Friday, September 5, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Contest Feedback
Ok, once again, I need you to answer as many of these questions as possible. This will help us make the contest easier for you.
And by participating you'll essentially be giving yourself a leg-up in this contest - you'll already know what to expect and we'll be giving you sneak peaks at potential article topics and sample entries.
Trust me, for the amount of money we're giving away to the winner, you won't want to miss this!
Questions:
Is there anything you’re wondering about?
Is there anything that I’ve said so far that seems confusing?
Is there anything you’d like to see before the contest to help you prepare?
How can we help you during the contest?
Should the contest be a writing "free for all" or should we narrow it down to a specific topic?
If you think it should be a specific topic jot down a few ideas and list them below.
Please complete these questions as soon as humanly possible!
We're looking to move fast here and the quicker you get back to us, the quicker we'll have something for you to test.
Thanks!
And by participating you'll essentially be giving yourself a leg-up in this contest - you'll already know what to expect and we'll be giving you sneak peaks at potential article topics and sample entries.
Trust me, for the amount of money we're giving away to the winner, you won't want to miss this!
Questions:
Is there anything you’re wondering about?
Is there anything that I’ve said so far that seems confusing?
Is there anything you’d like to see before the contest to help you prepare?
How can we help you during the contest?
Should the contest be a writing "free for all" or should we narrow it down to a specific topic?
If you think it should be a specific topic jot down a few ideas and list them below.
Please complete these questions as soon as humanly possible!
We're looking to move fast here and the quicker you get back to us, the quicker we'll have something for you to test.
Thanks!
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
So Far, So Good...
Well, the new site's been up for a week now and so far, so good.
I really appreciate all of your feedback and for those of you who posted articles I give you a "DOUBLE THANK YOU". You're really helping us enhance the site and catch all the little bugs we missed before launch.
I hope you've been enjoying the new site thus far, we're still working on some of the features so hang in there, it'll get better!
I'd like to know, straight up, don't pull any punches -- what do you think of the site? How does it stack up against other sites out there? What do you think is missing?
And here's a question I really want you to think about, if there was one thing that we could add to the site tomorrow that would completely knock your socks off and make you fall in love with Tycoon forever, what would it be?
I know it's a weird/tough question, but really think about it. Because if I sat down and really racked my brain I could think about several features I like about my favorite sites like Google, GMail, Facebook, etc. But there's always that ONE feature that I absolutely LOVE and couldn't live without.
So that's your next assignment, think of the one "GOTTA LOVE IT" feature and share it here on the blog -- brainstorm with other members if you'd like, I'm sure you can come up with something truly spectacular...and believe me when I say that if you'd LOVE to use it, we'd LOVE to develop it!
I really appreciate all of your feedback and for those of you who posted articles I give you a "DOUBLE THANK YOU". You're really helping us enhance the site and catch all the little bugs we missed before launch.
I hope you've been enjoying the new site thus far, we're still working on some of the features so hang in there, it'll get better!
I'd like to know, straight up, don't pull any punches -- what do you think of the site? How does it stack up against other sites out there? What do you think is missing?
And here's a question I really want you to think about, if there was one thing that we could add to the site tomorrow that would completely knock your socks off and make you fall in love with Tycoon forever, what would it be?
I know it's a weird/tough question, but really think about it. Because if I sat down and really racked my brain I could think about several features I like about my favorite sites like Google, GMail, Facebook, etc. But there's always that ONE feature that I absolutely LOVE and couldn't live without.
So that's your next assignment, think of the one "GOTTA LOVE IT" feature and share it here on the blog -- brainstorm with other members if you'd like, I'm sure you can come up with something truly spectacular...and believe me when I say that if you'd LOVE to use it, we'd LOVE to develop it!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Want to be a Tycoon Report Editor?
Ever wondered what it would be like to write for the Tycoon Report?
To have hundreds of thousands of people all over the world reading your thoughts and experiences in the market?
Well, since you're all part of the Beta Tester program I'm going to give you a special treat - before we even roll out any of the new features for testing I'm going to let you know what one of the biggest ones will be:
Member Articles!
That's right, within a few short weeks we'll have an area on the Tycoon Report web site where regular members can submit articles on any investing topic they'd like. Then other members can come onto the site and vote for them and even leave comments and feedback.
