Review by csprings, April 27, 2009

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I have been a subscriber for about 2 months now, so I am really still in the evaluation phase. I started an evaluation after reading a number of positive comments about it in the stockgumshoe forums. It performed the best of the systems I track during the recent March-April rally, and it appeared to perform decently in 2008.

VectorVest is mostly a market timing system using mostly trailing indicators. It is going to get you in and out of the market about 1-2 weeks after each major market inflection point. It’s not going to get you in/out right at the bottom or top. Combined with stops though, you will keep most of your profits on the way down. It determines market movement by price action of its combined database of stocks, 8,300 or thereabouts that it tracks.

Along with tracking price action to determine a market direction, it assigns a value to each stock. The value is based somewhat on fundamentals. (I’m not sure how much to believe the VectorVest ‘value’ for a stock, but it is a rough gauge of what the fundamentals of the stock say it should be worth, run through a fancy formula)

The basic strategy is to pick undervalued stocks when the market goes up, reverse when it goes down. They provide a bunch of variations on that theme with different stock scans and a simple simulator. They will test a number of strategies for current market conditions and advise subscribers of half a dozen filters that will probably work. Each subscriber picks which exact strategy and list of stocks to go with when the market trend say ‘buy’.

They found early on that when they tried to make it very simple and say exactly what to buy when, it didn’t work, too many people would pile on to the same stock at the same time. Each subscribor now takes more responsibility for their choices. I like it that way, but not everyone does.

This system appears to have gotten all of the major market moves that have lasted over a month. It is mostly based on measuring recent moves and doesn’t get caught up with pre-conceieved notions of what the market OUGHT to be doing. All of the recommendations are kept on line, so you can go back and check for yourself whether what they were advising at key dates would have worked for you. However, going through that exercise is quite a bit of work, and I haven’t done it completely yet.

I suspect that if we get into a protracted volatile/sideways/range bound market, this system isn’t going to do quite as well, it can get whipsawed with its trailing indicators. It’s not a good day trading system and relies on trends that will last a month or two so you can get a decent bite out of the middle. Also, it doesn’t have any way of assigning value to ETFs, so it’s ability to predict ETF movement appears a bit simplistic; it was designed more for individual stocks.

at about 600/year it’s not cheap. I don’t like that they sell so many add-on packages. The base package charts their proprietary indicators. If you want a more standard charting capability, with MACD and all the ‘normal’ technical indicators, you have to pay an extra $400-$500 fee. If you want canadian markets, asian markets, extra fee, options analysis, extra fee. It tracks the foreign stocks that are listed through our normal exchanges though.

Since this system did the best in our 2009 spring rally, which many gurus missed or didn’t believe was possible, I’m going to stick with it for a year.

BTW, they also keep a watchlist of stocks that appear in the popular newsletters, similar CarrotTrader, so you can run the filters against them as well.

One problem they allude to is that some subscribers have trouble pulling the trigger when the indicators say ‘buy’. They want an additional week of confirmation, but since these are already trailing indicators, those folks end up chasing the move and don’t do very well.

One final thing, I agreed to put the whole year on my AmEx so I would get the 5 CD training set for free, which is this 2-day seminar they normally put on for 150-200 bucks. If I hadn’t gone through the training, I don’t think I would have figured out enough of the ins and outs of all their strategies and filters to know what to do, but they don’t send you the training CDs until the end of your free 5 week evaluation period. So forget about the free period, it’s nice but you’re probably not going to figure it all out unless you bite the bullet and pay for a year. My opinion.

Review by Max, April 29, 2009

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

Very complicated, expensive, must buy additional classes etc. and I am not sure how well it really works. And in their advertising they don’t show one whipsaw their system created this (09) spring. They only show the profitable trades… this makes me think that if they are not honest with their results; what else they are not honest about?

Review by Rob L., May 1, 2009

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I would liken VectorVest to a Ferrari. If you hand the keys to someone who doesn’t know how to successfully apply technical analysis, you’re going to hear the gears grind, and you might even see a crash. In the hands of someone who already knows what they’re doing, on the other hand, VectorVest is a godsend, an excellent source of data.

Investors looking for “stock picks” would be well advised to look elsewhere. Investors who are looking to pick their own, on the other hand, will find a plethora of fundamental and technical data here that make the job easier (notice I didn’t say easy). Customer service is excellent, and backed by a number of local workshops that assist you as you are getting to know the software.

