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I received the above e-mail today from a well-meaning fellow investor who I have never met - bless his soul - who really wants me to be rich....NOT!

Such emails are the modern-day equivalent of the boiler room tips pitched over the phone by unscrupulous traders just itching to churn their clients' accounts. This is a company, whose stock did not even exist before Feb. 1, 2007! As soon as it became public, what's a small unknown company to do to attract interest from investors? Hire marketing companies to pitch their stock. Who falls for this pitch? People who are always looking for the next big thing to make them rich! When the stock rallies as more and more people buy (remember The Greater Fool Theory?), the founders and original investors cash out, leaving the rest with nothing.

The pitch is usually more polished than the above. It often involves comparisons with a large company stock (like Wal*Mart or Microsoft) saying that 20 years ago, these stocks were unknown just like this one. Now, who doesn't want in on the next Microsoft?

As a FinGho Walker, I hope you never invest in individual stocks. Even if you want to dabble in it with your play-money, there is a starting point to begin your analysis on which stock to buy. There are several other important rules to consider when picking stocks (which is a loser's game, in my opinion) but this is a good place as any to start: Place less faith on companies that pitch their stocks rather than pitching their products. A company can survive and prosper only by selling products or services, not their own stock!

If you ever receive mails like these, I hope you do what I do. Hit the delete button faster than a kid running towards a candy store. Why? Such marketing pitches violate the first two rules of RV's Four Axioms on money. Or better than deleting them, hit the "Report as Spam" button if your email provider has this option, and let them deal with it. The problem is, such e-mails come from all sorts of weird places and easily changeable email IDs that it is near impossible to track down these spammers.

Walk safely, my friend.

Beware of the Sharks on TV

Last night, during an uncommon bout of insomnia, I turned on my TV and predictably, all the late night sharks peddling their "how to get rich quick" wares were on. I wondered who would be up at 2 AM watching this crap. That's when I realized the hardworking folks who put in crazy hours slogging away at their jobs in food service, construction and other back-breaking work are the ones that will be awake at this hour. Unfortunately, these are the very people who should NOT be exposed to the dangerous advice dispensed by the con artists at 2 AM. These hardworking people have the most to lose from the crapola that spews from these decieving snakes.

Sorry for the long lead in and the flattering introduction of late night informercials...well, last night, there was one about making money trading stocks. Boy, how easy they made it sound. Just by watching some colors (Green is 'buy' and Red is 'sell' - pretty simple, right?), the man on the screen continued, anybody can make money trading stocks. They showed a 12-year old kid making 'play' money ($500-$2000 profit per trade), a middle-aged family living the proverbial 'dream' life (btw, why does the beachfront home always look the same in every "get rich" commercial? ) and a couple in their 70s enjoying a golden retirement.

To keep the regulators from jumping on such utopian claims, there appears a fineprint at the bottom of the screen (with groggy eyes at 2 AM, I challenge you to read it without trying too hard) that says "Results not typical. Your experience may vary". Aha, I thought - a shred of truth among a heap of lies!

To all those who have lost money following these infomercials or just itching to lose money by buying their wares and attending the investment "seminars", I give you the 4 basic axioms of personal finance I learned the hard way and no insider will tell you.

1. No one but you really cares about your money. Anyone who says otherwise is flat out lying.


2. Nobody has a "sure" way to get rich quickly and if they did, they would practice it and not preach it on TV.


3. Nobody can save you from your own mistakes, but you can learn to avoid them.


4. Taking the time to learn about finance and investments WILL make you rich.

Stay tuned for more...