And for especially good posts (ones with the highest ratings) we'll feature them right inside the Tycoon Report that goes out to hundreds of thousands of subscribers every week. This will accomplish a number of objectives:
Assignment 1
Well, not quite yet, but let me tell you what I would like you to do.
Since the Beta testing stage will be short and fast we want to get all of our ducks in a row before hand. So here's your first assignment (if you choose to accept it - sorry, I'm a BIG Mission Impossible fan):
I'd like you to write an article and save it to a word document. Write about anything you'd like as long as it falls within the realm of personal finance and investing.
So if you're an expert in home buying, then write about that. If biotech stocks are your thing, then by all means write about the sector or even a specific company you like. Or if you'd rather share a personal story about one of your biggest winners (or losers) in the market because you think it would help others, then write about that.
Bottom line, this is your chance to do what we do every day. You can really showcase your talent, creativity and passion for investing - and help other's learn from your experiences all at the same time.
We're Here to Help
Now I know this might seem like a daunting challenge but that's what I'm here for - heck, that's what all the other Beta Testers are here for. Let me explain...
If you find yourself stuck or at a loss for a topic then come to this blog and talk about it. I check this thing several times a day for new comments and I'll reply within a couple of hours to any and all questions. And if you see somebody else that needs help then please lend them a hand as well.
The Big Picture
If we're going to turn this industry on its head it's going to be done through cooperation and communication between all the "little guys" out there - it's time to let the Wall Street elite know that they aren't the only game in town!
Now this is only the first part of the assignment. The second part will come next week when we have you submit your stories to the system so you can begin testing the features out. And just so you know what to expect we'll have you go through the following process:
And more importantly than that, have fun with this! Who knows, we might be featuring you in the Tycoon Report!
To have hundreds of thousands of people all over the world reading your thoughts and experiences in the market?
Well, since you're all part of the Beta Tester program I'm going to give you a special treat - before we even roll out any of the new features for testing I'm going to let you know what one of the biggest ones will be:
Member Articles!
That's right, within a few short weeks we'll have an area on the Tycoon Report web site where regular members can submit articles on any investing topic they'd like. Then other members can come onto the site and vote for them and even leave comments and feedback.
And for especially good posts (ones with the highest ratings) we'll feature them right inside the Tycoon Report that goes out to hundreds of thousands of subscribers every week. This will accomplish a number of objectives:
- It will allow members of the Tycoon family to start interacting with one another - it's always good to have contacts in the investing business.
- It will allow Tycoon members to start educating one another - this goes right along with our vision of "teaching people how to fish".
- For those of you out there who own other finance related web sites or blogs, this will be a perfect way to drive traffic and revenue to your sites.
Assignment 1
Well, not quite yet, but let me tell you what I would like you to do.
Since the Beta testing stage will be short and fast we want to get all of our ducks in a row before hand. So here's your first assignment (if you choose to accept it - sorry, I'm a BIG Mission Impossible fan):
I'd like you to write an article and save it to a word document. Write about anything you'd like as long as it falls within the realm of personal finance and investing.
So if you're an expert in home buying, then write about that. If biotech stocks are your thing, then by all means write about the sector or even a specific company you like. Or if you'd rather share a personal story about one of your biggest winners (or losers) in the market because you think it would help others, then write about that.
Bottom line, this is your chance to do what we do every day. You can really showcase your talent, creativity and passion for investing - and help other's learn from your experiences all at the same time.
We're Here to Help
Now I know this might seem like a daunting challenge but that's what I'm here for - heck, that's what all the other Beta Testers are here for. Let me explain...
If you find yourself stuck or at a loss for a topic then come to this blog and talk about it. I check this thing several times a day for new comments and I'll reply within a couple of hours to any and all questions. And if you see somebody else that needs help then please lend them a hand as well.
The Big Picture
If we're going to turn this industry on its head it's going to be done through cooperation and communication between all the "little guys" out there - it's time to let the Wall Street elite know that they aren't the only game in town!
Now this is only the first part of the assignment. The second part will come next week when we have you submit your stories to the system so you can begin testing the features out. And just so you know what to expect we'll have you go through the following process:
- Submit your story
- Vote on other's stories
- Comment on other's stories
And more importantly than that, have fun with this! Who knows, we might be featuring you in the Tycoon Report!