Review by R Fraser, May 1, 2009

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

I had an experience with VectorVest that has bothered me since it happened, and I’m glad to finally have a forum to warn others. (Actually, my comments somewhat parallel Max’s with respect to honestly and trustworthiness.)

I have received VV ads for some time, and even signed up for the 5-week trial, although I never got around to using it, so I express no opinion as to whether or not the stock picking and market timing elements of the system work.

My direct experience concerns their ads. I read their ads very carefully and found a glaring error in their claimed numbers. I don’t have the ads at hand, so the numbers I’m going to cite are approximations, but they are pretty close to what the real numbers are. In essence, VV claimed that over a 10 year period, following one of their strategies would have led to an account balance that grew over 1000%, giving the investor annual returns of about 100% per year. The problem is that multiplying an account balance 10 times over 10 years is NOT an annualized return of 100%; instead, it is an annual return of about 26%. (This is the difference between a geometric average and an arithmetic average; geometric averages must be used to compute and compare returns on investments, NOT arithmetic average. The differnce can become huge over time as this example illustrates–the fair number is 26% per year, not 100% per year.) I spent some time calling VV and talking to them, explaining that the 100% number they were claiming was erroneous and must be changed; they promised they would look into it and correct their advertising. They never changed anything can I continued to receive their advertising over many months and years with the misleading numbers. As far as I know, they are still using this phony methodology to compute their returns. I even filed a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), but they did nothing about it. (Aside: don’t ever rely on the Federal government to look out for investors or consumers–they rarely do anything.)

Moral to the story: VV uses phony numbers, and won’t change them even when it’s pointed out to them. If SOME of their numbers are phony, why would anyone buy their product, not being able to trust them to do the right thing? Like MAX above, when I find someone lying to me one time, I go elsewhere. Do YOU want to gamble on this company with YOUR money?

Review by JOHN POOL, May 1, 2009

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I LOVE VECTOR VEST AND WOULD NOT BE WITHOUT IT AS IT IS THE BEST WAY I HAVE EVER FOUND TO SELECT STOCKS OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS.

Review by topwoman, May 1, 2009

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As csprings has covered the ins and outs of the system, I won’t repeat an explanation here. I have been a subscriber since late 2005, and have been very pleased with the service. In that period, I bought and held 3 stocks. ALL 3 were winners for me - 2 up well over 100%, and one up 35%. More important, VV signalled a general sell in time for me to preserve all gains. Since June, I sat in cash and watched as the market tanked.

As we decided to invest in Real Estate this fall, I have not gone back into the market, so can’t comment on VV performance since July.

This tool is powerful.

The downside - one must invest a lot of time learning the system, and take frequent (free) tutorials in order to use the strategy which they deem most suitable for the week. For people looking for a stock picking system — sorry, folks, this one is not for you. On the other hand, if you are willing to do your homework, you will be handsomely rewarded. Pricy it is - but with the real potential of a very quick payback.

BTW, what drew me to this system was a student’s study of several systems - concluding that VV was the “best of breed”.

Review by Roonie1942, May 2, 2009

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I have used Vectorvest for three years. The timing advice for getting in and out of the market has made me a winner in both my 401K at work as well as on a roll over IRA. As I was a loser after the tech bubble popped (letting someone else manage my funds for me) Vectorvest has allowed me to successfully watch my $$$ grow! I would never be without my friends at Vectorvest!

Review by Warren, May 2, 2009

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

As a ten year subscriber to VectorVest I have tested its price-driven machinations and features exhaustively. While
its market timing follows rather than anticipates, it doesn’t lag by much, and has a tendency to lure one into a direction without much confirmation; hence, in a volatile market it will
tend to move in and out of the market frequently, but also recommends very tight trailing stops to minimize damage.

I do not take its buy/sell ratings seriously, nor, for that matter, most of its proprietary and opaque fundamental rating
metrics. Indeed, most of its “Strategies of the Week” are
based on price momentum, volume, market cap, sector, combined with bottom fishing, combined with top down ranking and
screening. During protracted bull markets VectorVest reverses
strategy and fishes from the top, rather than the bottom of
the barrel, with a tendency to buy into overbought stocks.

