribers would be able to make those trades themselves. Was it too complicated? So I asked Tom to do a beta test. He selected one hundred volunteers who spent six weeks learning how to do this kind of trading. What I wanted from the beta test was not a good return on investment–I had already seen that–but testimonials from participants who found the teaching part of the program easy and enjoyable. Tom designed the teaching program himself. He worked very hard for three months putting together a series of videos that explained the theory and taught the practice. And then he asked for feedback and made changes and adjustments to make the program crystal clear. The response we received was impressive: I have found this to be the most profitable and safest investment idea I have come across in my thirty-seven years of investing in the stock market. –Jay DeHee, Frankfurt, Germany Palm Beach Income was a great course. It starts at the very beginning and takes you through the end where you are comfortable making the trade. The potential extra income is awesome. Tom did an excellent job in teaching. –June Renssall, Midtown, PA In my twelve years of investing, I have not known a trading strategy such as this one that is both safe and simple to understand... while also generating income. I appreciate that you have shared it. –Ronald Beesworth, NY I wasn't sure what to expect, but was extremely pleased with the course. Tom and Paul have been refreshingly open and honest and seem to have a genuine concern that I fully understand all the details before I ever make my first trade. Additionally, they did not try to juice up or exaggerate profit gain examples like many trading newsletters do by using numbers based on margin trading that multiply the percentage of gains, yet simultaneously fail to fully explain the risks involved when using margins. So, to sum it all up, I am confident that it will add some sizable extra income to my portfolio over the coming year as we move forward into the next phase of the Palm Beach Income program. –Pam Witherspoon, San Francisco, CA With a great track record and so many rave reviews of the teaching component, I endorsed the program. We released it to subscribers in December of last year. Since then, everything seems to be going smoothly. In fact, this program is outperforming all our expectations across the board. As of now, we have closed eighteen trades in our Palm Beach Income portfolio, all of them winners. Our average holding period is eighty days, and the average annualized gains for these eighteen trades is 15%. But I can't say for sure because I committed one of the cardinal sins of investing. I was too lazy to take Tom's teaching program. I simply told my broker to do the trades for me. The results have been very good. After six months, my portfolio is up 11%, which translates into a 22% annualized gain. I've got to tell you–this is money I would have put into a bank account. Twenty-two percent is an amazing figure. But, I still don't know what I should about trading options. I understand the basic theory, but I can't even read the statements that come from my broker. It's nice to be making money–especially twenty-two times what I can get from a bank account–but I don't feel comfortable having my money in places unless I really understand it. And this brings me to my main point. I don't want Palm Beach Income to be a service that simply recommends trades. There are dozens of services like that. Some are good. Some are not so good. But even the best ones (like ours) won't work forever all the time. What's important–in terms of building real, sustainable wealth–is that you understand how these two types of trading work. What's important is that you learn a skill for making extra income that you can use for the rest of your life. It's like the old saying: giving a man a fish will feed him for one day, but teaching him how to fish will help him for the rest of his life. I've been making good money with my options account, but I never put in the time to learn how to do it. So, as far as I'm concerned, I've wasted my time and money. But I'm going to fix that. I'm going to take the course and see if I can learn how to trade. I'm going to see if it is simple and clear enough so that someone like me can really understand it. My main goal is to make sure Palm Beach Income is worth every penny–for the education you will get about trading, not just for the investment picks. As I take the program, you can be sure I'll be giving Tom and Paul my feedback. I will make sure that everything is crystal clear and easy to follow. Making money is great, but if you don't understand how you make it, what good does that do you? I want Palm Beach Income to be a service that will teach you how to fish income out of the options stream for the rest of your life. Best, Mark     Total Transparency This Options Program Seems to Be Working...But Do You Understand It?     A New American Dream The average U.S. 401 (k) account hit a record US $74,900 at the end of March 2011, up 12% from March 2010, according to Fidelity Investments. Most of the growth came from rising stock markets while the remainder of the increase was due to an increase in employee contributions that have increased after the financial crises of 2008. Still, it's not nearly enough to retire on. In fact, many experts suggest it's only one-tenth the recommended level of retirement savings for living the American Dream. Fortunately, there are experts like Mark Ford and Tom Dyson out there who are giving practical, and invaluable advice on building wealth. Please print out today's essay – and anything we publish from Mark Ford. It's the best information you'll find anywhere about growing your retirement savings.