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What?s up or rather down with Japan? Here is why the Japanese market is drifting and why the bull story is still intact.

After a great 2005, the Japanese market as represented by the Nikkei 225 is down 3.3%. Relative to the global equity sell off, this is not bad but the weakness has soured interest in the Japan story.

At the World Money Show in January 2006, I anticipated this weakness since the great gains in 2005 were fueled by foreign investors and not the Japanese. In fact, Japanese institutional investors were net sellers in 2005 and Japanese retail investors only nibbled at the edges.

As 2006 opened, the majority of foreign money managers were overweight Japan which is saying a lot since Japan represents 65% of the Asia MSCI index. As these foreign flows of capital have slowed, Japanese investors have stepped up their investing in the Japanese market but at a slower pace. Therefore, the overall market is going sideways. Think of a bathtub with more water going down the drain then coming in at the spigot.

At some point later this year, I believe that overseas investors will come back searching for quality markets like Japan, Japanese investors will pick up their pace of buying plus M

If I were negotiating a river, it would be useful to have a map of the rough spots and the smooth spots. That knowledge would make maneuvering the river much easier, especially if I knew that the trip had dangers that constantly shifted locations. By using that knowledge I would be able to plan the safest possible trip, as well as plan ahead for potential dangers. I would be able to maximize the value of the trip while minimizing dangers to my investments.

Investing in a high yield investment program can be hazardous, even beyond considering the basic risk of the HYIP itself. There are a number of HYIP?s that are scams, and others that are higher risk yet lower gain, and a lot that just don?t perform well, or even decently. In order to track all the various HYIP?s out there, how they perform, and which are just scams, various sites have been set up that monitor them. These sites are called, not surprisingly, ?monitors?.

Investors take advantage of monitors in order to check out HYIP?s. By using the monitors, an investor can check out the history, average gain, and other statistics of a HYIP, as well as be made aware of any problems with the HYIP, such as the history of the company providing the HYIP, and the likelihood of any particular HYIP being more scam than opportunity.

By using a monitor, you can also track general trends in HYIP?s, and see how those trends do. By using that knowledge, you can predict how well your HYIP will do, and whether or not it?s worth it to invest in a particular HYIP. When you do check out particular investments, there are some things to keep in mind:

Performance: Different investments perform at different rates. Be advised that slower performing investments aren?t as bad as faster performing investments, and that how well Read more…

One of the basic rules of investing is that the higher the risk, the more potential for gain. A high yield investment program (or HYIP) is one such program. By investing a small amount, a HYIP offers the possibility of high gain, with some risk.

One of the biggest problems with HYIP?s is that they can represent a lot of money placed at risk for a high potential gain. Although they can involve small amounts of money, most investors will invest as much as they figure that they can risk, in order to take advantage of the high potential return. Read: Although they don?t require the huge start-up that other investments do, people do spend as much as they can afford. (Some put in more than they can afford, but this is never recommended.)

Also, some HYIP?s are just well disguised ponzi schemes, and are thus highly illegal. (Investigate any investment opportunity, with special care as to the background of the group or person presenting it. Normally, ?too good to be true? would be good advice, but that doesn?t always prove true when it comes to investing.) Some HYIP?s are in fact defined as ?ponzi games? in order to skirt legislation that prohibits ponzi schemes as well as uninsured investments; bear that in mind when investigating any HYIP.

However, the problem is that not all investments pay off. With HYIP?s, that?s actually the nature of the investment; although they all promise high gain, the problem is that high risk does mean a strong chance of losing any funds involved. Thus, any potential investor is advised to not invest any more than he can afford to lose.

When debating the effectiveness of a HYIP, be advised that that the nature of the investment itself makes gauging that difficult, and that only the investor himself can make that decision. What makes them effective is Read more…

Like any investment, high yield investment programs can be your best friend and worst enemy, depending on how you do it. The key is understanding your financial limits.

A sound investment policy is one that allows you the financial wherewithal to invest, but doesn?t end up strapping you for cash or, worse, bankrupting you. By keeping careful track of how much you invest, you can make sure that your investments don?t overcome you. There are all sorts of formulas to determine the limit of how much you should invest, but it comes down to how much of your income is left over when you have paid for bills. As long as you don?t spend more than, you should be okay.

