InvesTools anyone?

Quote from jbanfai:

Best Choice is the only software that plots the stock price and earnings on the same logrithm chart, thereby showing you precisely where the stock is going. It's phenominal, actually. If you can't make money using this, you can't be helped. This thing, I found, is a bargain at double the price. Check 'em out. I think the web site is bestchoicesoftware.com.
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Just started using VectorVest, it allows you to plot EPS in the area below the price graph (where volume is usually displayed on a standard chart). Also lets you write scans for EPS levels / changes and backtest them on historical data.

Switched to this and Amibroker after having used WealthLab for years prior to it selling out. VV is rather clunky in designing and backtesting systems compared to WL, but as a tradeoff it allows use of historical EPS, sales, value and growth rate data - and the "programming" is pretty much mouse-clicks. Can't do the fancy math like I could in WL - doesn't matter because the only things I ever got to work were very simple price action.

smitty
 
Quote from NUTSNEAL:

nkhoi

I am curious, what review or reviews are you referring to.

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Hi, just back from vacation. I remember you from when we took Steve Matrix seminar so I know what you said is true for you but what I said is true for me because I wrote the review after wasting $500 renting that worthless piece of software for 3 months, 3 months and I couldn't make money out of it, lose some money as matter of fact. It was a long review but I can't find it now. He is still selling exactly the same software at every NY expo and I am still convince the software has not improved for the better.

ps. about VectorVest, one time I "won' a free subscription of a stock picking newsletter by D. V. the chief analyst at AIQ Systems using the famous-never-fail VectorVest method. The failure rate was hundred percent needless to say I stay as far as possible from them, just my luck I guess :eek:
 
I'm a newbie investor and a friend took me as their guest to the initial two day Investools course (stocks, light options and strong upsell to the rest of their program).

As an engineer, I liked the picture they portrayed ("We've broken it down into rules. Use them unemotionally and they'll work 70% of the time.") I also liked the instruction as I learn better through instruction than just reading a book alone. I did not choose to sign up for the advanced stuff though, as I wanted to do more research and I wanted out of the sales hype environment.

So now I've got some serious questions regarding the reality of trading, but don't really know where to go to get honest, unbiased answers. More experienced investors on the forum, I'd love your input, feel free to post here or email me directly.

1) What is the reality of trading in the market?

2) With the right education and tools can you produce more reliable results and truly use it as a sole source to build wealth and cash flow?

3) If you treat it as a profession, what does your day look like? What type of time do you put in? when, etc.

4) Knowing what you know now, what path would you perscribe for a newbie looking to become proficient (courses, books, tools also start in stocks, then options, etc)?
 
As a follow up to my post above, I thought I'd give a clarifying scenario.

Currently I invest in real estate (buy homes, have them fixed up and then retail them). So if someone asked me what the reality of that life is, I would say, the pros of the business are that your day is yours, do what you want, you'll make atleast $25K/house you do. The cons will be that contractors will drive you crazy and you have to network a lot to find good houses as good prices to give you the spreads you need. Education wise, you'll need to learn your marketplace and you'll need to learn a decent amount about construction.

If asked how to ramp up to do this a profession, I would say, you can read a book and learn it, but you'll likely learn a lot of hard lessons and it will take longer. My advice would be to take courses and get mentored by a guy named XYZ (there are a ton of "experts" out there, but he's the only guy I have found who delivers quality info) Also i'd tell them to ask a lot of questions to the forum members on ABC site. That will save you a lot of money and seriously speed up you results curve.

So what I'm wondering is how do I get some information like this on life as a trader?
 
Mike,

I can't really help you with how to get started in investing - but I can tell you how I tried, and that it DID NOT work for me.

I took the Associate Investools course. Like you, I thought the technical indicators were logical - if the price rises above the moving average, the price is going up, and that's the time to buy, right? If the MACD (moving average convergence/divergence) is above zero (and hasn't started coming down), that means that the shorter term moving average is higher than the longer term moving average, so that means the price is going up, too, right?

Well, it just didn't work that way. There has to be more that was not in Investools training - even though it was sold as the best "financial education" you could get.

In addition, you really do not get "classroom" training, you get self-study. There are no tests to see if you are learning what you need to learn, although I'm sure Investools would say that your profits/loss are your tests. It IS NOT comparable to an Ivy League Education, no matter what they say in their sales pitch!

And the "money back guarantee" only lasts as long as it takes them to use the high-pressure sales techniques to get you to buy the exorbitantly expensive "higher education".

I have recently found a book that has everything Investools taught me about technical trading for stocks, AND a lot more WARNINGS about how much time it would take, how much risk you are taking, etc. The book is a Dummies book - "Technical Trading for Dummies" by Barbara Rockefeller, list price $24.95 - and I think it is actually BETTER than Investools!

If you are still considering Investools, see these sites:

http://joecit.com/2007/03/13/a-possible-short-in-investools-inc-swim/#comments

http://joecit.com/2007/03/15/the-swim-saga-continues-lets-get-to-the-point/

http://thedogwoodreport.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-04-11T15:07:00-04:00 (search for Investools to find the Investools entries)

http://www.infomercialscams.com/scams/investools_complaints

http://www.thekirkreport.com/2006/11/investools.html

http://www.ripoffreport.com/results...0&submit2=Search!&q5=investools&Search=Search

If it were me, and I still thought I would do investing in individual stocks, I would NOT pay Investools $6,000 via credit card (which I still owe), but would save that money to actually invest in the stock market, buy multiple books and spend the time to read them. Start with the Technical Analysis for Dummies book and look into all the topics covered there via multiple other books.

And start with PAPER TRADING!
 
Thanks for your input and thoughts on Investools. That's pretty much in line with my suspicions. As I sat in the class, I had just enough previous knowledge to make me think that their presentation was idealistic and that they were not covering enough of the downside or even how to cover yourself in those cases and when they did elude to it, all they said was that in the advanced courses they would teach you not only how to save yourself, but how to make more money when you are wrong?!?

Two thoughts coming out of that:
one - Most on this thread say buy lots of books, read them and apply them. Fine, I used that process to learn to build a house and did it through most of school, but I know that I learn better through instruction and I know that I would learn faster through the exchanges that would occur in a good mentoring/coaching relationship.

so does anyone have any suggestions other than "read these books and apply them." Are there any worthwhile education or mentor/coaching companies out there?

Thanks for your thoughts
Mike
 
Mike,

You've asked a lot of questions that there are no clear cut answers for !

The truth of the matter is that everyones road to trading success will be as different as they are.

There are some common things that you will find though.

If you read Market Wizards 1 and 2 which i highly recommend you will find these 2 common things.

1. They almost all had excellent Mentors.

2. They all took what they learned and made it there own.


That being said 95% of the mentors you will find that are in the business of mentoring are useless.

The best thing that you can do is see if you can find a successful trader that trades in the style you like and BEG him to teach you.... lol.

Chances are that he won't though but it never hurts to ask.

Spydertrader has a few threads running where he kind of mentors people (online) on Jack Herseys methods but I will warn you that it will take you a long time to figure it out because a real mentor will personalize trading for you vs spyders threads which are just an education.

That being said, forget about Investools they may help you learn some technical analysis skills but they will not help you make $.
 
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