The is the second message in the Great Pension Robbery series.

Dad was a zookeeper. My sister Sandra and I benefited from this because dad brought baby lions for us to raise at home. What fun!  We loved them… so cute, warm and cuddly… sort of like a pension.

Portland news article about us raising “Boots” our first lion.

Pensions can make us feel all warm and cuddly… safe in the future… with not a care in the world.  Then like lions they can grow up.

Oops.  Here is dad with Boots some months later… not so cute… not so cuddly and he might just bite us in the… but there is a solution.

The first chapter in this series The Great Pension Robbery reviewed three ways that the purchasing power of pensions can be stolen away.

That article examined the first way pensions can be robbed through under funding from insufficient contributions.

Two other forms of pension theft… are lowered return on assets and the destruction of the pension currency in upcoming messages.

This message looks at pension theft from lowered return on assets

Thomas Fischer speaking at the  Writer’s Camp delegate at our summer home.

Thomas Fischer sent me this note (bolds are mine):  Hi Gary,  Yesterday the ECB lowered interest rates by 0.25% (deposit and loan rates).

As a consequence Denmark also lowered its interest rate by 0.25% (loan rate reduced from 0.45 -0.20%) and the Central Bank also lowered its CD rate (banks deposit rate at the Central bank) by 0.25% to minus 0.20%. It’s the first time in the Central bank´s  200 years history they have had negative CD rates.

They are doing this to keep the currency peg towards the EUR (it can move within a 2.25% band). The Danish kroner is a safe haven and the Central Bank has taken this step to stop the rise of the kroner.

Danish 1 year government bonds yield minus 0.268% whereas investors can get a “whopping”  1.232% on a 10 year bond!

Great if you a looking for financing but for savers it’s awkward!  Thomas

Ways how to get ideas on better returns from Jyske contact: Thomas Fischer at fischer@jgam.com

Canadians and other non Americans should contact Jyske’s  René Mathys at mathys@jbpb.dk

There you have it… you have to pay to have a bond in a safe currency issued by a safe government.  This is not a low return. This is a negative return.

Your pension contributions may be based on the expectations of earning 8% per annum.

Here is an excerpt from a New York Times article entitled “Public Pensions Faulted for Bets on Rosy Returns” by Mary Williams Walsh and Danny Hakim:   While Americans are typically earning less than 1 percent interest on their savings accounts and watching their 401(k) balances yo-yo along with the stock market, most public pension funds are still betting they will earn annual returns of 7 to 8 percent over the long haul, a practice that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently called “indefensible.”

In New York, the city’s chief actuary, Robert North, has proposed lowering the assumed rate of return for the city’s five pension funds to 7 percent from 8 percent, which would be one of the sharpest reductions by a public pension fund in the United States. But that change would mean finding an additional $1.9 billion for the pension system every year, a huge amount for a city already depositing more than a tenth of its budget — $7.3 billion a year — into the funds.

But to many observers, even 7 percent is too high in today’s market conditions.

Projection 7% or 8%. Reality – .02%.

Most pensions are being robbed through these unrealistic projections. The high estimated return reduces the contributions that will be needed for the retirees in later years.   This is a very subtle theft but just as deadly to purchasing power as an armed bandit with his kerchief and gun.

The past wisdom of relying on pensions for retirement may not be so wise in today’s economic and demographic environment.

Gary

One adventurous way to extra earn income is with a seminar tour or events business. To see more details on how to start an events business, click here.

Another way to have a steady income is through agriculture.

Ecuador Agricultural Real Estate Tour

Join an Ecuador farm real estate tour.

You can set the date for your own tour.

This for those who would like to look at Ecuador farm property.

Imagine having a multi dimensional opportunity like this.

There are opportunities to own an Ecuador farm with a combination of beach front and agriculture.

Delegates visiting Ecuador farm on beachfront with multi dimensional opportunity.

See three case studies of Ecuador farms… large, medium and small that offer a sustainable, healthy lifestyle and income protected from inflation.

Merri and I have always focused on turning our passions into profit and we all love living on farm land!

Learn to tap root values and create multi dimensional opportunity on a farm is part of the new way of creating a better lifestyle.

Merri and I live on a farm in North Carolina… a orange grove in Florida and  our first Ecuador property purchased many years ago was also agricultural land… over 900 acres… formerly in sugar cane, citrus, pineapples and avocados… the top soil deep and rich.

Here is a photo of Merri feeding one of our horses.  We still have this hacienda, Rosaspamba, (the place of the roses).

Plus we have added more agricultural land to our portfolio… and are looking to add more.  We love earning from our crops as well as writing seminars and tours.

You can live a wonderful pure lifestyle like this on an Ecuador farm.

Economic history since before WWI suggests that we’ll see the final crunch of this 15 year bear in 2011 and perhaps 2012.  Then the light at the end of the tunnel will appear… slowly at first but picking up a head of steam aiming for the next bubble of something like 2030.

Already the price of farm land globally has been soaring and often in North America is out of reach for individuals.

This is why in the last several years I have been writing about and adding agricultural real estate to one’s portfolio.

There are few places with as much agricultural potential and diversity as Ecuador. It is not surprising that many readers want to own and live on Ecuador farmland.

Ecuador agriculture can offer a better lifestyle and opportunity at an affordable price. 

Sometimes we forget the importance of life’s basics…such as food.  Until those basics cost more than we can afford.

Why Ecuador agriculture is special is explained in a Wall Street Journal article that began: “Prices of farm goods are climbing – in part because of demand for crop-based fuels – pushing up food prices around the world and creating a new source of inflationary pressure. The rise in food prices is already causing distress among consumers in some parts of the world — especially relatively poor nations like India and China. If the trend gathers momentum, it could contribute to slower global growth by forcing consumers to spend less on other items or spurring central banks to fight inflation by raising interest rates.”

This is one of the wonderful benefits of Ecuador agriculture, the extreme supply of excellent but low cost food.

Ecuador is a Garden of Eden and here is a fact you probably did not know. The inhabitants of this region developed more than half the agricultural products that the world eats today. Among these are more than many varieties of corn and potato. These foods also include squash, beans, peppers, peanuts, popcorn, yucca and quinoa.

They even learned to use freezing night temperatures and warm days to freeze dry potatoes and create potato flour.

At the market, three blocks from our hotel where we shop.  Open air restaurants in the front of the market offer excellent meals, vegetarian, or chicken, steak, fish or pork for about $1.

There are numbers of  fresh picked vegetables offered by happy friendly people.

And every type of fruit you can imagine, from pineapple to coconut, papaya, mango, apples, pears, bananas, berries and numerous other tropical fruits all at bargains prices by Western standards and ripe all year round.