A better way of looking at it is to look at your income in terms of a business. Total up all of your outgoing money, and then allow for incidentals (morning coffee, gas for the car, even snacks and video rentals). Basically, try to allow yourself $5-$20 per day ($150-$600 per month) for the small things in life, while putting some away for a rainy day (usually 10%; it may not seem like much, but you need something in the bank, and most people have a problem not spending their money). If you need to, make sure that you have two accounts, putting almost all your money in one account, and the rest in a savings account.

The remainder you can invest. When you invest, the best word of advice you can get is to forget the money. Investing the money means that you are taking a risk; there is a possibility, however slim, that you won?t see the money ever again, or that you may lose some of your capital. This is acceptable risk. If you can?t deal with it, then you probably aren?t cut out for investing.

The second is that you shouldn?t put all of your eggs in one basket. It may sound trite, Read more…

Investing online carries with not only the possibility of yielding profit as well as losing your shirt. When you start getting serious about investing, there are some things you need to consider.

Always do your homework. It helps knowing which HYIP?s are good, which are scams, and which are just wasting your time. That difference between them can make or break your investment portfolio. Of especial importance is the ability to determine scams from HYIP?s that are just performing badly, as there is the tendency to figure that a poorly performing HYIP will turnaround (which does happen on occasion); a scam just costs you hard-earned money. At the same time, it helps to know if a good performing HYIP is about to go south. By doing your homework, you can get a better feel for what?s going on and what?s about to happen.

Look for trends. Trends can be good and bad; noting good trends help you make money, and bad trends stop you from losing money. A good trend is pretty obvious and should be blessed, as long as it doesn?t last too long; a good trend that goes on for too long is like a stale green light, and if the HYIP keeps an upward swing for too long it generally crashes when it starts downward, mostly due to investors thinking that it is going to crash. On the other, a bad trend that suddenly reverses itself will be exaggerated by investors seeing its stock rise and thinking that it is popular.

Listen to your environment. This is two-pronged advice: Different people have different superstitions, and they use them to determine what they will do in certain situations. This is because those methods have worked before, and hopefully will work again. Or, failure wears the same clothes, and you?ve learned to avoid whatever circumstances that Read more…

High Yield Investment Programs require the ability to shift money quickly and into whatever form is needed by the appropriate program. Also, the country of origin for an HYIP and the person using it can be two different places with entirely different currencies. Because of this, there needs to be a way for the HYIP investor to translate his currency into the currency of the HYIP.

E-gold offers a rather interesting way to do this. An investor can go online and buy a certain amount of gold, which can then be transferred to someone else using E-gold. As the gold itself can be translated from country to country as a sort of absolute value. As a number of HYIP?s use E-gold because of its security features and that gold translates well.

E-gold has a number of ways to ensure that its members aren?t taking advantage of by scams and frauds. Also, there are enough safeguards that help to ensure that the money gets to where it?s supposed to get to with as few problems as possible, and that the money does in fact get there. Because of all of its features and safeguards, E-gold is used by a number of different groups.

There are a few problems with E-gold, however. The biggest of these is that ?sells? (transfers from one account to another) are final. Unlike other online cash sites, E-gold does not void transfers, making it vulnerable to scams and swindles. Members are thus highly advised to make sure that they are completely sure of any transaction that they start.

The other limitation is that not every site uses it, and some don?t like it. Ebay, for example, even has use of e-gold as a reason for banning a user (you can, however, Read more…

So, you have all of this money to invest, and you want to do something with it. Could I suggest a decent high yield investment program?

An HYIP is a way to invest any amount into a program that has the possibility of returning a high yield. Although there are some risks, that risk is an intrinsic part of the HYIP.

Getting started is easy: You find an HYIP monitor site that you like. It may sound strange, but there a lot of HYIP scams out there. As information is your defense against scams, you want to check out a monitor site in order to see which HYIP?s are scam and which ones are okay. Also, take advantage of lurking to ask a few questions, taking full advantage of your amateur status to ask a few questions that more experienced people wouldn?t. Ignore those that will insult you, and tell you run; they need to weed out those that are just playing, and it?s more effective than you would think.

Also, find a site that deals in e-gold that you are comfortable with. HYIP?s tend to deal with e-gold more commonly than other forms of payment, so it would help if you had an e-gold account.

Once you?ve gotten all the information you think that you can handle, then start plugging away at the HYIP?s. Start slow, with maybe one or two just to get your feet wet. On these initial ones, don?t put too much money into them; when you?re just getting started you just want to get your feet wet, not go straight for the deep end. Keep in mind that you can still ask questions; you can even start answering some questions for others.

