Review by Techiepom, July 3, 2009

Overall Rating
Performance of Picks/Advice
Consistency
Interesting to Read/Educational
Customer Service
Value for the Money

Global Investing, http://www.global-investing.com

This is a highly personal newsletter written by a seasoned investor, Vivian Lewis, who specializes in international stocks, drawing on her own research and that of a diverse collection of contacts from around the world. It’s in blog form, written daily, with updates on portfolio stocks as well as comments on the world. The editor travels a lot, in South Africa right now. Great reading, and you feel that you get to really know her.

There’s a free version of the letter, the first half of each day’s missive without the stock-specific comments. You can also see, for free, recently closed positions.

I’ve had some big winners in my 30 months on board - she picked DRYS at about $10 before its big rise, and was in ADY well before its 300% jump this year. The international contacts really help - someone in Japan tipped her off that the Nintendo Wii was going to be hot before anyone in the US had heard of it, and I got a 120% gain out of NTDOY. Some duds of course, like too many banks during the fairly early stages of the banking collapse, strongly recommending BCS on its slide down. My biggest loss was on ORKLY, for which Vivian issued a sell right at the bottom last november. The circulation is small enough that enough that Vivian can recommend microcaps as well as big companies without moving the market badly.

Focus tends to be fundamental rather than any timing. Before the recent crash she was very high up in Hulbert’s ratings, but issues few sells on the way down. She sold half of DRYS at $100+, rode the rest down to the ground. Publicly kicks herself repeatedly. Quie a few stocks have remained buys while losing >50%. She doesn’t seem to believe in stops.

Main drawback at present is that Vivian has no support. She was writing through the defunct Rightside Advisors stable. Now she’s alone. You get the daily blog, and can see the portfolios on the website, but can’t search back to see the original rationale, which may go way back, like TEVA recommended at $1 in 1991. On the other hand, she cheerfully responds to queries in person.

This letter is a great way to look over the shoulder of a pretty successful investor and fascinating person with an off-the-beaten track slant. Check out the free version and you’ll see what I mean. I’m not especially wealthy but find the subscription, $459 for 2 years, well worth it.

Review by vivian lewis, August 23, 2009

I am refraining from giving my newsletter the maximum number of stars because I edit it. We sold ORKLY in order to buy Renewable Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Orkla with its own listing, also in Norway. We cannot own every stock in the world and we have to limit our number of positions and amount of invested money.

RNEWF quickly quadrupled. It went up much faster than Orkla. And there is nothing wrong with taking a loss, esp. in 2008 when everyone did.

please visit http://www.global-investing.com to learn more.

vivian, the editor

Review by Kim, February 12, 2010

Overall Rating
Performance of Picks/Advice
Consistency
Interesting to Read/Educational
Customer Service
Value for the Money

This newsletter claims to be “ranked 2nd top performing newsletter portfolio by Hulbert’s Financial Digest for the past decade”. However, latest Hulbert ratings show 11.0% average annual return in the last 5 years, 9.3% in the last 10 years and 10.2% in the last 15 years. This is decent performance, but it is not 2nd top, not even in the top 5. The newsletter lost about 40% in 2008.

The newsletter is also not cheap – the current price is $269 and it is going to be increased. “Outstanding Investments” which is ranked first and second in the last 5 and 10 years is charging $79 per year. “Cabot China and Emerging Markets” charge $99 for a year or $177 for two years. According to Hulbert, they have annualized gain of 21.4% in the last 5 years, compared to 11.0% return of “Global Investing”.

The daily commentary is not bad, but nothing special. The newsletter maintains three portfolios, with total of about 70 stocks. Not exactly practical for an average investor.

The bottom line: decent performance, long time track record, interesting to read. It is not a bad newsletter, but it is not cheap and there are much better options.