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Safe Money Report

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john sloan
Guest
February 2, 2009 9:19 am

HI everyone
I have all my monthly Safe Money issues plus the special alerts back to Oct 2003. When Travis posted the idea of writing these reviews, I for fun went back and wrote a summary of each issue – too long to post here now. But Martin Weiss has been right on – early noting the coming collapse of housing – mortgages, banks – recommending gold and some funds. Maybe a bit too early in adding inverse funds as shorting is always very volatile. His business for years has been investigating banks and insurance companies and his ratings scores are more valid than Moody or S&P and the others. He has testified to congress repeatedly about the overall weakness of the financial system. Now they have a web site also and a free newsletter – Money and Markets – but Safe Money is quite reasonable – I think about 50 a year.
I would be happy to post or send my summary of monthly issues of Safe Money – For now I will note that the current -January 2009 – issue continues his theme – headline is “EPIC battle to prevent collapse” – He expects DOW to go to 5500. He writes’ Wall street melt down is inevitable” He recommends gold bullion, dollar inverse funds, T-bills, several reverse index funds.
I have not bought more than a few of his recommendations but have made money on all that I bought.

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Daniel Victor
Irregular
Daniel Victor
February 7, 2009 9:41 am

I’ve only subscribed since October 2008 [wish I’d seen it a few months earlier!]. The advice is very sound,and the report really makes sense.Two caveats only – ETFs decay over time as the underlying indices rise and fall – especially the ultras.Also,they keep tring to sell you other,more expensive stuff.

John McKay
Guest
John McKay
February 7, 2009 6:44 pm

Although this newsletter’s recommendations are ultra-conservative, nevertheless they have been “right on the money”. The advice is sound for all who wish to protect capital. The work done on banks and insurance companies has been invaluable. I have not bought any of Weiss’ recommendations, but I believe him to be genuine in wishing to help people preserve their capital. Of course, other services are pushed, but that’s to be expected, isn’t it? They are in business, after all.

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Barbara
Guest
Barbara
February 7, 2009 7:44 pm

I have subscribed to Safe Money for 7 years and find it very easy to read, informative and accurate. At times I have felt Weiss was too alarmist, yet he has always been right. I feel that he is honest and really wants people to preserve their wealth and prosper.

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Eleanor
Eleanor
February 9, 2009 12:17 pm

I have subscribed since 1995. His advice is sound, but sometimes he expounds on his father’s experience too extensively: but then again, it puts all his advice into perspective. He is not a trader, and his reccommendations are conservative. He has called this catastrophy over the past few years, using sound economic principles. I find both Dr. Weiss and his team a valuable souce for well thought out and knowledgeable guidance.

Stan
Stan
February 15, 2009 2:04 am

Most of his picks are terrible. Right now, he wants everyone to put most of their money – 75% into short term treasury bills. Sure, that’s safe for not losing, but it’s not safe if you miss the opportunity to ride the initial bull charge up.

I like some of his commentary and he has made some correct calls over the last few years. I like his calls about the economy and certain sectors, but his investment picks aren’t too good.

He was early to tell people to get out of the market and he’ll be late to tell people to get into the market.

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John
Guest
John
February 17, 2009 9:37 am

Very good value and very accurate forecasting (warnings) also. Smart guy. Only negative is the barrage of email ads for more expensive stuff.

A
Member
A
February 21, 2009 1:10 pm

Either Stan is a disgruntled past “Safe Money Report” employee or he might be employed by a financial institution that Safe Money revealed a financial weekness in or maybe he works for another newsletter. As the name of the news letter implies, Safe Money’s primary concern is to keep your money safe. Safe Money has done an admirable job of warning their subscribers about where they think the market and sectors of the market are heading. I have read the free and the subscription services of Safe Money for years. If I had to say something negative about Safe Money it would be that they have on occasion been a bit early before their prophetic warnings have come to pass, but they sure do have a knack for being right. Thay are at the top of my list for being a trustworthy Financial newsletter.

