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Techiepom
Guest
Techiepom
July 3, 2009 11:30 pm

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.

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vivian lewis
Guest
August 23, 2009 4:26 pm

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

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Kim
Member
Kim
February 12, 2010 10:05 am

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.

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tom
Guest
tom
November 29, 2011 11:47 pm

Global Investing is great but please stay away from this newsletter!

she only talks about her winners with no talk about her losers. never tells you when to sell which is more important than when to buy.

any monkey can pick a stock thats moving up, real talent comes with knowing when to sell – this newsletter will loose you money on trades and the crazy fee you pay to hear “my editor” rant

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zygmo
Member
zygmo
June 7, 2013 2:44 pm

Ms Lewis brings a unique perspective and hard work to her newsletter. I have been a member for several years and find her advice helpful and profitable, though I do not follow to the letter. ALL results are posted in the historical area, so cannot understand negative comments about that.

In addition to her unique investments, her insights into the world are eye opening and worth the cost of the letter on their own. I have at times had email correspondence with her that makes me feel like a unique friend. Yet she always maintains her professionalism.

Ms Lewis is a valuable resource for anyone interested in expanding their international viewpoint especially on investments.

sukiepongo
Member
sukiepongo
September 23, 2013 6:32 pm

I love this newsletter. Unlike pound-your-chest pundits or doomsday prophets, Vivian Lewis assumes her readers are adults. With her unique perspective and super smarts, she brings to the table a breadth of knowledge I find valuable. After just three months, I know so much more about world politics, biotech, finance, and other subjects. Anyone can get her free comments about the state of the world, but you need to subscribe to receive her specifics about stocks. She posts a round-up every Sunday that gives her record, which is excellent, and she responds by email to her readers, which made my subscription feel personal yet professional. I think she’s a mensch.
My only disappointment is that she mentions a list of stocks for those with little money to invest, which I never managed to locate on the site; I suspect it was too much updating in addition to the stocks, funds, and sold stocks that she handles every week. This newsletter is clearly a labor of love for Vivian. I applaud her and highly recommend her service.

jmarkar
Member
jmarkar
September 27, 2013 1:19 am

I have to say Linnea’s note summed it up for me pretty well. I have really enjoyed Vivian’s writing style, and have jumped on 3 or 4 of her recommendations. It’s only been 3 months for me as well, and though I am still waiting to see if my picks will turn real profit, none have lost any ground.
The biggest value for me is tapping into her international “team” to receive diverse insights into the broader world market, current events, etc. I have only been actively investing for about 5 years.. brought on by the necessities of the crash and a family illness. The biggest surprise since I began has been the astonishing widening of my horizons and increasing grasp of the macro political/economic systems and the powerful “butterfly effect” of small innovations as reflected in the flow of the capital and equity markets. I think that Ms. Lewis’ newletter has effectively contributed to stretching those boundaries for me, which is my first measure of value of information. There is clearly enough insight in each issue to allow me not to just mimic her picks, but to gain insights enough to seek out more information and extrapolate to make my own discoveries in related fields. I think is valuable enough for me to continue my subscription, though I will certainly re-evaluate periodically as I do with all my information resources.
I also have not been able to find that “beginners” portfolio on the site. It hasn’t appeared in her regularly published portfolio updates, but is mentioned prominently on the site.. so help us out Vivian. Thanks for the easy read style. More of a conversational tone, but still substantial.

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jcoulborn
jcoulborn
September 27, 2013 11:53 am

I, like several others here on Stock Gumshoe, subscribed because I’m an Irregular and Vivian, the editor of Global Investing, was trying to get word out on her newsletter. Therefore I only had 3 months of subscriptions, which will clearly alter how I feel about her performance.
Vivian writes a daily update, which is filled with some personal commentary, market expectations, and some other analysts opinions. It truly is a global portfolio she runs, with investments as diverse as Chinese biotechs, Irish betting stocks, Israeli oil, and many others. In addition, she does “get her boots on the ground” as she traveled to multiple countries during my reading.
All that is well and good, but there are a few things that irk me. First, she doesn’t really put out “buy” and “sell” alerts that I saw. She owns the stocks she recommends, so you’ll get an update that she sold/bought/averaged up or down. This can put you a day behind, and if she sold for material reasons, might impact your gains/losses.
As well, she does have a habit of being a bit of an “I told you so” whenever her theories are proven correct. Of course, she’s a newsletter writer, so that’s on par with the other writers.
Some of her picks are for the very long haul. She’s owned one stock for nearly 20 years, and it has increased by over 1000%, so she’s not too fickle, presumably.
Overall, I enjoyed the daily commentary. For those who read the comments here on Stock Gumshoe, which you should!, you’re probably aware that she’s very intelligent and doesn’t shy away from her views. If reading the forthright views of a Jewish woman upset you, then you should probably look elsewhere. I know that some people in the comments section haven’t appreciated her as much as others. I find her at the very least amusing, though sometimes a little too into patting herself on the back.
Realistically, it’s pretty hard to evaluate her performance. The last three months have been pretty good, overall, for the stock market, so her gains will be skewed. Her closed positions were decent, on average, with only a few spectacular gains and few huge losses. Still, a global portfolio does give one, presumably, some diversification, so this might be one you’re interested in.
She definitely gives you a global view across many sectors.