VectorVest, as I see it, thumbs its nose at serious and
thorough, number crunching fundamental analysis, and takes
a casino approach to trading, but has a way of tipping the
scales in your favor to a remarkable extent if you have the
courage to (1) fully load the boat when its market timer is
positive, and (2) use tight trailing stops.

Much of VectorVest’s success in 2008 and 2009 derived from
its liberal use of leveraged, contra ETFs in place of taking
individual short positiions. It also flourished during that
time by investing long in small cap, low priced, “sell rated”
stocks during market rallies.

VV offers a “Model Portfolio” to illustrate deployment of its
various formulas. It admonishes subscribers not to attempt
to imitate this portfolio, since they do not choose their
strategy until the morning of the same day that they use it.
Their choice and results are shown after market close. However, one can attempt to follow it, because they list up to six strategies that they “might” use under certain market
conditions the evening before. Running all of these strategies through their screeners in advance produces a list of up to 60 stock selections, many of which are duplicates.
By studying that list one can pretty much surmise what types of stocks they are focusing on and try to narrow it down.

VectorVest asserts that using the Model Portfolio in this manner is an affront to their intention to teach subscribers how to intelligently follow the trend momentum on their own,
using the many VV tools. These tools include a long list of screening and ranking methods, a historical price data base
going back ten years for every listed stock day by day, a
portfolio tracker and back tester, and the ability for
subscribers to create their own search and screening filters.

VectorVest is entirely unique, and can provide record shattering returns to those who have the guts to be fully
invested, and to reinvest most profits along the way However,
horrifying collapses can occur from gap downs which bypass
stop orders, so along with astounding gains of 80 to 100
percent annually, one must be prepared for stunning reversals
as well. VectorVest is only for the brave of heart, and most professional investors who I know feel that the analytic
tools it provides are incomplete and not to their liking.

Personally, I find it stimulating and highly rewarding to use.

Review by jchere, May 2, 2009

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I first subscribed about 5 years ago. The almost free trial($10) trial came with a full set of info, books, CD etc. They didn’t bug me after the trial expired.
I use it as a great source of info on a large array of investments. It is true that it follows and the buy-sell advise is always after the change but it is the fastest easist way to get all the real info.
I often disagree with their rcomended stocks but have found them to be a gold mine in several cases. I use VV to screen their recomendations.

I often disagree with their top rated stocks but I find that thoes are a gold mine of interesting stocks and use their information to select from them. The results
have beenI have used the back testing ability to quickly screen ideas. Most of the time I have found my and their ideas work well on the dates selected but don’t do well on other dates. For example, I have found low P/E alone doesn’t seem to give a better chance of future profit than higher P/E.
Good advice and a powerful screener is well worth it to me.

Review by jchere, May 2, 2009

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I tried to edit my comments above but the system inserted my edits at random in my previous review, and made it worse.
VV will not answer all q’s about what is best and when to buy/sell but will provide the numbers that you can use to make your own decisions.

Review by oeg, May 3, 2009

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I subscribed to VV for the market timing feature. Twice in 2008 and 2009 VV would have whipsawed you in and then out for a loss. Their lag time is about 10 days, which is just about long enough to to get you in at the higher high, rather than the higher low…meaning you’ll get stopped out unless you wait a week or so before following their advice. Their advertising is VERY misleading. They currently completely ignore the January 2009 “market up” call, which one day later deteriorated into a triple red…something than had never happened in 5 years. They say, sorry, but we follow lagging indicators. we don’t predict the market. Oh. They automatically renew you without warning, so beware. When I called two days after the unexpected renewal, they did give me my money back but literally berated me as a stupid person (maybe winning through intimidation works on some people). I found them to be arrogant, and always ready to tell you of some tiny little footnote you missed when their “signal” turns out to be perfectly wrong. I don’t think you’d go as wrong with VV as you would with pure hypesters like Navellier who claimed victory with his picks down 68% from when he said buy (and never said sell), but your own simple technical analysis will work just as well as VV. I feel the same money is much better spent on a hotel at one of the Money or Traders Expo shows.