Many exotic spices at a 1/20th the cost in the US or Canada. This makes life especially wonderful and inexpensive.

This is why I am pleased that Jean Marie Butterlin is conducting Ecuador real estate tours.  He wrote:  We live now as well in Bahia Ecuador on $2,000 a month as we did in Europe on $10,000 a month.

When you are planning to retire and live the good life, you should look at both parts of the equation, expenses and what you can earn.I have been able to lower my expenses considerably by living in Bahia.  We live in front of the Malecon enjoying the sun 320 days per year.

But the key to retirement is really in the INCOME part of the equation.   How can you generate income without working too hard?

The answer is to have an “outside the box”  plan.  If you do what everybody else does, chances are you’ll earn what everyone else does.

A lot of younger clients on our real estate tours ask  “How can  I generate a little income in Ecuador”?  They say they would move down immediately if they could. This started me thinking  about how to show a few select clients a chance to be part of that world of retirees in Ecuador who work only at what they like.

I have put together a special plan for those seeking to move and earn in Ecuador now!

Here is the plan and here are the facts:

* Every economist is currently saying that agriculture will be the next place to invest because :

• God is not making more arable land.
• The world is running out of food.  China has been buying and leasing arable land all over Africa and in South America for example.  A lot of the smart money is going into arable all over the continent.

* Ecuador has some of the cheapest yet best agricultural land in all of South America.  The climate is best for growing as well with 365 days a year of direct sunlight.  In many parts of Ecuador, farmers can get 3 and even 4 harvests per year, depending on the water available on the property.

* However, most Ecuadorian farmers have not yet learned how to produce and manage a farm. They are lacking higher education and management skills as well as equipment.  Some Ecuador farmers still plow with oxen.

*  Many Ecuadorian farmers do not know how to sell and do not treat the farm as a real business.

There is a great opportunity that lies in this combination of cheap, arable land, the geographical place of Ecuador on the equator and lack of good agronomical skills.

This is a tour for those who want to learn about Ecuador farms. and have $50,000 or more to invest in their home and income opportunity.

This tour will be conducted over three long, jam packed days to provide you a low cost efficient way to inspect Ecuador agricultural property that is legitimately for sale at a reasonable price.

Day 1 - 9 am to 6 pm: Detailed presentations by agri engineers and specialists of several type of agri businesses. These presentations  include costs, types of soils for each type of crop, risk analysis, potential profits, timing, where to find the buyers of crops,  introduction to buyers  looking for specific crops.

On the tour we look “outside the box” at crops that can for example produce “biofuel”. We’ll look at land where one company in Manta will buy every available crop at market price.   We know the owners of that company and you will be introduced to them.

Day 2: Visits farms for sale.  Here is one farm we will inspect.  This agri property has 203 hectares (507 acres) divided into:

28 hectares (70 cares) of balsa trees.  In 5 years these will fetch $30,000 a hectare.

30 hectares (75 acres) of African palm trees in production (the nuts fetch $250 per ton).

- 140 hectares (350 acres) of pasture sufficient for 200 head of cattle or other crops that can produce an excellent return.

- 3 small

and one large river along the property with water availability.

- Close to the main road

- $6600/hectare ($2,640 an acre) asking including a small casita for caretakers.

Day 3: The tour inspects residential real estate… condos and houses for close to farms in nearby coastal cities including Bahia.

We will have inspected and investigated all properties prior paying special attention to three special issues:

* water on site
* access roads
* good port close

We will only show land that has water in Manabi province near Manta the second largest port in Ecuador.

We will have investigated electricity, pricing and title plus will have speakers during breakfast and dinners who will discuss these  issues and the legal matters pertaining to agri businesses in Ecuador.

These experts will be available for consulting during the tour and later… covering technical matters on which crops are best suited for each soil and what times of the year are best for planting and harvest.  The tour pays special attention to reviewing the marketing aspect of each crop and where to find buyers.

We use our contacts with local people were born in the area… who know the land owners… who know what the “market” price should be and we do not show farmland where the seller is asking an unrealistic price or if there are any doubts about ownership or clear title.

We also provide administration, accounting and legal consultants who will answer questions about owning and running a company in Ecuador, a civil code country and very different from the US and Canada which run on common law.

You can set the date for your own tour.

The Ecuador farm tour fee is $799 for single or  $999 couple.

For efficiency and logistics, this tour is strictly limited to 15 people… 4 persons per four wheel drive vehicle.

Ecuador has many Agricultural Advantages and we have been recommending the idea of investing in Ecuador agriculture for years.

This creates opportunity as well.

Ecuador’s geographical location gives it a distinct advantage in agricultural production. Its exports include asparagus, bananas, broccoli, cocoa, coffee, flowers, hearts of palm, lentils, papaya, passion fruit, pineapple, plantain, mango, red beans, and tomatoes. Ecuador has mainly an agricultural economy, though oil is its largest source of revenue, and industry has expanded. Agriculture employs 32 percent of the workforce. 6.4 million acres is used in agriculture. Permanent pasture covers 17 percent of the total area and forests nearly 43 percent. In the highlands subsistence agriculture and the production of staples for the urban areas are predominant (corn, wheat, barley, potatoes, pulses, and various vegetables). In the coastal lowlands tropical crops are grown to export. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world and among the largest exporters of shrimp and roses.

Merri and I have been recommending Ecuador for over 15 years…we have been recommending investing in agricultural property for even longer. Agricultural property in Ecuador makes excellent sense for those who like both ideas.  We are very pleased that Jean Marie has created this excellent tour.  We are happy to share this opportunity with you.

Gary

Included in the price is the tour… the guides and are all local transportation.  Airfare to Ecuador… domestic airfare from Quito to Manta, lodging and meals are NOT included.

You can set the date for your own tour.

The Ecuador farm tour fee is $799 for single or  $999 couple.

For efficiency and logistics this tour is strictly limited to 15 people… 4 persons per four wheel drive vehicle.

Who Will Benefit From This Tour

Attendees on this tour will range from those who want their own sustainable farm or a full agricultural business.

Three Ecuador Farm Case Studies

Here are three case studies for three Ecuador farms… small… medium and large. (These farms are no longer on the market).

Case Study #1:  A good case study for those looking for a way of life and an income supplement is this  six acre organic tomato farm offered at $85,000 that delegates on on a real estate tour visited.   This shows a perfect little Ecuador retirement operation, so where should we start?

I think it is with the guinea pigs…

The farm has many of them in these cages.

Clover on the farm feeds them.  Their manure helps organically fertilize the corn.

The corn husks are mixed with manure to be used as fertilizer and the corn feeds the…

pigeons…

chickens and…

pigs.

