Testimonials that you will not find on Ziasun's Online Investors Advantage web sites i-advantage.com
Unbias review of Online Investors Advantage you will not find on their web site. Compliments of security blanket.com The same thesecurityblanket.com Online Investors Advantage touts in their ads that they are recommended by them.
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We have some indication that recent attendees are unappreciative of the tactics OIA uses to sign people up for the seminar, that they feel pressured and that they are being "hyped". One seasoned trader who attended commented that the instructor was not very knowledgeable.
Recent comments we have received from other preview attendees:
"After reading earlier reviews of the 90 minute presentations I was concerned about the "pressure sell". However, my experience with the presention was positive. Phil Town was the presenter and his approach was very common sense and didn't overhype the seminar or financial potentials."
--Brent, 06/28/00
"I attended the free 90 minute presentation yesterday with Phil Cowley. It has been a while since I have felt so 'pressured' about a program. Mr Cowley was so lacking in spontaneity and sincerity that I was turned off." --Sam 06/16/00
"A very persuasive, hired and trained salesman who likes the product and the pitch gave a very good presentation. Plenty of hypes and testimonies.The [preview] was a great performance! Bravo.." (The rest of the correspondance indicated that he felt their were three "plants" in the audience, a common technique in this kind of sales presentation.) --Zielch 06/11/00
"I attended an introductory seminar held in Madison, Wisconsin this week. The presenter . . . was VERY knowledgeable, and his presentation convinced me that the principles and techniques needed to do well on the 'net can be taught. I am computer/internet literate, but I know NOTHING about stocks or mutual funds. I did not have ANY sense that I was being hyped or pressured."
--Gael, 06/08/00
"What was stated at the introduction made sense to us. We didn't feel pressurized at all and enjoyed the 90 minute presentation. They shared glowing testimonials of the successes that people have had using their system and Internet site. Hopefully, we will be added to that list!! We won't know until we try!!" --Janice, 05/18/00
"I just attended an OIA preview and I came away with the feeling that it is a big hype session to stimulate interest and then put the nail in the coffin to get your 3000+ bucks right now. Anyone can show back tests that have positive results. Show the other side of the coin too. It reminded me of a few MLM meetings that I attended and patiently waited and watch a few people suck in hundreds of hyped up dreamers to sign up right now or forever lose out. And we know who makes it in the MLM scams. Until I am convince otherwise, I will keep on doing my mechanical trades that don't require daily attention." --Ernie, 05/18/00
"They also claim that their program is not a get rich quick scheme, but their seminar speaker kept offering testimonials and stock chart examples that showed explosive returns over a short time. Is this too good to be true?" --David, 05/02/00
"I went to the 90 minute seminar this week. I have been an active trader for about 2 years and have also gone to several other seminars that try to get the observer sold on their market training classes. This 90 minute seminar was by far the most high pressure sell I have ever experienced. I have heard about the Amway meetings and how they generate excitement but I cant imagine them creating any more excitement than the Investors Advantage seminar. I have to admit I was impressed with the information they presented but I thought it was deceptive in what they failed to include. For Example:
1. I left the meeting feeling like If I followed all their indicators I could not lose. They were the Holy Grail of stock trading.
2. I left the meeting feeling if I used their service making money in the market is very easy and a no lose situation.
3. Information on Insider trading was available immediately if I used their service. They did not inform us of the time period the insiders have to report their activity.
It seems they have a good service and if they would have handled the meeting with less pressure and included more information on the risk aspects I would have been a customer."
--Rick, 04/27/00
"I attended the preview and it was good from the standpoint of the speaker and the information that was provided. The presenter had good infomation on the covered call process and a peek at three of the tools that the program uses to select and buy/sell indicators. He was very knowledgable and informed. I would really like to hear from someone that works inside Investors Advantage. I felt at times that I was getting the marketing pitch from a hired gun."--Jim 03/02/00
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You will not find these articles either
Staying ahead / Online investors should beware of get-rich-quick hustlers
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Anything new that happens in the investment world is sure to become a hook for somebody's get-rich-quick hustle. Today, the hustlers are riding the online investment craze. Their hype makes computers sound like magic money machines. You just learn the right "strategies" (at a pricey seminar), click your mouse and rake in the bucks.
Without doubt, there's plenty to learn about using computers to help you pick stocks. But a lot of teaching is free on the Web or available in books or classes that are modestly priced. You don't have to pay the stiff prices the gurus charge.
Take the Utah-based Online Investors Advantage, which swooped into New York City last month on a blitz of hyperventilating radio ads. My associate, Dori Perrucci, attended one of its free seminars. About 150 people showed up.
They heard a 90-minute sales pitch for OIA's two-day investment boot camp: $2,995, if you sign up "right now," and $1,995 for the home-study version. No cash? No problem. Put it on your credit card.
Perrucci said that the meeting felt like a religious revival -- calling her not to God, but to mammon.
OIA's pitch is familiar to any connoisseur of quick-buck games: "Retire early and retire rich." "Use the Internet to turn Wall Street into your own personal gold mine." "Turn as little as two hours a week into hundreds -- even thousands -- of extra dollars every month."
OIA's co-founder, Ross Jardine, says that's no hype, because many people are indeed getting rich in stocks. His seminars are packing them in. OIA reported $4.4 million in revenues in the first quarter of this year, compared with $3.4 million in the last three quarters of 1998.
At OIA's boot camp, attendees learn how to use a Web-based stock- screening program that supposedly shows you which stocks to buy and sell. (The program isn't OIA's; it's leased from Telescan, another company on the Web.) They also learn about option trading, and get a newsletter that they hope will make them richer quicker. This package of services costs $495 every half year.