Joan
Guest
Joan
February 21, 2009 2:25 pm

Weiss is a permabear, so he’s right recently. His recommendation to go heavily into a Treasury $ mkt at <1% interest was fed by his extreme fearmongering… and he has a bit of a conflict of interest given that he owns/runs a Treasury $ mkt with something like triple the industry management fee.
His insurance company and bank ratings (available thru thestreet,com) are excellent and much tougher than normal ratings.

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Edwin Schmidt, M.D.
Guest
Edwin Schmidt, M.D.
February 23, 2009 3:34 pm

I have taken this and many other newsletters over the years. I believe Martin Weiss’s advice is the most reallistic and timely that I receive.

Ed Schmidt

Randall S.
Guest
Randall S.
February 24, 2009 8:44 am

I really took notice when Martin posted a serious warning back in 2007. Of the five letters I receive, I look forward most to Safe Money. His inverse ETF recommendations have helped stem the carnage by about 50%. I feel his conservative views, borne out by his father’s recollections from the 30’s Depression, are serving his clients well in this fiscal meltdown.

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Bob Brown
Member
Bob Brown
March 15, 2009 10:11 pm

Yes, I think it’s true, as Joan says, that Martin Weiss is a perma-bear. In bull markets he tends to be wrong, and in bear markets he’s right. If he has a newsletter archive that goes back 25 years or so, you can check this out. If I remember correctly, he said that his father made a bundle investing borrowed money in the Great Depression, which seems to have galvanized him into bear-ishness for his entire current incarnation.

To be fair, I have not subscribed to “Safe Money Report,” but about 20 years ago I did buy his bank rating publication (now apparently a part of “SMR”), which I did find very useful and informative. (I’d like to find his current bank ratings without having to subscribe to “SMR.” Can anyone help me out? [Would love to find a “safe” bank — probably a local one.])

And, in about 2000 (give or take a year — I can’t remember exactly) my father subscribed to a pair of options trading “services” offered by Weiss and his cohort, Larry Edelson. He lost about $200,000 in just a few weeks by following their picks to a “T.” It can be said that they were nearly 100% consistent in picking losing options trades. I know because since my father had poor eyesight, I placed the trades for him.

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Bud
Bud
March 20, 2009 7:34 pm

I subscribed to Stock Options Trader and promptly lost 25K. I used to subscribe to Safe Money and around 2002 the permabear called the mortgage crisis 7 years in advance. Safe Money is too safe. Edelson was responsible for all the above mentioned losses including the ones with Joan up above, he was completely out of control and way off the mark in those days. I did however respect their prompt response when I asked for the receipt for Stock Options Trader and got it. After I received it, I joined the class action lawsuit by some Florida lawyers who tell me that at least I will get a settlement for the cost of the service.

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OT
Guest
OT
March 22, 2009 7:28 am

He is a permabear and given the last year he’s right. The nightmares he’s given me helped me pull out of the market in Oct so mission accomplished. His picks were bad during the boom years but pretty good now. Yes he bombards you with more expensive package deals incessently. I’ve subscriber for 10 years. He does show you how to preserve your money. I’m not complaining.

Spenser
Spenser
March 22, 2009 11:16 am

Hey Bud! Could you give me some more info about the class action lawsuit? I’d like to join up but don’t know how. Thanks!

andrew
Guest
andrew
March 22, 2009 2:34 pm

If 50000 people buy an investment package for $1500 per subscriber to follow a $1000000 investment strategy then you get what you deserve. Do the maths folks. Who do you think has won on this deal?

I had some respect for this crowd until a month ago. This would be one of the best scams I have ever seen. The man has no conscience, despite all his rhetoric and hand wringing about caring about people. I am just amazed at the gullibility of ordinary folk.

Only Elliott Wave International seem to have a handle on this financial mess – and a 30 odd year record of good advice.

NYCguy
Guest
NYCguy
March 22, 2009 5:28 pm

I subscribed to Safe Money around 2000. I later subscribed to Larry Edelson’s “Real Wealth” around 2005. Both reports were about $89 or $99/yr at that time. I have since monitored their recommendations because they send you almost daily email once you have been a subscriber.