All of these animals create more organic fertilizer that this farmer uses to grow tomatoes.

Here is the Ecuador organic farmer with our driver Jorge, Alberto Verdezoto and Peggy Carper.

Tomatoes grow quickly here it seems.  These newly planted organic tomatoes will be ready in three weeks. I find this hard to believe but this is what the farmer said.  Though my Spanish has been known to miss on occasion.

These will look like…

this and…

provide

income that…

would provide a nice retirement income… $25,000 a year we are told.

Other benefits include farm fresh eggs.

Trout are in the ponds next to the pigeon coops.

You can set the date for your own tour.

The Ecuador farm tour  fee is $799 for single or  $999 couple.

Case Study #2:   This second case study shows a Coffee finca offered for $175,000 for someone who wishes to farm for a good income.

26 acre Inca Mountain Ecuador coffee finca  1 ¾ hour drive from Cotacachi.

Ecuador coffee farm entrance.

The original owner spent two years searching for the perfect location to duplicate the exact terrain, altitude and growing conditions of the most successful coffee farms of Boquete, Panama and Columbia.

Terrain and coffee plants.

After walking with an altimeter in hand and talking to reclusive indigenous farmers, this region was discovered with all the perfect conditions to cultivate exceptional Arabica coffee trees.

Owners house with roof terrace.

This is a micro climate, blessed with abundant rainfall, in clean mountain air, bounded by a clear trout filled year around rushing river, protected from extremes of wind and large temperature fluctuations,  perfect for growing coffee.

Open drying patio.

It has 11 hectares planted (manageable for a single owner), with approximately 50,000 Arabica, varietal Caturra (self pollinating) coffee trees which  are perfectly distributed over a hillside interspersed with a variety of fruit trees for shade.

Oranges grown to protect coffee trees.

No problem selling this crop for top dollar due to its proven high quality.  The coffee sales last year grossed $70,000 so after $25,000 expenses, $45,000 was the net income.

Coffee beans.

As well, an experimental 1 hectare of Geisha varietal.  Geisha is considered to be one of the finest coffees in the world and garnered the highest auction record in coffee history, fetching $170 per pound in 2010.  The first harvest of this varietal is expected in about 2 years.

Coffee plants grown in greenhouse on farm.

This Andean  location provides an ideal environment for coffee growing without damaging the unique habitat of many species of birds.   Arabica coffee trees are a major source of oxygen production.  Each hectare produces 86 pounds of oxygen per day which is 50% of rain forest habitat.  Ecuador is a biologically diverse country with an abundance of birds, amphibians, reptiles and butterflies.  Inca Mountain Coffee Farm is ecologically in harmony with its environment.

The Arabica coffee trees are 6 years old, providing remarkable yields, allowing for continuous flowering and two annual harvests (major harvest Feb-Jun and minor harvest Oct-Nov).

Covered drying patio.

In the yearly Golden Cup competition, coffee from this farm was a finalist in 2011.

Seasonal worker harvesting coffee.

Owner’s house – 900 sq/ft, 2 bed, 1 bath, with lots of marble, built in cabinets in both bedrooms and upper roof porch

Caretaker’s house – divided into multiple rooms with bathroom

Land line phone installed and operational

110 and 220 volt electric lines

Equipment:  2 coffee bean pulpers with 2 water tanks, 2 weed whackers, misc. tools, scale for weighing coffee bags

1 large uncovered drying patio and 1 covered drying patio

2 full time highly experienced workers – monthly payroll is $650 (plus more during harvest for seasonal workers)

Average yearly expenses:  $25,000 (all payroll, fertilizer, harvesting expenses, utilities, taxes)

This clean mountain river that runs year around with trout.  Also, access to mountain water for farm irrigation, though it is rarely needed.

Farm is fenced along road.

You can set the date for your own tour.

The Ecuador farm tour fee is $799 for single or  $999 couple.

Case Study #3:   This third case study shows an American who has created a   large Ecuador agri operation. This is the farming operation set up by Young Living Essential oils.

After creating a marketing system for the oils and farming in the USA, Gary and his wife…

moved to Ecuador… began a large farming operation as well as…

there own processing and a health spa.

Ecuador is a perfect place for many types of agriculture… large and small.  Find your farm in the safe and efficient way on an Ecuador Agricultural Tour.

For efficiency and logistics this tour is strictly limited to 15 people… 4 persons per four wheel drive vehicle.

You can set the date for your own tour.

The Ecuador farm tour fee is $799 for single or  $999 couple.

Is this the multi currency investment’s darkest hour when a double dip will increase opportunity?

Here is a chart showing how the Dow Jones Industrial Index ended down last week.  See a similar chart below that shows why this could be good news for many.

Since it is Monday, let’s start this week by recognizing that this correction has been suspected and that historical research suggests that this is the darkest hour before the light at the end the global economic tunnel appears.

You’ll see below that the current stock market volatility and economic slow down are to be expected…are completely natural and in perfect order.  This is a time of great opportunity…not of disaster.

This site has continually reviewed the 15 to 17 year economic cycle as outline by Austrian economist, Joseph Shumpeter. The global economy (and US stock market) enjoys an approximately 15 year bull…. then about a 15 year bear (a period of no growth) and then moves back to start a 15 year bull.   These stock market bull and bear cycles are based on cycles of human interaction, war, technology and productivity.

At our June 2011 International Investing & Business seminar we looked at how the US equity market is currently about 12 years into the 15 year trend.

We then compared the last 15 year bear cycle That began in 1968 and saw that after 12 years from  October 1968 to April 1980  the US stock S&P index had dropped -7.7% in 138 Months.

Then we saw how from the beginning of this bear cycle from December 1999 to June 2011  the S& P was down -11% in 138 Months.

Then we looked at this chart from Moore Research Center, Inc. to see what to expect from June 2011 to June 2013 if that period compares with June 1980 to 1982.   The historical story tells us to expect a large drop.

Notice the similarities between the market in early 1980 (Blue Line) and the current Dow above.  There is a strong synchronicity.

A strong 1999 to 2013 bear?

See how to get a FREE recording of the June seminar and how to attend our October 7-8-9, 2011 International Investing and Business Seminar.

If history is our guide, some great new innovation or innovations will then ignite 15 year bull beginning in 2013 to 2014.

This is good news for retiring boomers who manage not to be wiped out from the next several years of sideways and downwards motion.

This is great news for long term investors who can pick up incredible bargains now.

Here is how these cycles seem to work.

Step #1: An economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war. Struggles for survival in the war (like the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Cold War (WWIII), super charge inventiveness that creates new forms of productivity…the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, production line processes, jet engines, TV, farming techniques, plastics, telephone, computer and lastly during the Cold War, the Internet.