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davidshelton
October 9, 2013 6:39 pm

Like Jonathan’s previous review below, I also had the privilege of being able to “test drive” her service for free for 3 months to help get the word out. It’s hard to add much to the previous review as I agree with it overall. The following are my own views and should thus be taken with a pinch of salt.
Vivian is clearly a very well travelled and shrewd lady operating in this male dominated field so she deserves more than a little kudos just for this fact alone. I don’t know if she’s any more “I told you so” than others but she seemed to readily admit investment/recommendations mistakes which some newsletters seem to have trouble with. I think her choices seemed pretty diverse to me though it is hard to judge performance in 3 months alone but historically she seems to provide her subscribers good solid returns. Nothing too exciting as mentioned by Jonathan previously but very respectable nonetheless. She throws a wide net as she casts a jaundiced eye across the globe looking for companies to invest in. The companies are geographically very diverse. I must admit that I am a fan of a more simple no nonsense alert style service with the odd smattering of information one can learn from. Her daily commentary is interesting but you won’t find any breathless hyping of the next great penny stock nor selling of a great story that promises to make you rich quick. If anything I found the service to be a little sparse on detail, charts, reasoning behind each investment etc. Perhaps not everyone wants to have that kind of information and rather just have simple instructions to what to do now. Personally I like to learn a bit more about what’s going on under the hood of a stock recommendation with a view of educating myself and doing my own due diligence.
In my limited time as a subscriber I noted she seems to focus heavily on large blue chip companies, funds and bond funds mostly geared towards the safety conscious income crowd. She does have model portfolios to follow with recommendations on each stock listed. One of them is a bit more speculative but no crazy volatile stocks here.
Anyway overall I really liked her service even though it wasn’t quite my style(fyi I’m a younger investor so I like a little more risk, rightly or wrongly, that’s all). I particularly liked the fact that Vivian is personally available to one as a subscriber and was very prompt in her responses and quite helpful. That personal touch probably differentiates her from many other services. This is the kind of service I would recommend to a relative as I am loathe to recommend what I personally invest in because of the risk. Thumbs up to Vivian.

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prmadm
October 10, 2013 2:22 am

Like the other irregulars who have posted their reviews recently, I also received a complimentary “test drive” of the newsletter in exchange for an honest review of the services. The editor, Vivian Lewis, is extremely knowledgeable and well plugged into to world finance and affairs. I enjoyed reading her daily commentaries as they were both insightful and entertaining (I love her wry humor!). She makes a very sound case for all of her recommendations, and provides clear guidance for when to sell. I would certainly recommend this service to anyone that wants to diversify their portfolio with overseas investments. She is also very responsive to her subscribers. I messaged her once and received a prompt response and mention in her daily blog.

But I think the most important thing for a paid investment service is that it should make its subscribers money. Her portfolio records are transparent and available to all subscribers. She has been making her subscribers money. From my own experience I can say that her advice is profitable. After reviewing the service for a little over a month, I had some option calls called out on expiration and decided to put that money towards one of her recommendations (it was a very small position in my portfolio). After less than 2 months, that position is up 13.43%. I think that’s very good growth in this economic climate.

Overall, I would recommend this newsletter to folks looking for foreign investment opportunities and I really appreciated the opportunity to review the service.

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sportsbiz
October 24, 2013 12:10 am

Apparently, Vivien Lewis decided that giving out test runs to Irregulars was a cheap and effective form of advertising because, like most of the others here, I too got a three month test. I have to say that it is a consistently enjoyable and educational letter and a bit unusual in that she writes every day with some general comments and reports on news affecting portfolio companies. The only downside to this approach is that I found it a bit hard to distinguish when she was putting on new buys. Once a week you get a portfolio update which is when I could usually tell what she was up to.

The proof of any letter is how well does it perform and Vivien has be been performing. Based on her records, very transparent as noted, her income portfolio is up an average of 16% with an average yield of 7%. her growth portfolio is up an average of about 93%, while her speculative portfolio is up an average of nearly 19%.
She also recommends a closed end fund portfolio for those who want a little less risk than individual issues bring. That portfolio was up an average of 52% while yielding 12%.

Vivien is very knowledgeable and has a wide network of correspondents to draw on. She provides her readers with a good education about global investing and I would not hesitate to recommend her service to anyone who needs to add a global perspective to their own portfolio, (and if you don’t already have one, then you need to do so).

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sportsbiz
October 24, 2013 12:13 am

I meant to give her five stars but apparently operator error resulting in my giving her only four. This is to correct that error.