Review by Suncatcher, May 4, 2009

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I tried the VV trial and was automatically rolled into a subscription. I called to cancel early in the month so I wouldn’t forget. They informed me that I could only cancel immediately, not a date forward. What BS, I didn’t bother to tell them I only wanted to wait for a more opportune time to get invested in the service and now wasn’t a good time. If that is what passes for customer service count me out. I think the service has merit but it is pretty expensive if you are a small or casual investor. They are way over hyping and everything is a cost add on. Some interesting stuff though.

Review by William Schraeder, May 5, 2009

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Don’t waste your money; more importantly, even if you have money to burn, don’t waste your time.

When we first purchased VectorVest six months ago and began a thorough and systematic evaluation of the product, we initially believed that we could profit by taking the opposite side of the VectorVest recommendation, as our tests indicated that VectorVest’s marketing timing calls and stock ratings were wrong about 87% of the time. In other words, it appeared that VectorVest was just a parrot for what Wall Street recommends, and anyone that has traded for awhile knows that when Wall Street says buy, that means sell, and when they say sell, that means buy. Unfortunately, after a thorough analysis, we realized that all testing using the VectorVest system is invalid because the system contains bad math and bad data. Specifically, VectorVest does not properly account for stock splits, includes numerous bad prints in its data. In addition, the mathematical calculations used in the system have numerous errors.

In terms of product quality, VectorVest is severely lacking. In addition to the bad data and mathematical errors mentioned above, the program frequently crashes, has frequent “divide by zero” errors, and sometimes will simply not retrieve results. As programmers, we were able to definitively determine that all of these problems were due to poor programming practices, poor quality assurance testing, and most importantly, an arrogant attitude on the part of the support staff and a refusal by them to fix the problems. We are confident the reason for this is they sell so many copies of this flawed product that frankly, they don’t care. Moreover, they DO NOT offer refunds, so if you purchase anything other than the basic monthly data, which you can cancel but not receive a pro-rated refund on, you get no refund. In other words, they know the software has problems, therefore, they do not offer refunds.

The bottom line is after over six months of thorough and careful analysis, we conclude that regardless of whether you follow the system or take the opposite side of the trade, your results cannot be reliably predicted simply because the data the VectorVest system relies on is inaccurate. At the end of the day, any serious analysis using their product is analogous to throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal stock tables. Between failure to account for stock splits, bad prints, and a multitude of programming errors within the system, most simulations you run are statistically unreliable because the data in the VectorVest system is inaccurate. Moreover, locating and/or attempting to filter out the bad data in the VectorVest system is excruciatingly painful because the program frequently encounters “divide by zero” errors or simply crashes. You have to have a tremendous amount of patience and a cabinet full of pain killers to use the VectorVest system for more than a few days.

Don’t waste your money or your time.

Review by nj_houston, May 7, 2009

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Having used VectorVest for over 5 years, I know I would not be without the service. I don’t always buy their top picks because I might not agree with the quality of the company or whatever. However, I have made money consistently with the the strategy I selected. VV offers many strategies so not everyone has to pile up on just one. Learning the strategies that fit your investing style helps and you need to work at that part. At first, I wasn’t making as much money and then found you must play the downside as well to make the returns. Now that I use negative ETFs versus having to write shorts I have a much more profitable portfolio. Another approach I used was to apply different different strategies and investment patterns to different accounts one is conservative, one plays both up and downside and one is value etc .

Review by William C. Siegel, May 8, 2009

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I have subscribed to VV for about 6 months and have been very happy with the results. There is so much information available and it really depends on much time and effort you want to put into the system to get the most out of it. In its basic form it gives excellent information to make educated investing decisions to a novice investor and other information is available to the more experienced investor. I would recommend VV to anyone.

Review by robbie, June 6, 2009

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

watch these guys like a hawk they only show their good calls; delete the bad ones…ditto on stock picks…they are a pin the tail on the donkey game and move around the room to make themselves look good. they do not live in the reality of trading; rather that of writing compelling ads.

Review by yingguo, June 6, 2009

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For me VectorVest is the Best program to pick stocks even for Day Trading. I really like it and hece I do not like those posts that talk very bad about this excellent product.

I like the simplicity of the Unisearch Tool. Thanks to it, anyone can easily make their own queries by introducing few changes on the queries already provided. There is no comparison with the complexity of languages like Mql4 or EasyLanguage found at MetaTrader and TradeStation.