Step #2: Each new invention helped win a war.  Shifting the technology to domestic use… after the war… created a boom.

Step #3: Each boom leads to excess.

Step #4: Each excess led to a correction.  The correction creates an economic downturn.

Step #5: The economic downturn enhances a war or threat of war.

Here we are… in the correction… at the correct time when we should expect that another war (or threat of war such as the Cold War) should begin to build!  This latest downturn started almost exactly (1998), 16 years after the last boom began (1982)…which began after the last great human struggle called the Cold War.

If the cycle repeats, the struggle should build now due to the poor economy.  If the cycles repeat then the bottom is around 2013. Everything will seem bleakest… darkest…blackest and this will be the best time of all to invest… hence my light suit!

This Morgan Stanley graph shows these cycles.

The key for spotting the greatest investment opportunities is to spot the next big invention… the technology that will spin out of WWIV.

The key is that a problem must have such severe consequences (such as losing the war and being destroyed) that all stops… all logics of return on investment are ignored. Technology and research are pushed full steam ahead regardless of cost.

The key to great success now is spotting the war.  It could be against global warming.  The battle could be against a plague…. new bacteria that resists antibiotics.  A bad year of crops could create famine and the war would be on hunger.

The solutions could be the small stuff (nano tubes) or large sun reflectors tied to earth that generate energy.  Whatever, large or small,  the opportunity they create will be huge.

We are betting on water, natural health, agricultural real estate, good value US real estate and Ecuador real estate… because we understand these.

You should look for innovations that you understand that could rock the world.

If markets continue to fall.  If the global economy stalls.  If there is increased unemployment and turmoil… we cannot do much about this.

We can… if we see what is likely to come, be prepared so we can think out of the box and invest and do business in places most likely to be at the forefront of the next social economic expansion.

These are the times of greatest opportunity for the small guy when the old order that has taken advantage of the system lets go and a new order led by new blood continues humanity’s evolution.

Gary

Use our Multi Currency Portfolio Service in the year ahead.

See ways to earn globally with our online courses.

See an Ecuador visa warning and see ways to gain in Ecuador from the turmoil in the Western world.

You can see the whole message “Spot Future Trends” in the archives.

Aghhhh!  Please forgive my delayed replies this last week. My MacBookPro crashed just one day before we started our most recent Super Thinking + Spanish course. I had complete backup… but no computer to put it on.  This left me without a Powerpoint presentation and all thumbs trying to keep up with the steady onslaught of incoming email via GMail and stolen moments on Merri’s PC.  Aghhhh!

I may look relaxed in my office but I can tell you I WAS NOT.

All this led me to spending some time at the Altamonte Springs Apple Store.  What an interesting place for investors to view.  So many ideas. So beyond…. computer.

Now I have two MacBookPros.  I’ll keep them synchronized so this never happens again.  The new computer… and Moore’s Law and watching all these so young, Apple geniuses really started me thinking about future investment trends.    My new Mac has 8 gigs of processing power… 500 gigs of memory and a high speed hard disk that chews up the graphics files I move around like the wind moves dust… all including three year service a one on one program high res, no glare screen… and a remote… $3,500.    I look back at my first fridge sized Data General Eclipse 32 bit machine.  I recall paying about $75,000 in the 1980s.  What a difference 25 or so years have made.

We can learn a lot  (not everything, but quite a bit) about investing in the future by looking in the past… so I often check back to see what I wrote and how the ideas turned out.  Talk about 3H… “Humbling”…. “Humorous” and “Honesty Evoking”.

The excerpts here are from a message posted at www.garyascott.com June 10, 2000, almost 11 years ago: I recently spoke at Jyske Bank’s international investment seminar which Merri and I always enjoy. We began at their Copenhagen headquarters in a grand old building in the center of town where they always speak a little and feed us a lot in their company dining room. Also, I am always impressed that the bankers themselves wait on tables and serve us. The building’s history gives us a bit of architectural awe and since Jyske are not normal bankers they really do work hard to entertain. 70 delegates came from all over the world, five Australians, a handful of Ecuadorians, Swiss, Germans, Danes and Swedes, two Taiwanese, Canadians, French, Austrians, one man from the Ukraine and one from Ghana, plus some more and we had a genuinely fun time as well as learned a lot.

The bank lined up a host of really good speakers including Ian Pierson, the head futurist for British Telecom spoke. He is really a bright guy!  If he is to be believed, we won’t pay for telephone calls in a decade and we’ll have computers that can almost create Star Trek style holodecks. We’ll have computerized skin of chips so small they’ll sink below the skin and connect with neural networks. We can put these on so we’ll feel and taste as well as see and hear digital experiences.

The idea is that TV and phone will drag the world into cyberspace! We will use increasingly powerful, smaller (and smarter) chips in phones and TVs. We will make them interactive with voice and gesture and the computers will even give vocal replies.

Their will be two steps that take place.   First we will move from using computers to using interactive TV and the phone. Too many people are afraid of computers because they are too user unfriendly. But everyone knows how to use the TV and phone.

Second we will shift from the typed word to voice. Not everyone can type but most of us can talk.

These voice and gesture activated devices will be powerful in assessing your needs, sorting out data available and giving you a short list of useable information. You will no longer go to the net and ask a general question which may result in thousands of possible answers. You’ll be able to ask specific, personal questions and get personal, specific answers.

This simple idea could change our entire social, economical, religious, political and economic structure. How?

One change will be the functional decomposition of companies. Many of the aspects of business that currently make companies a powerful social tool, such as human resources, information sharing, clerical, accounting, distribution, procurement, legal, sales, even R&D will be capable of being automated. Companies will simply not be needed. Computers will give the services to workers that companies previously provided.

Another change will be speed of change. In this scenario change becomes so rapid that experience becomes a liability instead of an asset! Businesses are a pool of experience commonly guided by a plan. As computers eliminate the current dynamics of time and space the inflexibility of plans will reduce the effectiveness of companies. Instead we will see highly flexible, loose knit, networks, linked by the net, that take on short term tasks.

This organizational shift will alter the dynamics of everything. Imagine the shift in political power for example. Imagine how a network of a thousand people can gain instantaneous and strong power. If each member in such a network can pass an idea to only ten people, three deep that small network can move a million people (buyers, votes, etc.) overnight. Small networks will be able to apply considerable pressure in very direct places at incredibly specific times, all at low cost.

Interactive TV and cell phones can also reverse the “Cycle of Knowledge”. For the past two hundred years this cycle has shifted from the individual as a general knower of many subjects to the individual as a specialist in just a few areas.

We can presume from this that those who are wealthiest spend the most of their time on a speciality which makes money for them.

