Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent, balanced human beings have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic expectations, patience, and perseverance. -- John C. Bogle (1929-) American Investor |
| Henry & Dianne Ford Publishers |
FACT: An Internet Search for “Investment Scams” yields 87,500 hits. Don’t take the chance - Learn and follow the common sense, time-tested and proven investment principles of the National Association of Investors Corporation. |
| Too Good To Be True? DUH, It Probably Isn’t! Many who are familiar with my speeches or my writings are aware of my deep and long involvement in the investment education movement. As long ago as the mid-1970’s I have been involved in deep and passionate efforts to promote investment education. A natural result of those efforts is to attempt to steer people away from get-rich-quick schemes. Those schemes appear to be what they almost always are, too good to be true. The speed and extended reach of the Internet only makes it more challenging to be wary of what we read and act upon. Several days ago, I read an article by long-time friend and associate Kenneth Janke, Sr. In his cautionary article entitled “Don’t Become a Mark When Market Rises” (Better Investing Magazine, Jan. 2007) Ken addressed the issue of e-mails which flood the Internet about investment “opportunities” that in reality are more often pitfalls. The bold quote in the very center of the one page article warns “Be wary of promotional mailings, faxes and e-mails you’re receiving about ‘can’ t miss’ opportunities in the market.” If any of this sounds familiar to you, congratulations for reading my e-mails, web site warnings, and listening to my conversations and speeches regarding investment education. If you are wondering about Ken Janke’s qualifications, he is a chairman emeritus of NAIC’s Board of Trustees and a member of the Better Investing magazine’s Editorial Advisory and Securities Review Committee. That is a shortened and humble description of who Ken Janke is. For more than thirty years (that’s how long I have known him), Ken has functioned in key positions within NAIC (National Association of Investors Corporation), and yet has remained accessible to anyone with serious intentions to making a positive impact. Beyond his qualifications, Ken is in the unique position of being completely objective. If you buy and sell every “hot tip” or everything that is not a “hot tip” in the market today, Ken does not make a dime. His position and the organization he so well represents promotes Investment Education, and is not in the business of promoting stocks or making commissions from a lot of fruitless buying and selling. Ken’s article begins with a quote by Mark Twain which wisely states “There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it and when he can.” You have heard and read my cautions and my urgings to seriously consider investment education. You have now been made aware of a “ditto” by one of America’s foremost investment education experts. Regardless, you will no doubt wake up tomorrow with a e-mail box full of “Hurry up and Buy This,” and go to bed after having been exposed to numerous “Last opportunities” that probably look very much like the “Last opportunities” you had yesterday and last week and last month. Of the many choices you have available to you, the one that has stood the test of time is the one that offers you the opportunity to become educated in how to make your hard earned money work for you. The opportunity is to receive investment education from an organization whose birth goes back to the early 1940’ s. The opportunity is from an organization whose teachings have survived war and peace, an organization whose teachings have not depended upon whether the country is run by Democrats or Republicans. It is an organization whose teachings have worked in an industrial economy, in a service- oriented economy, in good times and in not-so-good times. Before casting your next dollar into the nonsense-lined abyss of the “Last Great Gold Mine” or whatever is the title of that anonymous e-mail, take a break in the name of common sense, and log on to www. betterinvesting.org. You may also contact NAIC by calling toll-free 1-877-275-6242. |
| VISIONS "Seeing the world not as it is, but as it can be" "Where there is no vision, the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18 Your Success Newsletter - Jan-Feb, 2007 - Published Bi-Monthly |