BE CAREFUL with this potential website, DM!!!
I am new to your thread, brought in by the CNBC story as are many others. I just read the night's discussion and some of the advice you are getting from your followers worries me.
First, I am sure you know more than I about picking equities, especially these pennies. However, I know a little (just a little) about securities regulation and have to add my two cents.
1) Any lawyer that says they can write you a disclaimer for $200 which will free you of liability is, I think, mistaken. There are too many issues that need to be addressed. The unfortunate truth is that until you succeed on a few more picks you probably won't be able to afford the legal advice that you need. Certainly don't take the advice of first year law students, well intentioned though they may be (e.g. Smartypts). For that matter, don't take the advice of second-year law students either (e.g. me). The SEC isn't out to hunt down fourteen year old kids, whiz kids though they may be, but the potential for others to abuse your audience's... enthusiasm, for lack of a better word, could draw their attention and cause you many headaches.
If you need a STARTING POINT for legal advice, PM me and I will talk to my Securities Regulation professor. He's visiting from Cornell, very sharp, and would probably be happy to discuss it due to the kind of revolutionary nature of what you and other SI people are doing in the market. I stress, though, that such info (or dd, if you prefer) is NOT LEGAL ADVICE but just preliminary ideas of the kind of things you should ask a lawyer about.
However, the absolute best idea is to call the SEC. Government lawyers don't bill their hours so you can probably find someone who will be happy to spare twenty minutes to discuss the issues with you. After all, your something of a phenom, people will enjoy chatting with you.
Take this whole thing slow, and get the advice you need. Sure, plenty of people charge for investment info with just disclaimers, but many of them are probably afoul of the SEC.
2) From a pure economic perspective (and here what I say means nothing more than what anybody else says), I think you are better off not charging. Try advertising revenue. I just don't think you want to cut down on your audience. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the main reasons your stocks go up is that you can excite enough interest to move something with a small float? Again, you know more about this stuff than I, but the way FSOL jumped had to have something to do with your pick. This is entirely to your compliment; anyone in the industry will tell you that being able to convincingly tell the kind of story that moves a stock is a key to success.
Sorry about the length, but I was worried you were listening too closely to the mob. Good luck to you! |