But the vocal use of interactive, intelligent cell phones and TVs means that individuals will return to having more general knowledge. Specialists will not be so much in demand because up to date, relevant, less biased, specialized knowledge requirements will be filled on demand by computers.

So look for the cuddly home interface. This could be where the next big action is.

So, her I am Jan. 21, 2011 and I am thinking…..well, Pierson and that message really banged that nail on the head.  But how have the share prices of the cuddly interface companies played out?

Let’s take a look and see how the share price of some businesses that should have profited from these trends have played out.

How about British Telcom?  I mean they hired the guy… Pierson.  Here is the share price since the year 2000.

So the telephone company employing Pierson didn’t do all that well in this decade of the cuddle interface.

How about Vonage the company that let’s us talk on the phone free?

Nope, no great long term profits there.

Noika… the Finnish cell phone maker.  Are they in the race?

Evidently investors in 2000 thought Noika was the company that would excel.  They may still be thinking that and waiting. If so… I hope they had other investments as well.

Apple?  The company that started me thinking about this.  I am sure the IPod… the King of the phone cuddly interface played a big part in its recently rocketing share price, so this is the one share of a company heavily involved in the cuddly interface that has really moved up.

Why has Apple share prices shined and not the others?

One reason behond Apples success may be its lack of debt.

A recent article at www.garyascott.com “No Debt Shares” showed the share appreciation of top performing, debt free, companies. Apple was number two.

Here is an excerpt from that “No Debt” message:

Apple has great design and a very innovative leader. Even now, as well established and successful as Apple is, Steven Jobs’ medical leave brings the company’s future into question.

Big companies like British Telcom are hard to adapt quickly.  Vonage does not have such a cuddly interface yet.  Noika, I am not sure what went wrong.

The clear message though is “just catching the next big wave is not enough!”  Every new technology offers great opportunity but venture investments do not have an obvious value profile so speculation and hence extreme discipline and diversification are required.

The key to prosperity rests in the ability to adapt to accelerating change.   This requires a new form of investment thought.

Our upcoming International Investing Made EZ and our International Business Made EZ seminars include sessions on how to use FM Thinking (Frequency Modulation) to improve investing and business choices.

We dipped into the archives, saw the comparisions and can see that to adapt to think Beyond Logic.  Our FM course is designed to help you to see bigger pictures….

Gary

Super Thinking + International Investing & Business Seminar

Super Thinking + International Investing & Business Seminar, February 1-2-3, 2103 in Mt Dora Florida.

This is the premier seminar we have been conducting every February for over 30 years.  This February is special because the best opportunities come at the darkest hour and that time is here.  Learn how to…

#1: Borrow yen at 2.5% and gain a 5% profit in three weeks.

#2: Turn $499 into $142,020… per year.

#3:  Buy a beach view Ecuador home for $16,000.

Review these ideas in warm and sunny Lake County, Florida, with over 1,000 named lakes and the charm of historic Mt. Dora. This a special place especially at the this time of year.

(Click on photo to enlarge).

These are balmy winter days I shot of the Florida winter from…

my canoe.

Forces have come together for the biggest economic expansion in history.   Huge profits are waiting in business and investing… whether you are just starting… in the middle… are ready to retire or want to start an entirely new career.

One reason for this timing is cyclical.  Equity markets are selling at some of their best valuations in years.

This optimistic outlook is based on the development of earnings, cash flows, dividends and book values.

When you look at the big picture… from the turn of the century until now the entire global economic history has been a series of slow downs and catch ups,  but over the long run  values in the stock market have risen about 9.1 percent, respectively, compounded annually.

There are always emotional reasons for slow downs…  as we have seen in the past five years…  the worries of double dip recessions… high unemployment… concerns about fiscal cliffs. Such fears hold investors back.  Yet  global population growth and advances in production and prosperity are relentless.   Values increase as prices stagnate. Then markets break free and rocket upwards creating wealth, prosperity and growth.

Economic breakouts create fortunes.  This February we get to share with you three… enormous profit possibilities…. one in business…. one in investing and one in Ecuador.

All the facts have come together.   The next boom is about to begin.

We can see the power of breakouts from the last BIG ONE in 1979.   Warren Buffett saw it coming. He mentioned it in a famous 1979 Forbes article “You Pay a Very High Price in the Stock Market for a Cheery Consensus”.

Everything looked bleak.

The 1980s recession, the worst since the Great Depression, was about to begin.   Yet in 1979 Buffett said…. BUY NOW.    On August 13, 1982 the biggest global bull stock market in history began.

The Dow’s 1982 to 1999, relentless 17 year climb is just one breakout we can see.

Click to enlarge.

1979 was the darkest hour.  The herd was thinking negatively.   The reality?  A boom was on!   Then in 1999 another economic contraction began and has been with us till now… 14 years.   The cycle is repeating.  This is the beginning of an even bigger boom.

“It’s not what’s happening that counts. It’s what you do with it.”

Make no mistake… Merri and I have been able to help readers have better lives, less stress and to make fortunes during these last 17 economically depressed years.  Yet the simple fact is that the really big profits come at the start of a boom.  This is why I want to kick off 2013 with you and share more than my usual confidence and enthusiasm. 

The upcoming February seminar is divided into three main sessions.

Each session helps you learn how to gain freedom, remove stress, earn more and do more good in and for the world.

Session One :  International Micro Business – “How to Have a Positive Global Income”.   You can turn $499 in $142,020 a year, even in small towns.

Session Two : Ecuador Living and Real Estate.

Sessions Three:  International & Value Investing Outside the Box.

Here is a partial syllabus of the seminar:

SESSION ONE:  How to Turn Your Passion into a Profitable Microbusiness.   A micro business can be the best investment you can make. Start small and magnify your investment with your effort, enthusiasm and energy.

* Turn $499 into $142,020 through writing and publishing… without risk.  In just one year.  Cash in on the blowback from the global community.  The global economy is good but big business… big government…. big medicine and global everything is also impersonal, often harsh and inhumane.  This expansionary process leaves us believing in nothing.  We are cynical of the global banks… the aggressive police… the intrusive government… the big church… the monetized medicine… the negative media… the unfair laws…. the failing currencies… all the broken promises.

Yet as humans, we have to believe in something and our last bastion… the one we can see, hear, taste, smell and feel is our local community… either as a  place or as a collection of like-minded souls.

This is also where we can actually accomplish something and actually have an impact at doing some good.

On January 1st, 2013, Merri and I launched a new business “Positive Community Magazines” (PCM) with David Cross our webmaster and Dave & Sherry Johnson. This opportunity is for anyone young or old.  PCM offers excellent income… less stress, fulfillment and positive service to the community.  This business helps publish positive community magazines in small towns or to small communities of highly focused, like-minded souls.

