What is Black December?

December seems to be the time of year when many on-line investment programs close, leaving a lot of people at a financial loss. November and even October are sometimes included in this 'black' category. One theory for this phenomenon is that members of the programs pull out so much money to make holiday purchases that the programs are unable to sustain themselves (which would certainly be the case for any ponzi). Another theory is that so many people have come to expect the effect that they become overly cautious and the result is a self-fulfilling prophecy (that is, they get what they expect just because their expectation modifies their behavior). There might be something to this theory since it is well known that the stocks and bonds markets ebb and flow in accordance with the fears and expectations of buyers and sellers. Whatever the cause, as we approach the last quarter of the year, it would definitely not be wise to break any of the on-line investing rules that I have discussed in previous blog postings.

Tramael is a classic example of...

On-line investing is always high-risk because you are handing your money to people who offer no valid guarantee or insurance that you will get back what you spend, let alone any profit. Many are scammers who will disappear when they think the moment is ripe. Some program admins believe they are honest, but they honestly believe they owe you nothing if anything goes wrong even if due to their own mistakes. I will, however, say that an admin who has a reputation for honesty is a better bet than one who is unknown. Nonetheless, every spend is a gamble until you have gotten back your own money and are spending only your profits back into the program. I have heard it said that it is wise to identify a program with a good track record and make a large commitment to it to gain faster profits. Tramael, a surf program, is a classic example of how this thinking can backfire. It performed flawlessly for over 11 months and very suddenly went bankrupt, as announced by the admin, Nein Vodello. I was stung by this event myself since I was not yet in profit. So here is the on-line investing principle you should never forget... Past performance is NOT an indication of future performance.

How many email accounts are needed?

I would say anyone doing on-line investing should have a minimum of 3 email accounts. First you need one for personal communications with friends and acquaintenences. Many use the email account provided by their internet service provider for personal mail but I don't because I prefer the freedom of changing to another isp without the hassle of notifying everyone of my new address. You need a second email account to be used exclusively for your on-line payment processors. NEVER use that one for any other on-line programs such as surfs or hyips. The third email account that you need is for surfs and hyips and similar programs. You may also use this one for forum memberships but some would argue that a fourth account is needed for monitors and forums only, to contain the spam you may get from them. There are, of course, many sites offering free email service, but I will recommend 3 sites which provide relatively good service. They are Google, Yahoo, and Safe-Mail. OK, be careful out there!

It's your right to make negative posts but...

I have heard numerous posters who vociferously make the claim that "It is my RIGHT to make negative posts" especially when they have been criticized by others for doing so. Of course, if the forum is not public, then the forum owner has the right to delete or censor the posting. Although I agree that everyone has the right to make a negative posting in public forums, I do not believe it is always wise to do it. The opposite of a negative poster is the so-called 'cheerleader' who makes only positive postings regardless of the performance of the program under discussion. I think both of these are dangerous, but in different ways. The cheerleader may mislead others into spending unwisely so they are guilty of harming others to protect themselves. The negative posting that is untrue makes the poster guilty of harming others to satisfy a desire for revenge. Even the negative posting that is true can harm others if it creates a 'run on the bank' type atmosphere that brings down the program prematurely. So what's the bottom line? Each person should ask of themselves before posting negatively, "Will this post improve the situation for me or others?" If the answer is "No" then resist the temptation to spout off just to make yourself feel better.

Will TNICC survive a growth spurt?

Joe, the admin of The New Internet Cash Club, has just issued an email update in which he admits he can no longer keep up next-day payouts and answer all tickets quickly by himself. The membership has just recently passed the 2000 mark and is moving up rapidly so this problem will only get worse without additional staff. That is exactly what Joe has committed to doing ... increasing staff to alleviate any backlog in the future. Of course, he must have someone he can trust to help with payouts, so he is recruiting his daughter-in-law, Janice. It will take a little while to get her trained, so do not expect an over-night fix to the slower payments which are sometimes taking up to 5 days. If you are nervous about your spends in this program, you can still make money without surfing just by using their free PTC option, where you can earn a dollar or two each day by clicking links and viewing the ads for 20 seconds each.

Protect yourself from Internet thieves!

It is a well-known fact that cyberspace is filled with crooks who are constantly trying to divert your funds into their hands. You must take steps to protect yourself. I am always seeing sad stories in the forums about the loss of all funds from an egold account or similar event. There is free software available that will prevent this from happening to you. Click the title of this article to see my list of links to free software that I use. Check yourself on the items below...