Review by Axell, June 8, 2009

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As a veteran investor, i found Vectorvest to be a very valuable tool for reference, market trend & discovering interesting stocks/companies to research, both here in Canada & in the USA. I saved a small fortune last summer by following their advice & divesting myself of my Potash & mining stocks before the nasty, ugly downturn! Some of their special programs seem a bit complicated to grasp & understand, but the front page big picture is clear & concise, “reactive” simplicity being a very desired feature in the Stock Market. The staff is friendly & helpful..These people are winners & they know it!! I like many newsletters for various reasons, but overall,i find VV is tops! Thank You Stock Gumshoe!

Review by Jeanne, June 15, 2009

I just signed up for there trail which is very misleading. I thought I was getting a trail of their whole system but it turns out it is only for their system that gives you info on end of close from the previous day. When I called I was told to get their up to date info I had to sign up for that trial at $29.95. Funny that trial isn’t even listed on their page which tells me they get you for that $9.95 and then want an additional $29.95. I would have gladly paid the $29.95 to begin with but after feeling screwed by them there is no way. I hate it when companies aren’t up front. If you have a great product to sell you shouldn’t have to resort to this type of stuff.

Review by Toeser, July 13, 2009

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I have used VV for maybe 10 years. This is not a “hand it to you on a platter” service. Be prepared to spend some time, thought, and energy to receive value from the service. It is not really a service for novices, in my opinion. The more you know about trading stocks, and the more experience you have, the more value this service offers.

This is not primarily a newsletter. It is software to create, test, and share trading systems and methodologies. I have found VV to be an incredibly useful tool. However, this is where market smarts come in. For example, trading strategies or systems built with VV suffer from “survivors bias” when back testing. When a company goes belly up, gets acquired, etc. – it is no longer in the data base. All of your back testing will be limited to survivor companies, which tends to give you exaggerated positive results. Then there is some silly stuff, like suggested parameters for not owning more than x% of a company’s stock, which are usually set waaay too high to be realistic. But you can control these things yourself with some common sense.

Of real value, if you live near them, are monthly user group meetings. These can be very helpful in learning the system, sharing ideas, etc. Also, VV offers weekly online tips and classes (not interactive) to help with understanding the system, how to build and use strategies, etc.

If you are the type of person who becomes married to a company, or in love with a stock, steer clear. This is a trading system. It is for buying and selling portfolios of stocks based upon various selection criteria and timing systems. For the most part, you should not even care what the companies do.

Lastly, the founder and his staff provide daily and weekly commentary about the market and strategies they are using. This part of the service can be very useful, particularly for new subscribers. Is the advertising a little biased? Probably. Is the service perfect? No. But, it is the real deal, and you can make money with it if you have the right temperament and work ethic. I would not be in the market without it.

Review by Dave S, July 25, 2009

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Value for the Money

I have used VV for over two years and have decided to cancel my subscription. At first, I tried running through their strategies to find the best ones for the market conditions. That became a very time consuming process. I did get some positive results initially, and should have taken my profits and run but didn’t because VV kept me in. I ended my first year with a 30% loss. I started the second year again with some positive results but stayed in too long again because VV kept rating my choices as a “buy” or “neutral” never a “sell”.

I finally went to cash long before the market crashed but did not get any advise to do so from VV. Again, I lost 30% but got out before things got worse. I would have had a 50% loss if I stayed in. I look at VV every night and still missed the March turnaround. I’m tired of spending $59 each month and losing money.

Finally, I don’t like the idea of having to buy add-ons to get the full use of the system. Every time you look they are trying to sell you something and I’m sick of it.

Review by Randy, September 8, 2009

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I have been an active investor for 15 years, and after getting burned with the sell-offs of 2000 and 2008, decided I had to DO SOMETHING to protect from market crashes, so VV got my attention with their market calls of up and down markets. This is a Market Timing system. Their track record is quite good, and I would have a lot more money right now if I had been a subscriber and taken their advice a year ago. The system has a lot of data, a lot of scans for potential stocks to buy. The KEY is to watch all their videos in VectorVest University, listen to Dr. DiLiddo’s training videos, and read their market analysis that is published every night. Since I started in February 2009, my account is up 60%. I could not have done this without VV. I also subscribe to other newsletters, but VV is much more useful for finding stocks that will make money as a swing trader. Note that VV standard is an end-of-day system. They have a new RealTime version which looks slick, but I am not a day-trader, so haven’t subscribed to RealTime. The ProTrader add-on to the standard EOD service to get the better graphs with technical indicators is worth the money.