Warren Buffett believes so much in this potential that he is buying newspapers in small towns all over America.

In 2012 Berkshire Hathaway purchased 63 small and mid-sized daily and weekly newspapers throughout the United States.

He plans to buy more and says: “I like buying individual papers at the right prices.” 

Buffett stated that Berkshire is not buying big newspapers or more newspaper shares because he believes in the value of local communities.

In February, you’ll meet Dave & Sherry Johnson who had a good life until times turned sour during the 2007 recession.  They lost everything so they moved to Asheboro, North Carolina which Forbes magazine highlighted as “One of America’s Ten Fastest-Dying Towns in the USA”.  They started a community magazine and from the ashes it has risen from success to success.   They now earn over $17,000 a month.  They came to our Writer’s Camp.  We saw their amazing business model and let no moss grow under our feet before asking them if they would help us spread this incredible concept around the world.

We know trends when we see them and this is even more exciting than the trend we saw in Ecuador’s expansion 17 years ago.

As an Independent Community Publisher of Positive Community Magazines, you will publish positive, upbeat community publications dedicated to representing, encouraging and celebrating the community you serve by focusing on the lifestyles, talents, gifts and contributions of the people who live and work there.  Plus you’ll earn as much as $17,635 a month.

Learn how to gain a proven business model with training – archive of articles – design templates – access to low-cost printing – marketing materials – and a very, very low investment (as little as $499) to start.

The Money – Here is the Proforma Income for a 64-page Magazine

In the model magazines the ad revenues run around $13,000 (40% ads/$500 per ad page) and editorial revenues of $4,635 or a gross income of  $17,635 a month.

Printing  and operational expenses are in the $5,800 range leaving  profits of $11,835.  You increase the bottom line if you do more of the design and distribution work yourself.

Other advantages of magazine publishing include the freedom to set your own schedule,  PRESS credentials, prestige, service to the community, philanthropy, being in the know and having a well respected profession.

Saves Lives.  Here is just one example of the good you can do. Sherry Johnson shared this story.

She wrote: Gary,  we even save lives.  In one issue of their magazine they told the story of a little boy who was struggling with a rare disease that caused life-threatening seizures.  One day, while his mom was out shopping, the little boy had a seizure so she rushed him to the hospital.

She called ahead and the nurse met her at the emergency room.  As it happens, the nurse had read the article in the magazine (which someone had brought to the nurse’s lounge) and she recognized the little boy from the article.  Since she knew immediately what was wrong with him, no time was wasted and he was treated quickly.  They were told that this particular seizure was especially bad and that the article probably saved his life.  This doesn’t happen every day but once in a lifetime is good enough!

Downtown Mt. Dora, Florida

Another session in the seminar shows “How to have an international micro business.”  These sessions are highly practical and usable. They focus on how to use modern technology to start global micro businesses based around a website, with minimal investments of time and capital.

By starting small and building with stepping stones and a harmonious focus, Merri and I have learned how to own profit generating phrases at Google.  We, along with our webmaster, David Cross, share the secrets of how you can use words to create your own global income.

The seminar shares how we us “Seven Ps”  (Person, Problem and Promise, Product) to zero in on key word phrases.  The Fifth P (Promise) develops new customers. The Sixth P is the Prospecting Path and Seventh P is the Presentation that creates income.

Learn about other microbusiness possibilities…

In the global micro business sessions we’ll see ideas on how to:

* Create Export Businesses

* Earn from Self Publishing and Writing

* Develop Internet Sales

* Cash in on Ecuador Business Ideas

* Find Organic Agricultural Business Ideas

* Profit With Health Business Ideas

* Turn Ideas for Tours and Seminar Businesses into Profitable Lifestyles

* Create a Multi Dimension extra income lifestyle.

Multi dimensional living can create a lifestyle that brings better health and lasting “real” wealth.  Many readers  are choosing a multi dimensional lifestyle, living on a farm and earning in other ways such as writing.

Activity on the farm in North Carolina. It’s tax deductible and profitable but…

I cannot call it work.

Merri and I have been fortunate. The self publishing business has treated us well.  However a great deal of our financial stability also comes from being multi dimensional.  We have lived on our own farm and seminar camp and orange grove and in our own Ecuador hotel and hacienda.  We are always fixing things up…. buying broken places or taking broken ideas and making them whole.

For decades we have been buying houses and fixing them… painting, restructuring and such.  This is our hobby… that happens to be profitable… or maybe that’s our business and writing is the hobby that also happens to be profitable?

The point is what we do is not work.   We just regularly do what we love and figure out how to earn income in the process.  The adage framed on my desk given to me by a beloved Indian Pundit is “Action is Thy Duty… Reward Not Thy Concern“. With this motto and a bit of common sense living joyfully and earning merge.

Our daughter, Cinda, and David Cross, our son-in-law webmaster and granddaughters, Sequoia and Teeka, have taken this lifestyle route as well.   Cinda loves animals so is a veterinarian and specializes in animal acupuncture which she can do at their farm.

David has his website and voice-over business he can run from their farm and the girls love working in the gardens.

David and Cinda’s multi dimensional farm. They now produce 60% of their food and earn extra income selling their excess organic crops.

Using the Bio Degradable “Bio Wash” to gain added value we have been able to double our production and quadruple the profits in our orange grove.

In the multi dimension segment of the seminar we review how to spot “live on agri and B&B opportunity” in small towns and Ecuador.  We’ll also look at Bio Wash, that we have supported now for nearly 20 years. We’ll show the environmental as well as health and business benefits it brings.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

SESSION TWO: Ecuador Living.  Talk about catching an early wave… Merri and I caught the Ecuador expat trend right at its beginning 17 years ago.   We brought readers who joined us in Ecuador then… some amazing opportunities.  This cycle has matured but there are still great bargains if you know what to do.  No one has as much experience and as many contacts in this field. This experience is also dependable.  We do not sell Ecuador real estate so you won’t be hearing any hidden agendas.

A beach house for $16,000?  Is that bargain enough?  You cannot beat experience when it comes to learning all the ins and outs and buying real estate in a country like Ecuador.

For example after more than a dozen years of traveling… working… buying and selling real estate and running businesses in Ecuador… we led Jean Marie Butterlin from France to the coast and he began scouring the beaches from Manta, north to Pedernales… finding the bargains…. meeting the landowners…  understanding the rules, regulations and customs.

That experience made him the expert of Ecuador beach real estate so that bargains could be found and so his clients could overcome the biggest problems and intelligently buy real estate on the coast.

We’ll share how to  buy beach property intelligently.