Monday, June 11, 2007
3 Problems with the Financial Services Industry
Here are the main problems with the financial services industry as I see it:
1. Broker/Client Interests are NEVER Aligned
You may be asking, “Well if I make more money doesn’t my broker make more money? And isn’t that good for the both of us?”
Theoretically, yes. However, as long as an adviser is paid based on the number of trades you make or the amount of money you keep in your account then he or she is NEVER motivated to do well for you.
They are not paid based on how well your stocks perform – whether or not your account goes up or down they still get paid a commission every single time you buy and sell a stock.
That’s like having a car mechanic who gets paid for the number of times he fixes your car – he’ll just make sure it stays broken for as long as possible and will continue to steal your money!
2. It’s Never About Making You Wealthy
The other thing to realize is that the people who work on Wall Street don’t want you to become insanely wealthy. If that happened then there’s a chance you’d leave them.
There’s a chance you’d stop playing the game.
So why would they try to make you wealthy? Answer: they won’t!
Instead they feed you products like Mutual Funds and Index Funds so you’ll just mimic the market and do average! Not good, not bad, just average.
3. They Always Keep Control
And one of the biggest scams that Wall Street has going for them is that they convince the investing public that investing on their own is dangerous. They convince everybody that in order to do well you need an army of analysts and bankers to tell you which stocks are good and which stocks are bad. Then, and only then, can you profit in the market!
If that were the case then why do most Mutual Funds have a tough time beating the market? And on the flipside of that argument, why does the most successful investor in the history of the world have an office of only 8 people?
Bottom line: There’s no good reason why you can’t do just as well investing on your own if you equip yourself with the right information!
Blurring The Line
As you can see there’s a serious problem in this business – there’s always a clear line in the sand: “you” and “them”. It’s never “us”.
We need to change that and we need to change it fast. We need to come up with a way where you and those you take advice from are sitting on the same side of the table.
The only way that gets done is if we change the nature of the client-advisor relationship – it can no longer be a “one way relationship”, it has to become a relationship of reciprocation, a “two way relationship”. Let me explain what I mean…
As of right now what happens when you buy a stock?
Your broker calls you (or vice versa) and rattles off a couple of stocks – you pick the one that sounds best and you buy it. That’s a one directional relationship – your advisor pushes information toward you.
Now, think about it this way – what if you could sit down at the same table as your advisor and have him teach you his process for digging through stocks?
Well, we know that would never happen due to the reasons we talked about before – if they gave away the “secret sauce” then you wouldn’t need them anymore. If they showed you how to invest, then you could go off and do it on your own.
Well, for most established companies in this industry that logic makes a lot of sense – it wouldn’t be in their best interests to make you a great investor. It would be in their interests to make you dependent upon them.
Tycoon has a distinct advantage here and that’s why our perspective on the situation is dramatically different from most. Our business isn’t predicated upon keeping you under our control.
And that's why we've been working day and night here at Tycoon - we want our vision of educating and empowering investors to become a reality.
We’ve tried to make the Tycoon Report the most comprehensive free newsletter on the market. We’re drastically overhauling our website and are in the process of putting the finishing touches on some exciting new features.
And for those of you who are part of the Beta program you'll be the first to see what we have in store - but remember, the benefit of getting to see these features early also comes with some responsibility. We'll need you to not only test the features but also help contribute to the community and encourage other members to do the same.
I'll have more info for you all shortly - and thanks to everyone for commenting on my photo, choosing a winner is gonna be so hard! :)
1. Broker/Client Interests are NEVER Aligned
You may be asking, “Well if I make more money doesn’t my broker make more money? And isn’t that good for the both of us?”
Theoretically, yes. However, as long as an adviser is paid based on the number of trades you make or the amount of money you keep in your account then he or she is NEVER motivated to do well for you.
They are not paid based on how well your stocks perform – whether or not your account goes up or down they still get paid a commission every single time you buy and sell a stock.
That’s like having a car mechanic who gets paid for the number of times he fixes your car – he’ll just make sure it stays broken for as long as possible and will continue to steal your money!
2. It’s Never About Making You Wealthy
The other thing to realize is that the people who work on Wall Street don’t want you to become insanely wealthy. If that happened then there’s a chance you’d leave them.