Review by Tim, September 13, 2009

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I think VectorVest’s marketing machine makes them look less credible than they really are. I guess that’s what sells, otherwise they wouldn’t do it, but I think the system is pretty solid. Much like the previous poster, I’m a computer programmer. Unlike that poster, however, I have not had their software crash on me yet, so… Anyway regarding their timing system, put simply, they’ve “never missed a call” because their core timing system tells you the direction the market is already going, not what it’s going to do. Obvously nobody can predict the future with 100% accuracy… except maybe me, given some of my recent stock picks All they’re saying is that, given a certain set of proprietary parameters, they believe the market is more likely to continue in it’s current direction that to reverse course. Being a programmer, I’ve done the math, and I found their “confirmed” timing calls to be right more than they’re wrong, but sometimes the market moves against me when I follow them. It’s the magnitude of the moves when they are right that makes it worth it though. When they’re right, they’re really right. When they’re wrong, it hasn’t moved against me by much

Anyway, aside from timing, what makes the system great is that it has most of the important information you want to know about stocks in a spreadsheet format, which allows you to screen for things that you’re interested in. When I’m looking for long positions, for instance, I like to find companies that are growing their earnings and growing their dividends (among other things), and it lets me do that. If my theory is that small caps are going to outperform during a market recovery, while large caps are going to outperform once a bull market has taken hold, I can screen for that. In fact, in the 2 or so years that I’ve used the service, I’ve probably spent like 2 hours a weekend, every weekend, constructing and back testing my theories to see what’s going to work for me. The more I learn, the more my returns improve. I like their recommended searches, by they need to be more actively managed. My searches give me stocks that I can hold for longer periods of time…

So, my answer to those who think the system is a bunch of hype is, don’t believe in the system. Believe in yourself. The system is just a tool. If you’re good at investing, you’re going to do well. If you’ve got a head full of the wrong ideas, unless someone talks you out of them, you’re going to do poorly.

One final note. Though the interface to the system is very easy, the depth of it really sucks you in. If you sign up, and you have an open mind, basically, digging in is going to become your new hobby, so you better make sure you have the time!

Review by rgsanfran, September 19, 2009

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I have an MBA from Wharton and am a retired mutual fund
manager.

This site is so bad the SEC should look at it.

He makes his record on buying 25 cent stocks that go to 35 cents. You can not buy them as they hardly trade.

His intellectual problem is that he covers 8300+ stocks. In the real world there are 3000 that are of size and really traded. Think of the Russell 1000 and Russell 2000 = 3000.
Or the S&P 500,400,600 = 1500. Lots of stocks in the bottom
of the Russell 2000 have very thin trading.

Then he has these 49 strategies with weird names. Which to use
next.

He is a nice old man with a PhD in Chemistry, not Finance or
Economics.

Save your money. Do not sign up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review by Billy Jack, September 27, 2009

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Value for the Money

I have been using VectorVest for about eighteen months and am very satisfied. I was a “virgin” when it came to investing although I gained a good feel for finance based on my professional career prior to retiring.

VectorVest is not for the person who expects that making money in the stock market using VectorVest is a given. It requires an education process and gaining trust in the VectorVest system to be successful. There is a host of educational tools available that I read religiously and go back to occasionally for review. The identified strategies are of value to select stocks; long or short but one needs to watch the market to invest for gains or limit ones losses is a changing market.

I have taken advantage of their training; including the one-on-one consulting. For example, I am using RealTime and after purchasing ProTrader and gaining experience, I took one hour of their individual training. Ninety-five dollars may seem expensive at first blush but it has become one of my key evaluation tools and was well worth the time and money.

I trade quite often at times; multi-trades per day but then may let my portfolio ride for a time in certain markets. I am currently “getting educated” in the options market and expect to start option trading to protect my portolio in addition to option trading.

There may be better systems out there but I am totally satisfied with VectorVest with a portfolio that the IRS is going to be happy with come year end. But one needs to “pay the piper”.