Here is Jean Marie’s second beach home…. secluded overlooking this…

isolated beach home for just…

$16,000.

You’ll learn how to overcome one of the biggest mistakes most real estate buyers make on the beach.

Dr. Andres Cordova will speak and join me in updating Ecuador real estate and residency rules.

Dr. Andres Cordova speaking at our seminars.

Andres is our friend and Ecuador attorney. He is the grandson of one of Ecuador’s more famous presidents and was a senior partner in a law firm that represents Ecuador’s treasury.

We’ll also review how to create an Ecuador export business as Merri and I have for many years.

Roberto Ribadeneira speaking at our seminar about how he can shop, ship and charge for Ecuador export businesses.

We’ll review the Ecuadorshop Logistics service that provides all these services for exporters in importers into the USA.

We’ll share how Roberto provides an exclusive service that helps readers who export from Ecuador monitor production and quality and assure timely delivery.

This is a great service that provides every detail for importing products into the USA.   We have used this logistics service ourselves for years and became the largest shipper of Ecuador roses last Christmas.  One big benefit is that the service can send each product direct to the buyer in the USA.  The Ecuadorshop Logistics service makes small and medium scale Ecuador exporting possible.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

Session THREE  – International & Value Investing Outside the Box.  This session shows how to protect your investments and savings, plus what to do with extra profits you’ll earn.

The educational program Merri and I have developed uses a different form of frequency modulation that opens enormous opportunity for expansion, understanding, peacefulness as well as greater wealth.

FM teaching uses frequency (in music and with each sense… sight…. smell, tactile and even smell) to integrate brain waves so the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.  This brings forth the three C’s:  Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

FM creates relaxed concentration… a key to happiness, health and success.

You learn whole brain thinking that can help improve your freedom, satisfaction and income through business.

This part of the seminar helps us integrate their brain waves so they are more intelligent, intuitive and relaxed.

The Super Thinking sessions show three ways (baroque music, relaxation and nutrition) to get into and stay in a state of relaxed concentration… a mental state shown to enhance almost every human capability… especially writing.

Merri and I are explorers so we have used this techniques for decades. We  are always looking for what’s next… trying to stay on or ahead of the leading edge and need ways to think outside he box.

The Super Thinking sessions share how we do this to live better…. using frequency modulation to be smarter… stronger…. more energetic… more aware, friendlier, compassionate, happier and healthier.

We are in our 45th year of business and we share what we have learned and where this is leading our activities in our upcoming seminar. Join us.

Spotting new trends and applying them to our micro business has brought us a strong and continual flow of income through good times and bad.  More importantly the process has been fulfilling…. beneficial to society and healthy.    Now you can benefit from the latest… and perhaps strongest… of all the trends we have stumbled upon.

Applying the concepts of super thinking to spotting trends over the past 45 years has helped thousands of our readers make and save millions.   The success of our readers has been a driving force in our lives yet we have always wanted to do more so continued looking deeper at ways we can share how to have income, stability, good health and contentment.

Join us to learn our most recent experiences and most advanced concepts and ideas.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

There are two more Reasons to be in Mt. Dora February 1-2-3.   One is old time values.

The Lakeside Inn seen from Lake Dora.

130 years ago three local, and reasonably successful individuals, sitting around around one afternoon when one of them says “hey… lets build a hotel”.  The three agreed, plans were drawn up, materials were ordered and work began.  The year was 1883, Mount Dora was still called Royellou, Chester Arthur was President, and it would still be several years before the railroad would make its way in to town.   This leaves the Lakeside Inn as the oldest, continuously operated hotel in the State of Florida.   The Inn is just across the street from our meeting place and is celebrating its 130th Anniversary throughout 2013 with a number of special events and celebrations.

Mt. Dora Arts Festival.  This is is ranked in the top hundred art shows in the US. It’s a juried fine arts festival, for art lovers, casual festival-goers and families.

Downtown Mount Dora, with its New England architecture and breathtaking views of Lake Dora is the backdrop for this event. In addition to the endless rows of fine art, including oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, clay, sculpture and photography, the festival features local and regional musical entertainment at a main stage in Donnelly Park.

The event draws over 300,000 visitors and features more than 285 artists from all over the world.Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar -

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

Join Merri, me and the following speakers:

* Thomas Fischer of Jyske Bank, who will talk about International investing, forex, plus borrowing low to invest high.

* Rich Checkan of Asset Strategy who will update the state of the precious metals markets.

* Dr. Andres Cordova updating Ecuador real estate and monetary, residency and tax regulations.

* Dave and Sherry Johnson. How to turn $499 into 142,035 with Positive Community magazines in small towns.

* Shirley Peacock.  Lake County real estate.

* Mike McDonald. Aegis Capital Corp.

* Lou Shinamin. Ruggie Wealth

* Larry Grossman. Sovereign Pension Management.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

Saturday Questions and Answers.

See below how changes in green investments can affect our wealth and well being.

#1: Question Jyske lawsuit.

#2: Question Multi currency investing with minimal amounts.

#3: Comments on quackery.

#4: Rats in Ecuador.

#5: Comments on natural resource polarity and something to do about it as an investor.

#6:Comments on Terror and Love.

#7: Comments on New FM (Frequency Modulation) Teacher training.

Question #1:  Re Jyske class action suit. Hi Gary, I noticed this article in FIN Aternatives . I was thinking to invest with  these guys, especially as you are so enthusiastic about them.  It does not bode well that Jyske Bank as been sued (successfully) 43 times by investors…do you have a comment? Thank you,

My comments: I do not know the details but am asking Jyske for more insights.We have only had good luck with Jyske and have known the top people for decades. They have also treated our readers with integrity as far as I know.  We get few complaints and do see quite a few positive comments though due to the increased diligence forced on all banks we see more unhappy clients with banks everywhere.
One thing I like about Jyske is that its staff are not given bonuses… so there is no pressure on any of them to pull tricks to make their performance look better. It is in the staff’s best interest for the bank to remain conservative and strong so I do not know what went wrong in this case.

Regretfully Jyske is one of the few major European banks left who will take American clients for less than millions in their account. Not regretfully because Jyske is bad but because it is always good to have choices and Americans do not have many when it comes to overseas banking now.

Any big institution may make errors. I noticed that Morgan Stanley… a huge firm  is just being sued for billions re Madoff.

It is possible someone may have screwed up within Jyske’s organization. It is hard for any big company not to have problems from time to time.  Everything I have seen though suggests a pretty strong organization with good values.

Gary’s Added Comment: Jyske did send the following reply about this lawsuit. I am answering on behalf of Gary Scott’s forwarded email to Jyske Bank Private Banking.