Once you?ve gotten a few HYIP?s under your belt, you?re ready for the next step: bigger risks. Start expanding the HYIP?s you have, and put more money into them. The idea is to start Read more…

This has been a painful month in commodity land especially for anyone who bought around May 12, the peak of the most current gold rally. Since then, gold investors have lost 20% from its high of $730/oz to Friday?s (6/8) close of $608/oz. However, those that bought on the last day of this past year have a slightly differently perspective. Gold could have then been purchased for $517/oz. Over the past five years gold has averaged a return of 15% per year. No one wants to suffer through a 20% draw down over 4 weeks, but a 41% return in 4 ? months was simply unsustainable. This is why I am a strong advocate of dollar cost averaging. If you made the decision to to try commodity investing and went all in on May 12, you are probably ready to give up now.

Former Treasury Secretary and current Harvard University President Lawrence Summers concluded in a 1988 published research piece that stocks and commodities are out of phase with each other (refer to link below). In one half of the cycle, stocks significantly outperform commodities and then in the second half of the cycle commodities outperforming stocks. This relationship continues to prove itself. Back in the late 90?s the fastest payback of capital was in internet infrastructure companies. Venture capital companies were crawling over each other to invest in the next Cisco. Meanwhile, commodity prices were at multi-decade lows with oil at $15 per barrel and gold at $250/oz. Mining companies were going out of business and projects were delayed due to the low prices and inadequate capital. Obviously the stock prices reflected the business cycle with technology stocks at all their all-time highs and commodity stocks at their lows. The internet frenzy concluded the stock cycle in 2000 and we are now 5 years in to the commodity cycle.

A simple investment strategy can be developed using the above information combined with the fact that bull markets tend to run on average17 years (Adam Hamilton/Jim Rogers links below). For example, the last two US-based bulls markets have been technology in 1982-2000 and commodities 1968-1982. The strategy is to simply dollar cost average into the broad market using an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) like the SPY (an ETF tracking the S

High yield investment programs are becoming popular, as they allow anyone to invest at a level where they are comfortable. However, when anything that involves money becomes popular, it?s a sure bet that someone will figure out how to get money from it by scamming others. Because of this it pays to keep your eyes open when your begin investing.

Like any other stock, try to get as much information as you can before you invest. The more information you can get, the more likely you can make an informed decision. At the same time, be wary of too much information; the more glowing references that an HYIP has, the more likely it is to be a scam (after all, not everyone will like a given HYIP).

You also need to find HYIP monitors that you can trust. They may not always be accurate, so make sure that you have several. The idea is that each monitor will give you different information about the same HYIP, and that difference in perspective may show you either directly or indirectly something that may feel wrong, and stop you from investing in an HYIP that may be a scam.

Pay attention to HYIP ratings. Monitors keep track of HYIP investments, and report on how they do. An HYIP that almost no one has heard about doing well should be a cause for concern, as it is obviously inflating its performance, and that?s usually a sure sign of a scam. Another sign of a scam is an HYIP that performs too well or strange; basically, if it?s too good to be true, it usually is.

A quick note of why strange behavior should be a warning sign: Most scammers know that most people will avoid anything that looks too good to be true. Because of this, they try to set up an HYIP that acts natural. However, they?ll tend to overcompensate how the HYIP is doing, making valleys go too Read more…

One of the big problems with high yield investment programs is that there are a number of HYIP?s that just scams. In order to avoid problematical programs, you may want some tips on how to tell the good from the bad.

The basics involve looking at its rating, its performance, and feedback on your favorite monitor. You should have decided on several favorite monitors. A monitor site is extremely important to you; it gives you a lot of information regarding the various HYIP?s, and in more detail than most would probably ever need. Monitors also track scams, giving you a heads up to HYIP?s you need to be aware of. By having several that you subscribe to, you can combine the information in order to get a fuller view of any given HYIP, and in an industry where knowledge is important, that may be just enough to give you an edge.

An HYIP?s rating gives you the basic information. It lets you know how other people look at the HYIP, and gives you a basic idea of how it performs, and acts as a meter of what people have said about it. The rating acts as a gauge of everything about the HYIP, and only gives basic information about it. Use the rating to get interested in an HYIP, but don?t make a decision based on the rating alone; after all, a low-rated investment may have something to recommend it that a little more research may bear out.

Performance tells you a bit more, but can leave you with more questions than answers. Most HYIP?s perform reasonably linearly, in that they have almost predictable ups and downs. Those are reasonably easily to predict, and can be easy to decide on. You should avoid any HYIP with a performance graph that is nothing but glowing; too few Read more…