There’s a chance you’d stop playing the game.
So why would they try to make you wealthy? Answer: they won’t!
Instead they feed you products like Mutual Funds and Index Funds so you’ll just mimic the market and do average! Not good, not bad, just average.
3. They Always Keep Control
And one of the biggest scams that Wall Street has going for them is that they convince the investing public that investing on their own is dangerous. They convince everybody that in order to do well you need an army of analysts and bankers to tell you which stocks are good and which stocks are bad. Then, and only then, can you profit in the market!
If that were the case then why do most Mutual Funds have a tough time beating the market? And on the flipside of that argument, why does the most successful investor in the history of the world have an office of only 8 people?
Bottom line: There’s no good reason why you can’t do just as well investing on your own if you equip yourself with the right information!
Blurring The Line
As you can see there’s a serious problem in this business – there’s always a clear line in the sand: “you” and “them”. It’s never “us”.
We need to change that and we need to change it fast. We need to come up with a way where you and those you take advice from are sitting on the same side of the table.
The only way that gets done is if we change the nature of the client-advisor relationship – it can no longer be a “one way relationship”, it has to become a relationship of reciprocation, a “two way relationship”. Let me explain what I mean…
As of right now what happens when you buy a stock?
Your broker calls you (or vice versa) and rattles off a couple of stocks – you pick the one that sounds best and you buy it. That’s a one directional relationship – your advisor pushes information toward you.
Now, think about it this way – what if you could sit down at the same table as your advisor and have him teach you his process for digging through stocks?
Well, we know that would never happen due to the reasons we talked about before – if they gave away the “secret sauce” then you wouldn’t need them anymore. If they showed you how to invest, then you could go off and do it on your own.
Well, for most established companies in this industry that logic makes a lot of sense – it wouldn’t be in their best interests to make you a great investor. It would be in their interests to make you dependent upon them.
Tycoon has a distinct advantage here and that’s why our perspective on the situation is dramatically different from most. Our business isn’t predicated upon keeping you under our control.
And that's why we've been working day and night here at Tycoon - we want our vision of educating and empowering investors to become a reality.
We’ve tried to make the Tycoon Report the most comprehensive free newsletter on the market. We’re drastically overhauling our website and are in the process of putting the finishing touches on some exciting new features.
And for those of you who are part of the Beta program you'll be the first to see what we have in store - but remember, the benefit of getting to see these features early also comes with some responsibility. We'll need you to not only test the features but also help contribute to the community and encourage other members to do the same.
I'll have more info for you all shortly - and thanks to everyone for commenting on my photo, choosing a winner is gonna be so hard! :)
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Welcome Beta Testers!
You've probably gotten my e-mail by now which means you know that this Blog is where I'll be conducting 99% of my communications with you from now on. I might even start posting my Tycoon Report articles here just for the heck of it. :)
Mostly this blog will be used to make announcements about new tests, award prizes and most importantly, have YOU submit feedback on the Tycoon Report web site.
The Big Picture
But I want to take a minute and take a big step back here. You might be eager to see the new features we're adding and all the cool stuff we have coming your way, but there's something MUCH bigger going on here.
We're at the beginning of a dramatic change in the American economy -- the increase in globalization and outsourcing has forced the United States to shift all of its technology and resources on becoming a services economy. Let me tell you what I mean by that.
The top three US car producers are losing money by the minute - we just aren't the country that should be manufacturing things anymore. The cost of living here is too high and if companies want to remain profitable they know that they need to start sending manufacturing tasks overseas. So that means the tasks that stay here will be more service oriented - professions like doctors, scientists, lawyers and, of course, investors.
Objectively speaking, investing is the only profession on that list where in order to do well, you don't need:
1. A College degree
2. A TON of money
3. Other people
Investors can start out with a little money, a computer and the right information and make millions. Now I'm not going to insult the spirit of this post and tell you all about the money we can help you make - because the truth of the matter is, any well educated and well informed person can do well in the market. And that's really what we're trying to accomplish here at Tycoon -- there are thousands of newsletters out there and they all say the same thing.
We've tried to make ours a bit different and better than most, but we still know that there's a better way to do things. We can sit at our keyboards all day and tell you what to do and what stocks to buy, but we have a different philosophy. From personal experience working in the thick of things on Wall Street we know, better than most, that people no longer want to be TOLD what to do.