1. Make sure your computer has firewall protection. If you have a router, it should have a free firewall option that you can turn on. Your browser should offer some protection for free if you turn it on. Otherwise, get a free firewall program from the internet and install it on your computer. Install several programs that improve security by blocking unauthorized downloads and by cleaning out trojans, keyloggers, etc.

2. To protect your valuable information from hard drive failure, keep a hand-written log book where you record each website URL you join and the member ID, password, and email you entered for that site. Keep a running total of spends and withdrawals for each program. Protect your log book carefully from fire, theft, loss, etc.

3. For all payment processors you have, set up an email account for them that is not used anyplace else. Make sure each payment processor has its own complicated passphrase. Never type a password using your keyboard. Instead, use an on-screen keyboard that enters your password through mouse-clicks. At the very least, type only the first few characters and the last few characters of your password and then click back into the middle to then enter the missing characters, since keyloggers cannot follow the location of mouse-clicks.

4. Do not respond to emails asking for information about your payment processor, especially if you are asked to click a link inside the email to 'verify your account.' These are phishing emails and can look very official but are bogus.

A no-surf option from Advertising-Surf

Advertising-Surf is a low-roi site that claims to have an outside revenue source. Their record of payments for about 10 months lends credence to this claim. Since they offered a no-surf hyip option paying the same rates as the surf option, I saw no reason to view 20 ads a day when I could make the same earnings without that effort. You may feel the same way.

To participate, you pay $5 to $10000 and get back 0.5% or more daily for 365 days. You may deposit from earnings 3 times per month or withdraw to your e-Gold account any day. Payout is made in 1 to 7 business days. Referral commission is 5% on all deposits. The terms are...
$5 - $495 : Earn 0.5% daily (182.5% total roi)
$500 - $995 : Earn 0.6% daily (219% total roi)
$1000 - $1495 : Earn 0.7% daily (255.5% total roi)
$1500 - $1995 : Earn 0.8% daily (292% total roi)
$2000 - $2495 : Earn 0.9% daily (328.5% total roi)
$2500 and more : Earn 1% daily (365% total roi)

Small forums are fun to visit

I make regular visits to the larger forums to see what people are saying about the programs I am in or thinking of joining. Sometimes I make a posting myself. These include MoneyMakerGroup (MMG), TalkGold (TG), DreamTeamMoney (DTM), and ASAMonitor forum.

However, I find it interesting to visit the smaller forums to view the postings because there seems to be a lot less confrontation and venting and a friendlier atmosphere. I visit these forums only once a day or less to catch up on the new posts added since my last visit. You may try these out just for fun... AutoSurfCentralCafe (ACC), the SafeList forum, HyipDiscussion forum, and the newly re-launched BunchofCroc forum.

Top 3 Investing Rules to remember

There are many things to keep in mind while attempting to make money on-line because there are so many scammers ready to run off with your dollars. Also, there are many people with good intentions who will lose your money due to their own incompetence. To avoid having your losses exceed your gains does require some personal discipline in sticking to the proven rules of operation. You can read all about my Total Investment Plan HERE, but the most important rules that you should never break are...

1. Never spend more in a single program than you can stand to lose.
2. Never compound your earnings until after you are in profit.
3. Never accept an enticing offer (that is, do not get greedy).

Surf Margin has rebounded

Several weeks ago, this program lost an income stream and had to go through a re-start, including changing some terms of operation. The rebound has been successful because no members lost any money during the re-start. All ad pack purchases that had not reached expiration were refunded, which is much better than other programs that have refunded only those not in profit. The admin of Surf Margin, Charles Goldenstein, has explained that he has outside investors who subsidize the site so it can continue indefinitely to pay the surfing members a profit of 36% on all spends.

Since it is a profit-sharing program, the daily earnings for surfing vary from 5% up to 15%, however there is always a cash bonus that pops up during surfing each day to add at least $2 to your earnings for the day. Since the automatic rotator is set at only 10 seconds per site, you must watch closely to catch the bonus. The bonuses help you to reach 136% in about 2 weeks unless you miss surfing days for vacation or other reasons, but you always get 136% per cycle. You are allowed only one upgrade at a time and the minimum is $50 which drastically decreases the number of 'referral hunters.' Max upgrade amount is $5000. SolidTrustPay and e-Gold are accepted. Normal payouts follow expiration of your ad pack purchase in 7 days, but you can get paid faster by paying a fee (3% for a 5-day payout or 5% for a 3-day payout). I am happy that I stuck with this one as it seems to have great promise for the future.