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hedy1234
hedy1234
November 4, 2013 4:29 pm

First let me say I appreciated the opportunity to review the Global Investing Product.

The writing style was not enjoyable because if was a bit too folksy/personal.

Specific stock recommendations were made but in a way that I just could not get comfortable with. Just did not get a sense for rigorous analysis when making the stock choices.

Some stock selections that affect the overall performance go back more than 10 years.

Recent performance against any index is not offered so I really could not judge the alpha gain potential of the subscription.

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bourea
bourea
November 4, 2013 8:53 pm

• Vivian Lewis is a world traveler that does a good job of locating interesting investment options. She has many expert international contacts. Her picks are unique and off the beaten path. Many investment letters have very similar styles, themes and picks. By subscribing to the Global Investing newsletter you will get something different, intriguing foreign picks. Vivian is a good writer and her writing style is fun to read. I invested in 2 of her picks and they were all in the money at the time of this review. Definitely check out her website http://www.global-investing.com/. The introductions to her blog postings are free and give you a flavor for the full content that is available for subscribers.

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jmarkar
Member
jmarkar
November 7, 2013 6:38 am

Like others here I took advantage of a trial membership and have completed it with the intention of signing on for a year. I have been enticed by Vivian’s colorful style, which is a framework for solid facts from around the world… stories, politics, and an eclectic array of stock opinions, most of which are fed by her network of friends and associates derived from her own travels and experience.

I like a newsletter that reads like a compelling conversation at dinner… laced with both facts and color. She has a sense of history of the investments and like any investor letter is not always a perfect prognosticator, but at least presents a case or basis for her opinions derived from more than one point of view or dogma: sometimes technical, sometimes value, sometimes timing, sometimes high risk/reward.
I have acted on two recommendations that resonated with me and they have paid sufficiently to merit the new subscription. I am bidding for a charity subscription at present, but if I don’t win the bid, I intend to subscribe through the normal channel.
I had trouble finding her Low-Cost portfolio, but did find the variety of portfolios valuable and interesting to monitor. She offers a little free teaser at the beginning of each letter.. . then the real meaty content is for members only.
I carry less than a handful of paid subscriptions at any time, but am looking forward to continuing with Global Investing. All in all… a winner.

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jossian
jossian
November 15, 2013 3:08 pm

Vivian Lewis comments at least one time per day and you can follow some of her comments prior to subscribing at http://global-investing.com

smhon
Irregular
December 23, 2013 1:43 am

Recommend for the serious individual investor who does not readily accept what the talking heads are saying and needs a succinct overview of developments in the global markets but lacks the time to read and follow the mountains of research material. The contents are extracted from a variety of sources and even other newsletters which I found was an efficient way to get updates as it covers stocks and markets including those not so commonly found in newspapers. Also liked efforts to be upfront such as the disclosure of retrocessions from Bullion Vault.
Editor Vivian Lewis runs a tight ship with 3 (?) other reporters. Written in an unvarnished, hold-nothing-back tone reading was initially uncomfortable but is worthwhile as there are some interesting observations. Example of an observation that impressed was how she figured out correlation plays such as Singapore based company Keppel being a proxy to the Brazil oilfield.
The daily pieces are published ‘as-is’ with typos and blemishes with a sincerity which grows on you as she details both developments in the markets and her occasional vents such as the not-so-lucky experiences with technology.
Transparent with their picks and the performance is updated regularly showing the hits & misses. Picks cover a decent mix of fixed income, stocks and funds. The holdings in the model portfolio require a minimum fund size to follow all the recommendations. As of writing the Yield, Buy & Hold, Speculative and Close-end Fund portfolio had 19, 35, 21, 22 holdings respectively.
Replicating will take some time and won’t match exactly as open portfolio positions date back as far as 1994. Performance is reported gross and not annualized so some caution on just interpreting the numbers.

Overall enjoyed the daily commentary and found Vivian very quick to respond over emails. Given the short length of time I have been following her recommendations the jury is still out on the quality of her picks. Appreciate the opportunity to review.
** Review based on a 12 week trial from 30 Aug 2013

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smhon
Irregular
October 12, 2020 7:19 am
Reply to  smhon

Several years have passed since I first had the opportunity to review this newsletter. This gives a much better perspective.

I found the news and events Vivien covers to be different to my normal market radar and that was useful. If frequent updates is your thing then you will appreciate the effort put in to give almost daily updates.

I found the frequency too high for my liking, especially during her ‘mood spells’ when there seemed to be complaints and ranting about things that had recently gone wrong

The writing style is sharp and witty with a twist of sarcasm. Some may like, some may not.

The investment calls are decent though there was more emphasis on biotech than my personal preference.

The newsletter is rated a strong 4 stars here. Investors running decent portfolios should have at least 2 to 3 paid subscriptions…and this would be a good candidate for one of those.

This brings a conclusion to my review .

Thank you Gumshoe for the opportunity to review this newsletter.

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