[Warning to the Stock Gumshoe Irregulars and contributors — you’ve heard this before!]

Today you have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor with a shocking new discovery that will change your life forever!

And all it will cost you is about $1 a week. I think that’s what a packet of sugar costs at Starbucks.

OK, so that’s not really true. And I apologize for acting like the newsletter publishers I follow.

But the $1 a week part is true — I’m asking you to send me some money, to put it bluntly.

If you don’t want to make ongoing contributions, or read any more of my pathetic plea for funding, you can also just quickly send a few bucks via Paypal (which takes any credit card) — just use this link or just use your paypal account to send money to ilovestockspam@gmail.com … thanks!

And rest assured that I really hope you will continue to read the site and participate in the site and forum, whether you decide to make these entirely voluntary contributions or not.

I have many loyal readers who have been willing to pitch in a few dollars for the Gumshoe — from $2 to $200, the contributions have been very much appreciated.

But at the beginning of this delightful year, it’s now time for my renewed begging efforts. For those of you who have already heard this pitch, or who are already contributors or have made the decision not to contribute, I’m very sorry to bother you with it again. Especially those of you who have already contributed … but this is the easiest way to reach all my new readers who haven’t yet heard me grovel for cash. I promise not to ask for money more than once per quarter, if that helps.

As you can imagine, sniffing out these companies and writing them up for your amusement takes quite a bit of time — the Gumshoe is compensated emotionally by the thanks of his readers, and the thrill of discovery, but, frankly, he could use some more cash, too.

Stock Gumshoe carries advertising, which you might have noticed, but the other source of funds for my ongoing sleuthing efforts is the horde of happy Gumshoe readers, and they’ve got a name:

The Stock Gumshoe Irregulars (apologies to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Intrigued? I thought so. Stock Gumshoe runs on contributions and on advertising, so this is one easy way to support the Gumshoe — either a one time contribution of any amount you want, or a “subscription” that will drain your Paypal account just $4.50 a month. Just use these links:

Continuing contributions of $4.50/month — you can stop at any time through your Paypal account, or by asking me to cancel it for you. Plenty of people have donated for a few months and then cancelled, and I think they can stipulate for you that I have neither begged to get them back, nor caused them any trouble in cancelling the contributions.

Or of course, if you don’t want to make an ongoing commitment you can give whatever you want.

You don’t need to have a Paypal account already — any credit card will do to get you started.

And you can easily cancel the $4.50/month plan at any time, either on your own in your Paypal account or by emailing me. You won’t hurt my feelings.

If you’d rather make a contribution by check, that’s fine, too — just make your check payable to Travis Johnson (the Gumshoe’s secret identity isn’t so secret after all) and send it to:

Travis Johnson
Stock Gumshoe
PO Box 9751
Washington, DC 20016-9751

Remember, however, that in exchange for this contribution you don’t get anything you can hold in your hand. Or a tax deduction. Or anything that regular readers of the Stock Gumshoe don’t get for free.

You don’t need to send me money to keep getting the email alerts, or to keep reading the site. I very much hope that all of you will keep reading, whether you decided to contribute financially or not.

I’m thinking of creating some more premium content that I would actually charge for and restrict access to, but for now there’s just the regular site and forum, and both are free whether you subscribe or not (and any existing paid subscribers will be grandfathered in to any premium service, of course, should they so desire).

But for now, you don’t even get a special membership card, or mailing labels, or greeting cards. If I recognize your name, I might answer your emails a little faster … but I can’t even make that bold guarantee.

That’s right — for the small, small sum of $4.50 a month you can be a member of the Irregulars and stand out as one of the generous souls who is willing to pay for what other people get for free.

It won’t seem like much money to you (I hope), just another Starbucks Venti Caramel Latte, but the mighty hordes of Stock Gumshoe readers, acting as a mighty wave of humanity, can together make a real dent in the operating expenses of the Gumshoe and help motivate him to keep doing this work.

This will help to keep the Stock Gumshoe in the power bars and coffee that fuel his late-night sleuthing activities. And help pay for the medical treatment for his poor, afflicted typing fingers. And perhaps some psychiatric treatment to force him to stop speaking of himself in the third person.

Thanks to all the readers of this site, whether you donate to the cause or not — I appreciate you reading and hope you keep coming back, this is fun work.

And keep sending me your stock spam, solved or unsolved, at ilovestockspam@gmail.com — the more the merrier (though don’t feel bad if I don’t answer yours — this has become a bit of a deluge, so I can’t quite get to them all. And if I can’t solve one, I’ll probably just be too embarrassed to tell you).

If you don’t want to, or can’t contribute financially, or if you already have, what else can you do to help the Gumshoe cause?

  • Spread the word to all your investing friends.
  • Feel free to post links to the Gumshoe on your own site, or email writeups to your friends if they’d be interested.
  • Use the handy headline animator widget on your blog or website or MySpace page or wherever, it will always show the most recent Gumshoe article headlines. If you’d like a different version of this, I can probably help you out — just let me know.
  • Check out the offerings of a few advertisers with whom I have affiliate relationships — these aren’t Gumshoe endorsed, per se, but they are legit operations that I personally use to some extent, and they have good free resources. This includes ADVFN (free membership available), which I like for foreign stock quotes and charts and some good discussion boards, and Elliott Wave International (join the free “Club EWI” by clicking here), which I’m trying to use to learn some technical analysis techniques.
  • And of course, keep on sending me your teaser email spam — that’s the fuel that really keeps the Gumshoe going.

All the best, and a thousand thanks, from your friendly neighborhood Stock Gumshoe.

The author will always disclose any direct long or short equity, debt or option position in any stocks written about as of the day of publication, and will not trade in any stocks mentioned for three days after publication. Full disclaimer is at the bottom of the page. More Gumshoe goodness: Uncategorized