Unless one is dedicated to investing, I suggest that one put your money in other investments. Success with VectorVest is similar to a career; you get out of it what you put in. Don’t get involved unless you expect to use the tools; it would be a waste of time.

Review by JoeInvestorly, October 11, 2009

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about what VectorVest is. I see people posting that they don’t like the VectorVest “recommendations” for various reasons like that they’re sometimes Micro Caps or too volatile. Fine. You have your investment strategy. Other people have theirs. But don’t discount the entire system based on the fact that you don’t like some of the stocks found by some of the strategies. There are hundreds of strategies, each different. The system is designed to construct strategies or algorithms that make use of the financial data that’s available. That’s what it does. The recommended “strategies” are nothing more than an analysis of what’s currently yielding the highest returns in the short term. If you’re a short term investor, that’s great. But what if you’re a long term investor? Well, we all know that you’re not expecting huge pops in your investments in the short term, because you’re picking stocks that are less volatile and that have consistent earnings. There are VectorVest strategies for the long term investor as well…very good ones, in fact. But they’re not going to come to the top of the “recommended” list, because at any given time, they’re not going to be yielding the biggest short-term gains. There is, however, nothing in the VectorVest system that will keep you, as the user, from back testing the long term strategies over whatever your investment timeframe is, or from constructing your own strategies, and back testing those. That’s what I do, and it’s worked great. I’m a value investor, and when I search for companies that are undervalued, growing their earnings, increasing their dividends, etc, I find exactly what I’m looking for. After that, it’s up to me to pick what I think will work. So, to discount the entire system based on the fact that you don’t like some of the strategies that are working for the short term, is basically to discount your ability to construct or use strategies that will provide consistent, market beating returns over the long term. If you have no faith in your own abilities, then don’t subscribe. Just buy index funds and be done with it. If you have ideas that you think are going to work, then sign up for the semi-free trial they offer, and start back testing those ideas. If they work for you, use them.

Review by JoeInvestorly, October 11, 2009

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

…
There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about what VectorVest is. I see people posting that they don’t like the VectorVest “recommendations” for various reasons like that they’re sometimes Micro Caps or too volatile. Fine. You have your investment strategy. Other people have theirs. But don’t discount the entire system based on the fact that you don’t like some of the stocks found by some of the strategies. There are hundreds of strategies, each different. The system is designed to construct strategies or algorithms that make use of the financial data that’s available. That’s what it does. The recommended “strategies” are nothing more than an analysis of what’s currently yielding the highest returns in the short term. If you’re a short term investor, that’s great. But what if you’re a long term investor? Well, we all know that you’re not expecting huge pops in your investments in the short term, because you’re picking stocks that are less volatile and that have consistent earnings. There are VectorVest strategies for the long term investor as well…very good ones, in fact. But they’re not going to come to the top of the “recommended” list, because at any given time, they’re not going to be yielding the biggest short-term gains. There is, however, nothing in the VectorVest system that will keep you, as the user, from back testing the long term strategies over whatever your investment timeframe is, or from constructing your own strategies, and back testing those. That’s what I do, and it’s worked great. I’m a value investor, and when I search for companies that are undervalued, growing their earnings, increasing their dividends, etc, I find exactly what I’m looking for. After that, it’s up to me to pick what I think will work. So, to discount the entire system based on the fact that you don’t like some of the strategies that are working for the short term, is basically to discount your ability to construct or use strategies that will provide consistent, market beating returns over the long term. If you have no faith in your own abilities, then don’t subscribe. Just buy index funds and be done with it. If you have ideas that you think are going to work, then sign up for the semi-free trial they offer, and start back testing those ideas. If they work for you, use them.

Review by Al, October 18, 2009

I first used VVest years ago in early 2006, and by mid 2006, the market had performed -0.6%, year to date, in other words, massive sideways movement for 6 months. Quite the opposite of the current 7 month rally which has only gone in 1 direction, up, and which is the best rally the market has had since, you guessed it, the 1930’s Great Depression.

Needless to say, I started using VVEst at the “wrong time” and lost plenty of money, percent wise, altough in absolute terms not much since I was still testing it. Ended up using it for a few months but never went back to it. All during that time, the VVest massive marketing machine will try to entice you back so I was kept abreast of their latest performance and have confirmed it with their published market calls. But, we’re talking about a rally the likes of which was last seen by people who are now mostly dead…

Keep in mind the above, and I recemmend instead Elliotwave.com b/c only their approach will warn you of upcoming trend “personalities” where you have the odds favoring the “let the winners run” concept.

