Review by Marco, January 27, 2009

Chris Mayer is great at writing copy to suck you into his service but he’s not that great at picking stocks. If you put $5,000 into each of his 13 closed trades for 2008 you would have $62,050 left from $65,000 invested. Better than most hedge funds or mutual funds, but not as good as Adam Lass with his Wavestrength Options Weekly.

The stocks that Chris looks at are pretty safe bets, with some returning over 100% and some losing 80%. Nothing earth shattering with this service as most of the companies have been around for years with good earnings and a performance record to back them up.

Chris doesn’t work both sides of the market. He just recommends buys, no shorting or options here. It’s not my cup of tea and I left the service during my 6 month trial, as I wasn’t all that interested in his trade recommendations.

Review by farley 5, February 7, 2009

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Capital & Crisis
Pays no attention to supply and demand and is reluctant to offer sell recos. Return in alphabetical order, Core Portfolio: -17.68, -12.41, -73.15, -1.05, -26.26, -77.63, -27.31, -12.80, -26.50, -34.13, -75.02, -26.44, -47.45, -62.64, -29.22, +39.27 in 2006,
-22.39, +40.75 in 2008, -13.21.

Special Situations Portfolio: -86.04, -76.66, -72.01, -75.45, -51.15, -36.28.

If my performance was this bad I would be fired.

Review by Dave, February 14, 2009

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I have lost a lot of money on his picks. So I stopped trading his picks.

Review by Elton's Dad, February 14, 2009

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Capital and Crisis by Chris Mayer is the best investment newsletter I have ever found. I have had it for 2-3 years at $49 per year/auto renew. He is a value investor and provides great historical references to other great value investors. He calculates the value of the company and compares it to the current stock price and gives you buy up to prices and also keeps you informed with weekly updates. I have recommended this to my kids just for the learning experience.

I highly recommend his book: Invest like a Dealmaker, Wiley,2008. His other newsletter, Mayer’s Special Situations, for smaller companies is also good but at $600 or so last I checked probably not for the starting, small investor.

My only criticism with his work is when we have a tough bear market like we have now. He bases his company values on asset values which can change drastically in this deflationary invironment—commodity prices, real estate, etc. He would improve his service if he did something about that issue but otherwise he is the best I have found for value investing.

Review by BruceB, February 16, 2009

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Customer Service	Not Rated
Value for the Money

Chris Mayer is very conservative in his stock recommendations. He likes infrastructure companies, dividend-paying companies, companies who have money in the bank, natural resource companies, and holding-company stocks. The latter term is how I describe a conglomerate whose business is owning various stocks and other assets, and whose chieftain(s) have a record of successful investing. Think about the Tisch family — they run Loews (L). Mayer’s portfolio has been hit pretty hard since mid-98 (but whose portfolio hasn’t been clobbered?). Mayer’s oldest holding goes back to Feb 05. It seems to me that his turnover rate isn’t very high. My own investment style is fairly similar, so I kinda like this newsletter. The difficulty is that I have identified and bought several stocks before they showed up in Capital & Crisis

Review by NK, February 27, 2009

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One disadv that all newsletter advisories suffer from is making picks every month. I have yet to see someone make only 6 picks for the entire year. So in such cases it is important that the editor look for both buy and sell recos. Chris gives only buys. And so his portfolio got burnt in 2008. His picks are sound for his fundamental analysis which looks diligent. But the timing is off. If he were to use his diligence in making sell recos too I am sure he would come out somewhere near the top.

Review by Elissa Stein, March 5, 2009

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Chris Mayer hadn’t proffered a new buy recommendation for a very very long time, until this newest issue, for April 2009.

The performance has been awful. Buy and hold hasn’t worked of course, and he doesn’t recommend cutting losses fast enough or often enough. If you are concerned with limiting your downside, you can’t rely on him for such advice. Anyone who actually buys a Mayer recommendation when he recommends it should diligently hedge and expect to have to do that for years to come.

The analysis is interesting, and well articulated.

His timing is miserable, but there is a lot of food for thought if you are not a perma-bear and believe that infrastructure, energy and commodity companies will do well in the decades to come. I enjoy reading this publication. I have found that most of his recommendations are companies that I am already familiar with, but he definitely has some that are on my buy list should we ever see a bottom form in the present market. It’s hard to be a value investor right now, and that is Mayer’s slant.

Review by Mike Pearson, April 23, 2009

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What folks need to understand is this guy is not a trader he’s an investor… You don’t get very many sell recommendations because he wants to hold great companies for as long as he can. He is a true value investor. Unfortunately these guys have to make picks even if they don’t think it’s great time to buy stocks. Now is the perfect time to subscribe to this letter when Chris can find great companies selling for prices we haven’t seen in decades. Don’t buy this letter trying to make a quick buck. This is guy is rising star… Follow him and ten years you will glad that you did. In addition to his analysis the letters are very educational and entertaining.

Review by Bert Alexander, June 13, 2009

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Performance of Picks/Advice	Not Rated
Consistency	Not Rated
Interesting to Read/Educational
Customer Service	Not Rated
Value for the Money

CAPITAL & CRISIS is very well written & explains the economic disaster both in historical terms as well as the current culprits.

Review by inigo, June 21, 2009

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I think one of these prior reviews hit the key point: the guy is a long-term investor, not a trader. Don’t expect him to swing you in and out of stuff. He is careful with recommendations, sometimes skipping months. In March he doubled up, picking up two gems that have nearly doubles since. He also made some timely swaps, selling one position and buying something else. So, I’d say his timing is not all bad.

But the real value in the letter is just the fun and education you get from reading it. His issues are well-written and always interesting. And he also mails out weekly commentary, which is also thought-provoking and well-researched.

For $59, it is well worth it.

Review by T R, July 30, 2009

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Although it’s clear from the portfolio listing in the newsletter that the vast majority of his picks have lost money from the time he recommended them, I happened to subscribe late last year and eventually have bought most of his portfolio. The average over about 17 stocks is an increase of 25%. However, I do set trailing stops on most, and have been stopped out on a few. I think in some cases, but not all, he did issue sell recommendations.

Review by Gabriel, December 8, 2009

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Customer Service	Not Rated
Value for the Money

Chris Meyer recommends deep value stocks and is willing to wait years for the market to agree with him. For the price, the C&C newsletters are worth reading just for the educational value alone. When a pick blows up, he doesn’t sweep it under the rug but devotes space to figure out what the flaw in his thinking was. I don’t buy everything Chris recommends but the letter helps me invest more wisely.

Review by Herb, December 24, 2009

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Value for the Money

Subcribed in July and bought three or four recos so far. TIE, CDE, L, NGD. Can’t complain. But in this market?