Let me explain...
How to Fish
There's the saying that goes, "You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish you can feed him for a lifetime".
Tycoon is trying to teach investors how to "fish".
And that's what this is really all about. All of the features we're adding, all of the services we're launching (e.g. Teeka's ETF Education Series) is all about educating YOU! And our web site will soon be geared towards helping you educate others and educate yourself.
Every investor on this planet has a story to tell. Every person who has ever put a dollar in the market has learned a lesson and can share that with another investor.
I had a friend once who said, "Wayne, I love making mistakes." I asked him why.
He said that because every time he made a mistake he learned from it. I replied, "Buddy, I love when you make mistakes too, because I won't ever make it myself!"
The BIGGEST Picture
And that's what the web is really all about - learning from others and helping others learn in return. You'll come to see over the next few weeks that we here at Tycoon are dead serious about this concept of educating investors - we're not just paying it "lip service" like so many of our competitors do. We want to be your number one source for finance and investing education.
Because at the end of the day you have two choices:
1. Let other people lose the money you worked your whole life for
2. Or equip yourself with enough information to make that money work for you!
So we're about to go on a very exciting ride my friend - I'm sure we'll all learn a lot from it.
By the way, whoever makes the funniest comment about my photo will get it featured in next week's Tycoon Report! So take your best shots!
Mostly this blog will be used to make announcements about new tests, award prizes and most importantly, have YOU submit feedback on the Tycoon Report web site.
The Big Picture
But I want to take a minute and take a big step back here. You might be eager to see the new features we're adding and all the cool stuff we have coming your way, but there's something MUCH bigger going on here.
We're at the beginning of a dramatic change in the American economy -- the increase in globalization and outsourcing has forced the United States to shift all of its technology and resources on becoming a services economy. Let me tell you what I mean by that.
The top three US car producers are losing money by the minute - we just aren't the country that should be manufacturing things anymore. The cost of living here is too high and if companies want to remain profitable they know that they need to start sending manufacturing tasks overseas. So that means the tasks that stay here will be more service oriented - professions like doctors, scientists, lawyers and, of course, investors.
Objectively speaking, investing is the only profession on that list where in order to do well, you don't need:
1. A College degree
2. A TON of money
3. Other people
Investors can start out with a little money, a computer and the right information and make millions. Now I'm not going to insult the spirit of this post and tell you all about the money we can help you make - because the truth of the matter is, any well educated and well informed person can do well in the market. And that's really what we're trying to accomplish here at Tycoon -- there are thousands of newsletters out there and they all say the same thing.
We've tried to make ours a bit different and better than most, but we still know that there's a better way to do things. We can sit at our keyboards all day and tell you what to do and what stocks to buy, but we have a different philosophy. From personal experience working in the thick of things on Wall Street we know, better than most, that people no longer want to be TOLD what to do.
Let me explain...
How to Fish
There's the saying that goes, "You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish you can feed him for a lifetime".
Tycoon is trying to teach investors how to "fish".
And that's what this is really all about. All of the features we're adding, all of the services we're launching (e.g. Teeka's ETF Education Series) is all about educating YOU! And our web site will soon be geared towards helping you educate others and educate yourself.
Every investor on this planet has a story to tell. Every person who has ever put a dollar in the market has learned a lesson and can share that with another investor.
I had a friend once who said, "Wayne, I love making mistakes." I asked him why.
He said that because every time he made a mistake he learned from it. I replied, "Buddy, I love when you make mistakes too, because I won't ever make it myself!"
The BIGGEST Picture
And that's what the web is really all about - learning from others and helping others learn in return. You'll come to see over the next few weeks that we here at Tycoon are dead serious about this concept of educating investors - we're not just paying it "lip service" like so many of our competitors do. We want to be your number one source for finance and investing education.
Because at the end of the day you have two choices:
1. Let other people lose the money you worked your whole life for
2. Or equip yourself with enough information to make that money work for you!
So we're about to go on a very exciting ride my friend - I'm sure we'll all learn a lot from it.
By the way, whoever makes the funniest comment about my photo will get it featured in next week's Tycoon Report! So take your best shots!
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