Jardine supplied us with two happy customers to talk to: Jim Carpenter, 47, identified as a consultant in Dallas, and Carol M. of Salt Lake City, a flight attendant, who didn't want her last name used. Both said they've made money fast, by buying and selling options.
Joyce F., 65, of New York City, attended the same free seminar that Perrucci did. She's a physical therapist, disabled, looking for a new line of work -- and doesn't own or use a computer. She went on to take the $2,995 course, putting the cost on her credit card.
Her verdict: "Way, way over my head." She still hopes to make money with the system, but says it's "not for people who are beginners with computers or with investing."
For lessons in online investing, you don't have to pay nearly as much as OIA demands. Lessons are available in many places. For example, the highly regarded stock publication, Value Line, charges $85 for lessons about its stock-screening service (the service itself costs $995 on the Web, or $570 on paper). Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, offers six Net-based courses at $49 each.
I'm deeply bothered by OIA's hype. At its free seminar in New York, the speaker, Steve Craig, touted possible investment returns of 60 percent to 600 percent, in as little as a week or a month. A brazen OIA promotional brochure raves that you can turn "small sums into huge profits quickly, easily and safely."
Safely? When you're speculating in options and darting in and out of stocks? Says Jardine, "We use some aggressive tactics to get people to come, but we deliver on value." To me, that excuse isn't good enough.
OIA speakers love to talk about Gladys Holm, a secretary who never made more than $15,000 but invested in stocks and died in 1996, leaving more than $18 million. The message: Sign up with OIA and this could be you.
Here's what OIA doesn't tell you. The little firm Holm joined in 1927, and whose stock she bought, grew into the giant American Hospital Supply Corp.
In short, she got rich not by plotting her moves from stock to stock -- as OIA teaches -- but by buying a good stock and holding it for a lifetime. She's the anti-OIA. Think about her, before shelling out $3,000 to anyone.
(Copyright 1999)
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jobs.washingtonpost.com
New Technology, Same Old Schemes
By Jane Bryant Quinn
Thursday, May 13, 1999
NEW YORK – Anything new that happens in the investment world is sure to become a hook for somebody's get-rich-quick hustle. Today, the hustlers are riding the online investment craze.
Their hype makes computers sound like magic money machines. You just learn the right "strategies" (at a pricey seminar), click your mouse and rake in the bucks.
Without doubt, there's plenty to learn about using computers to help you pick stocks. But a lot of teaching is free on the Web or available in books or classes that are modestly priced. You don't have to pay the stiff prices the gurus charge.
Take the Utah-based Online Investors Advantage (OIA), which swooped into New York City last month on a blitz of hyperventilating radio ads. My associate, Dori Perrucci, attended one of its free seminars. About 150 people showed up.
They heard a 90-minute sales pitch for OIA's two-day investment boot camp: $2,995, if you sign up "right now," and $1,995 for the home-study version. No cash? No problem. Put it on your credit card.
Perrucci said that the meeting felt like a religious revival- calling her not to God, but to mammon.
OIA's pitch is familiar to any connoisseur of quick-buck games:
"Retire early and retire rich." "Use the Internet to turn Wall Street into your own personal gold mine." "Turn as little as two hours a week into hundreds-even thousands-of extra dollars every month."
OIA's co-founder, Ross Jardine, says that's no hype because many people are indeed getting rich in stocks. His seminars are packing them in. OIA reported $4.4 million in revenues in the first quarter of this year, compared with $3.4 million in the last three quarters of 1998.
At OIA's boot camp, attendees learn how to use a Web-based stock-screening program that supposedly shows you which stocks to buy and sell. (The program isn't OIA's; it's leased from Telescan, another company on the Web.) They also learn about option trading, and get a newsletter that they hope will make them richer quicker. This package of services costs $495 every half year.
Jardine supplied us with two happy customers to talk to-Jim Carpenter, 47, identified as a consultant in Dallas, and Carol M. of Salt Lake City, a flight attendant, who didn't want her last name used. Both said they've made money fast, by buying and selling options.
Joyce F., 65, of New York City, attended the same free seminar that Perrucci did. She's a physical therapist, disabled, looking for a new line of work-and doesn't own or use a computer. She went on to take the $2,995 course, putting the cost on her credit card.
Her verdict: "Way, way over my head." She still hopes to make money with the system, but says it's "not for people who are beginners with computers or with investing."
For lessons in online investing, you don't have to pay nearly as much as OIA demands. Lessons are available in many places. For example, the highly regarded stock publication, Value Line, charges $85 for lessons about its stock-screening service (the service itself costs $995 on the Web, or $570 on paper). Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, offers six Net-based courses at $49 each.
I'm deeply bothered by OIA's hype. At its free seminar in New York, the speaker, Steve Craig, touted possible investment returns of 60 percent to 600 percent, in as little as a week or a month. A brazen OIA promotional brochure raves that you can turn "small sums into huge profits quickly, easily and safely."
Safely? When you're speculating in options and darting in and out of stocks? Says Jardine, "We use some aggressive tactics to get people to come, but we deliver on value." To me, that excuse isn't good enough.
OIA speakers love to talk about Gladys Holm, a secretary who never made more than $15,000 but invested in stocks and died in 1996, leaving more than $18 million. The message: Sign up with OIA and this could be you.
Here's what OIA doesn't tell you. The little firm Holm joined in 1927, and whose stock she bought, grew into the giant American Hospital Supply Corp.
In short, she got rich not by plotting her moves from stock to stock-as OIA teaches-but by buying a good stock and holding it for a lifetime. She's the anti-OIA. Think about her, before shelling out $3,000 to anyone.
Jane Bryant Quinn welcomes letters on money issues and problems but cannot offer individual financial advice.
© Copyright 1999 Washington Post Writers Group |