I would have to say that Weiss is a Permabear, or as the saying goes; “a broken clock is right twice a day”. Throughout the largest bull market of this century, Weiss was warning that a crash could happen any day, and always recommended keeping most of your money in Treasuries. As a result of this terrible advice, I did not take full advantage of the stock-options issued to me by the companies where I worked. I always sold my options too soon, missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.

Now Weiss is correct, the bear market he was predicting for over 20 years has finally hit us with devastating results. But the profits being made now with shorts/puts will never make up for the decade or more of being too conservative during the biggest bull market of my lifetime.

Larry Edelson is definitely a gold bug, and hates silver to the point that he excludes it entirely from his research. I found this to be rather strange. I didn’t do well with his picks.

Other analysts working under the Weiss umbrella often contradict some of what Weiss is saying. Lately, Weiss was so convinced that this would be a deflationary only depression, and was highly touting Jack Crooks who has been wildly bullish on the dollar, and very bearish on the Euro and gold. As the last week illustrated, clinging to one idea too tightly is a good way to suffer major losses. The dollar plunged by a record amount, and the Euro and gold soared, all contrary to what Weiss/Crooks have been predicting relentlessly, day in and day out. If you visit Crook’s blog he is still convinced that we are in a dollar bull market! Weiss has moved on and is now touting a new analyst from Germany who plays both the downside and the upside. A little late Dr. Weiss, seeing as your followers have suffered life altering losses from your previous “broken clock” predictions. Let’s hope we can make enough profits now so that we don’t end up pushing shopping carts and living under bridges. Disclosure, although I continue to follow their blogs, I am no longer a subscriber for obvious reasons.

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Contessa June
Guest
Contessa June
March 25, 2009 3:36 pm

I noticed a big change in Weiss’ free newsletter a few months ago.
I found out soon after that he was bought or joined with the Street.com. I believe one of Agora’s publications. They deal in EXTREMELY lengthy stories and partial info to get you to join their paying publications.
I have noticed several newsletters now doing same thing..I click them off.
I have lost faith in Weiss and his group. Especially with his new :
“I am putting up one million of my own money (of course, if enough of you fall for this I will have made it all back)

Also , his online seminars are a waste of time. All sales pitch.

fabien hug
fabien hug
March 25, 2009 7:33 pm

I was almost ready to subscribe when he started to tout a way to safeguard one’s retirement a couple of month ago. I watched the video and he was promoting his new currency service with Crock “there is always a bull market in currencies”. I really dropped when I saw that; you lost 50% of your assets in the stock market and you are supposed to make it back gambling on currencies!
That was it.

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Bob S
Guest
Bob S
March 25, 2009 8:02 pm

I agree with many of the other reviewers – Martin seems to be a permanent bear. I’ve been a subscriber for nearly 5 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so excited that he’s finally hit a home run. He did a great job in September telling subscribers to completely get out of the market. But I also fear he will be late telling folks to get back in.

I am down on two of the inverse index ETFs he recommended. I didn’t buy them right away, but with the market now lower than when I did buy them, I find the loss of value disappointing.

I do like his cautious approach, which is why I’ve been a long term subscriber. Many may mock the fact that he recommends Treasuries, or big cash positions – but had I kept everything in cash for the past 5 years, I’d be way ahead of where I am now.

One note in response to Andrew’s review here about Weiss’s new Contrarian Portfolio service – I don’t consider it a scam to get a lot of subscribers to sign up for a service that they think might be valuable. Weiss is in business to make money – how is that a scam? I signed up to try it out, and the best thing about it is the communication. They are still working out improvements – but it is the only service that I’ve subscribed to where subscribers can blog to each other about the recommendations. And Claus, the money manager handling the $1,000,000 account is even responding to issues that many will bring up in the blog (like stop losses). So time will tell whether that service is going to pay for itself or not. The service has only been in existance for a week so far.

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