Stock Gumshoe

Today’s investment teaser ad comes to us from the fine folks at Stansberry & Associates — this time it’s from Tom Dyson, for his 12% Letter … which, as you might imagine, is aimed at dividend income.

And it is, at least, more honestly named than the “25% Cash Machine” that another publishing house offers for similar types of investments.

We’ve looked at a number of Dyson’s picks over the years, and he often comes up with interesting ones, nearly always with above-average dividend yields … with, of course, an interesting little story to go along with them. Numbers don’t always sell subscriptions, after all, but a good copywriter can make almost anything sound sexy.

And in this market, I suppose, you needn’t go far to make a little steady income from dividends sound sexy — now that we’re all terrified of growth and high PEs and bank stocks … and in some cases, I’m sure, wondering whether you can use a Starbucks coffee bag to bury your cash in the backyard, or does it really have to be a can?

Today, Dyson spins the tale by inventing a term for this investment: Bonded Trusts.

Sound familiar? Well, yes, it does sound kind of familiar — but not because it’s used in investing circles, more because it sounds like the kind of thing lawyers probably talk about … and because, in the back of your brain, you’re probably thinking that the Wall Street fat cats have been making money off of something sneaky like this that you’ve never really heard of. And you want in. Especially if it includes the words “bond” and “trust,” both of which sound a bit more promising than “stocks” at the moment.

But no, rest assured, there are no real secrets in this “bonded trust” world — or at least, not in the investments that Dyson is teasing with that phrase today. And if there are secrets, well, the Gumshoe is on the case, so they needn’t remain secret for long.

Let’s dig in a bit, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »

Now that’s a nice promise for these trying days — the “greatest income investment of all time.” Even Jim Cramer is yelling about investing in dividend stocks, and certainly for anyone within ten years of retirement the fact that we’ve now given up all of the past decade’s gains in the market is probably quite chilling — getting returns in the form of actual cash in your pocket is awfully compelling.

Today we’ve got the pleasure of looking at an ad for Graham Summers’ new(ish) service, the International Wealth Advisory. Graham used to work at Stansberry & Associates, where he edited Inside Strategist, a newsletter that claimed insight into insider buying trends (it’s now edited by Brian Heyliger). That newsletter used some over-the-top marketing pitches like the USG-4 campaign — but to Graham’s credit, he says that the aggressive marketing at Stansberry was one of the reasons he struck out on his own.

I haven’t written about any of the marketing pieces he’s used in the past six months or so with this new service, just because he hasn’t done much in the way of over-the-top ads. He sent me an email back in April that told me that his new service valued transparency and straightforward investing — and he had this to say about his marketing strategy:

“I don’t care for gimmicky sales pieces or clever marketing metaphors. I don’t even have a copywriter on staff. Instead, I’m writing all the marketing pieces. I have to admit, they’re not very big on ‘marketing.’ You certainly wouldn’t think much of them.”

He seems, from my very limited exchanges with him, to be a decent chap — and I generally like his free email newsletter. But I just noticed a new ad campaign of his that had some nice hyperbolic marketing attached, so I thought I’d write it up for you.

And yes, he does have a “secret” investment idea for you — and you’ll have to sign up for his newsletter if you want a copy of the special report that he’s calling: “STIMULUS DIVIDENDS: Big Income Courtesy of the US Government.” It’s selling for $99 at the moment, and like most of the other publishers he’ll give you your money back if you don’t like it, but if you’re just interested in finding out a little bit of info about “Reagan’s Stimulus Dividends” … well, read on!
Read the rest of this entry »

You may well have heard of Elliott Gue — he’s a pretty widely-read pundit on energy investment, which has, of course, been one of the hottest sectors of the last five years. He works on the venerable Personal Finance newsletter and also edits his own Energy Strategist, which I’ve written about a few times in the past year or so.

Today he’s not selling a subscription to his newsletter, but something even more ephemeral: he’s selling an “interactive investors event” during which, for $99, he’ll share some energy investing ideas for you.

Regardless of what you’re asked to buy, however, the selling technique is the same — he “teases” you with three great investment ideas, giving just enough facts to get your blood running, but not the name, or enough for it to be easily figured out.

Which is, of course, why you’re here — your friendly neighborhood Stock Gumshoe will take the Thinkolator out of the garage, fire it up, and see if we can spit out some answers to these little teasers … Read the rest of this entry »