Recover your lost funds (maybe)

For those who have lost money in payment processors or other programs, there is hope to get back a small percentage of your loss by filing a claim. So far, there is nowhere to go if you lost out to Bob Krimm's Tri-Star Money Changers, but receivers are compiling data on those who lost out in the following sites ... just click the name to open the website where you can read the procedures to be followed for recovery of a portion of your loss:
EMO, CepTrust, 12DailyPro, FeederFund.

Steady Daily Shares surprised me

After being off-line for about a week, Steady Daily Shares suddenly reappeared with the announcement that the problems with their host had been resolved. They had told members that they were having hosting problems and would be back, but we have all heard that one from many sites that scammed away with all funds. It's always a pleasant experience to find a truthful admininstration who, by the way, are extending all share purchases so no one will lose any money. I was feeling lucky that I was already in profit with this one but now I am feeling even luckier for the opportunity to continue making profits from a site that seems to have some sticking power. This one is definitely worth a look. One handy feature is the allowance by the admin to upgrade with one payment processor and withdraw to another so you can move your funds between e-Gold and AlertPay with no transfer fees.

Pays about 1.5% on your $15 to $15000 payment for each day you view 5 web sites, up to 120 days. Accepts e-Gold and AlertPay. Request withdrawal any day and it is processed the same day.

Next Day 90 still strong

Theoretically, profit-sharing programs should be bullet-proof and last forever because they never pay out more than they bring in. Many programs were started on this model in the fall of 2006 but, as we learned, most failed as quickly as the high-roi ponzi sites, mostly due to incompetent admins. Next Day 90 has stuck to the model and paid out only what it has taken in for almost a year at this point and seems to be headed for that theoretical 'forever' lifetime. Daily earnings rarely vary from about 1.1% and upgrades expire at 140%, so it can take a while to get into a profit position. However, the safety of this low-roi site compared to the volatility of high-roi ponzi sites makes it an attractive choice. I believe the admin, Jim Williams, has the determination and competency to keep Next Day 90 going strong.

Mrs V's Income Portal made easy

There are several dimensions to Mrs V's money-making site and more will be added later, but for now there are two ways to generate income ... the matrix and the surf. Actually, the surf has 3 options so you could say there are 4 ways to make money. Since this is a subscription site, the first decision you must make is what level is best for you ... $20, $40, or $60 per month. The minimum amount will satisfy many, but some will choose the higher levels if they are good recruiters or plan to make large spends. The only way to know for sure is to visit the forum and read all about the advantages of each level. The subscription automatically places you into the 3x9 matrix where you can earn quickly by recruiting, or eventually without recruiting since you will benefit from spillover from your upline. You can also purchase ad packs in V-Lane and be paid for viewing other's ads.

After registering, you first fund your backoffice wallet from your SolidTrustPay, AlertPay, or e-Bullion account with enough to pay the monthly subscription fee. Then add more funds to your backoffice wallet so you may participate in V-Lane Traffic to earn from viewing ads. There are 3 plans: 1% for 365 days, 2% for 65 days, or a variable 3-8% daily reaching a total of 115%. You may choose one, two, or three plans but you only need to view the same number of ads to earn from all 3 plans at the same time. You may withdraw your earnings each month, but it is handy to leave enough to pay your monthly subscription automatically from your earnings.

For most members, any gain from the matrix will be modest at first so the site may be described as low-roi, however the commitment by its administrators to be a long-term program should make it a worthwhile addition to your earning portfolio.

A great low-roi surf site: Fair-Surf

Randy, who is also admin of Swift-Hits since Dec-06, is very responsive to members and always pays quickly. Fair-Surf, started 4-July-07, pays 2% on your $10 to $2000 payment for each day you view 30 web sites, up to 150 days. Profit per day = 1.3% Accepts e-Gold, SolidTrustPay, and AlertPay. Request withdrawal each 30 days. Payout within 10 days. Cashout fee = 5%. Referral commission = 2% of all ad pack purchases. I have been involved in both of Randy's sites long enough to be in profit, so I am very satisfied with his programs.

Looking for an e-Gold only site? Try Income Storm

The e-Gold system is certainly under a strain these days, so many admins are dropping it as a payment processor. If you are looking for a way to put your remaining e-Gold funds to work then Income Storm is working well and has a fast payout policy. You can earn 4.3% or more on your $10 to $1000 payment for each day you view 5 web sites, up to 30 days. Request withdrawal any day to your e-Gold account and it is processed the same day. My experience with this one has been very good so far.