The market only trends about 30% of the time, and it only trends as powerfully as it has since the March 2009 lows every 70-80 years so… Expect VVest to only dissappoint you in future. If however, you are still determined to make the best of it, from my experience the best long term approach is to forget about stocks and any of their strategies but instead focus on using market index ETF’s with their market up calls. Use inverse ETF’s with their market down calls. Unless this once in 80 years March 2009 rally keeps going, you will not have the results to give you the fortitude to stick with VVest b/c the drawdowns, using stocks, will be HUGE, as is normally the case under most market conditions.

But, if you are willing to stick with market index ETF’s, and experience greater percent accuracy as a result, you will gain the confidence to likely stick with VVest long enough for it to prove of benefit.

I also recommend Elliotwave.com as a good substitute to VVest market calls. EW gives you the context of the whole market for the last 5 to 10 to 300 years of capitalism, if you are inclined to review it that far; it also provides a context of market trend “personlities” which proved invaluable in characterizing the March 2009 rally as the type to “let the winners run for the roses” type of rally.

However, to be fair to readers, EW is by their own admission, not a trading system, so don’t expect specific entry or exit calls unless you also subscrbe to the FF Short Term Update which is updated 3 times a week. Even here though, you get a market call infrequently for some of the minor market trends.

In summary, EW will try to identify the upcoming, yes forecast, major market trend, which can last from months to a few years, and as time passes their monthly publications will update the major trend while FF STU will do as well plus provide opportunities to trade the minor trends within the major trend.

I repeat though, don’t use stocks, stick with market index ETFs and if you are more experienced you can use leveraged ETF’s like QLD for QQQQ or inverse QID for shorting the QQQQ’s.

Personally, I use short term options and longer term options strategies like directional Butterflies and directional Timespreads along with simple spreads like Bull Call Spreads etc. Using options alongside EW and a trading system will yield the greatest results in the shortest time. To be honest, it has taken me 9 years to get to this point but I didn’t have someone lay it out to me the way I am doing now so recognize that my advice is uncommon and to start, stick with market index ETF’s. Good luck to all.

Review by HoustonJack, November 14, 2009

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

I have been trying to make money with Vectorvest since May, 2009. They typically report annual gains of 40-60%. Their portfolio is up about 88% on the year, but nearly all of that came in the big move up in March/April. They have gone from being up about 140%(?) to a current 88%. Since I started following their recommendations they are down substantially.

I believe that prior to May, they were in fact, moving the market with their legion of subscribers. They tended to pick relatively small cap stocks with low volume. With so many subscribers, the recommended stocks took off like rockets, so the game was to be sure to get in minutes to hours earlier than the majority of the followers.

Since I started following their recommendations, they have been much less specific about which actual stocks to purchase. They will offer 5 strategies with a total of 50 stocks, and only after they invest will they reveal which of the strategies they used. They have also increased the volume requirement on the stocks they select. Since they have lost about 40% of the portfolio’s value since I started following them, I have a very strong suspicion that all of their great gains in the past have been through making their own market.

Currently, I am getting whipsawed on almost every trade I make following their recommendations. They typically won’t enter the market until it has made a strong upward move, so they get in at the top of a short-term high, then get whipsawed by a 10% stop-loss. Generally as soon as they get stopped out, the market moves back to their original entry point and then proceeds to move even higher, which means that I totally miss out on the move. They do this on both long and short strategies, so you usually end up getting double-whipsawed. Very frustrating!!

I don’t know what else to say at this point. I look at their historical returns, which motivates me to keep trying to make money with them. I keep hoping to stay in the game long enough to catch a major move which will make up for all of my losses. In the meantime, the market keeps going up and my portfolio keeps going down. Definition of insanity: to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.

Review by GKN08215, November 14, 2009

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

I’ve owned VV for a couple of years now and in the last few months I have been thinking of cancelling since I been burnt a couple of times. I follow their suggestions twice and lost money both times. I think their overall educational value and market interpretation is good but in the end I was looking for good stocks to buy and I just dont think I’m getting that here. This is a pretty expensive service to not be totally happy with so I will cancel Monday.