Under reference to your email informing us that IceNews, among others, has published an article, ‘poor investment advice acknowledgement by Jyske Bank’, we inform you that the article is in our view too sweeping and does not reflect the realities of the case.

In the autumn of 2007, Hedgeforeningen Jyske Invest launched a bond hedge fund, Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer, which implemented a market-neutral investment strategy using a combination of Danish mortgage bonds and German government bonds. Many Jyske Bank customers bought units in the hedge fund, which was, we regret to say, hit hard by the global financial crisis in the autumn of 2008.

Jyske Bank has received complaints from customers, and the investment product has been mentioned in a few Danish media. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority issued a reprimand to Jyske Invest on the grounds that the brochure about Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer did not offer a balanced description of the product characteristics and the risks involved. Also Jyske Bank was reprimanded – for not in a general way having taken steps to improve the sales brochure. Neither Jyske Invest nor Jyske Bank concurs with the criticism. The sales brochure for the product expressly mentioned the risk of the hedge fund going bankrupt, which must be termed the worst-possible scenario.

The Chairman of Jyske Bank stated at the Bank’s annual general meeting in March 2010 that Jyske Bank does not dispute that errors may actually in certain cases have occurred in connection with the advisory service provided with regard to Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer, but Jyske Bank does dispute that errors should have been committed in general in its advisory service.

In June 2010, an independent complaints board, the Financial Services Complaints Board, found against Jyske Bank in five cases. In its decisions, the Complaints Board deviated from the usual practice and held that the burden lay with Jyske Bank of proving that it had provided adequate advisory service to the customers in question. Until the autumn of 2009 it was up to the complainant to prove that the advisory service received had been inadequate.

Jyske Bank has maintained throughout that only case-by-case scrutiny will reveal whether the Bank’s advisers have committed actionable errors in their advisory service. The cases with relation to Jyske Invest Hedge Markedsneutral – Obligationer reflect discrete occurrences, and the customers in question acted on the basis of widely different circumstances.

Moreover, we have repeatedly declared that if we have demonstrably committed actionable errors in our advisory service in individual cases, we shall acknowledge liability.

Against that background we decided, after consideration of each of the five individual cases mentioned above, to comply with the decision of the Danish Financial Services Complaints Board. With some other decisions of the Complaints Board we do not intend to comply.

Correspondingly, we have complied on earlier occasions with decisions made by the Complaints Board after factual individual consideration, and we have also closed cases with customers who complained to the Bank direct.

Best Regards,

Oscar Lindblad
Private Banking Copenhagen

Readers Question #2: Hi Gary,  I was just reading over your email and am very intrigued at the possibilities of multi currency investing.I have recently had some major changes in my life as I have resigned from my teaching job.

With that said, I have no severance or insurance starting at the end of January.  Where I am looking for some guidance is whether to invest this money or live off of it until I start to make money again?  I am going to go ahead and order the multi currency report after I hear from you.

My reply: The minimum the bank in the Borrow Low-Deposit High report accepts is $100,000 so I do not feel the report is appropriate.

I am working on a report that looks at investing less in multi currencies via ETFs… but I have a lot more work to go on this project.

Since I am not a financial advisor, I can’t really provide individual advice about how and where to invest but either of the two contacts below may be able to direct you to an advisor who understand multi currency investing.

One good start is with Everbank.  They offer a multicurrency CD.  Jason Coots can help at jason.coots@everbank.com

Another is the Wisdom Tree Emerging Debt ETF. I have a link to this fund’s site below.

Reader Comments #3: Doctor Wickman is a QUACK. His license to practice in Arizona was revoked in the 1980′s. Please Gary use the internet to find out about him for yourself. I believe your good reputation should not be tarnished by promoting someone like Wickman. Because of your credibility, many people may possibly suffer serious harm  if they entrust their medical care to someone like Doctor Wickman. Please disassociate yourself from him. Again, do your own research.

My reply: The readers who introduced me to Dr. Wickman believe they are still alive due to his treatment would disagree as I do.
I find that as much of the established US medical system is a sham as the alternatives.  I personally do all I can to avoid hospitals.  I am about to share an article from USA Today that shows what dangerous places they really are.

The cancer that was on my body is gone (and has been for over a decade) due to what you would call quackery as well… chosen after the regular medical establishment just made the cancer worse.

We are well aware of Quack Watch and the negative data and disagree totally with it and am disgusted by people who tarnish others reputations with no more facts that what they read on the internet.

However to be sure that readers get the entire view this site has covered these quack allegations numerous times.

On the subject of quackery… this is a good time to review a November 16, 2010 USA Today article entitled “Hospital care fatal for some Medicare patients” by Rota Rubin that says (underlines and bolds are mine):An estimated 15,000 Medicare patients die each month in part because of care they receive in the hospital, says a government study released today. The study is the first of its kind aimed at understanding “adverse events” in hospitals — essentially, any medical care that causes harm to a patient, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.Patients in the study, a nationally representative sample that focused on 780 Medicare patients discharged from hospitals in October 2008, suffered such problems as bed sores, infections and excessive bleeding from blood-thinning drugs, the report found. The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality called the results “alarming.”

Among the findings in the report obtained by USA TODAY:

•Of the 780 cases, 12 patients died as a result of hospital care. Five were related to blood-thinning medication.

Two other medication-related deaths involved inadequate insulin management resulting in hypoglycemic coma and respiratory failure resulting from oversedation.

•About one in seven Medicare hospital patients — or about 134,000 of the estimated 1 million discharged in October 2008 — were harmed from medical care.

•Another one in seven experienced temporary harm because the problem was caught in time and reversed.

I find that there is a lot of quackery in the established community and the way these quacks cover up errors and protect themselves from good, proven low cost alternatives is to brand these treatments as quackery.  This ranges from the ridiculous statements by the US medical establishment that identical prescription drugs from Canada (costing half the price of US pharmaceuticals) might not be safe to condemning those in totally accepted health modalities such as acupuncture,  Chiropractors and Osteopaths and homeopaths.

Dr. Wickman is a fully licensed OD in Ecuador which has a well regulated and honorable medical system and has been practicing there for decades.

One that subject, here is another reader comment about last week’s Q&A that mentioned Dengue Fever. Hello Gary, This is information you might want to forward to your readers.  As a homeopath I know of Gustav Bracho’s program of treating Dengue fever (and other diseases) homeopathically; where there are outbreaks he also treats prophylactically to avoid the disease.  Dr. Bracho lives in Cuba; his research and treatment through homeopathy are being disseminated worldwide, as he has great success in both preventing and curing Dengue fever and other serious diseases.  I heard him speak most recently at a homeopathic conference in Toronto this past October; his research is impeccable, the cures and prevention are real.  Anyone would benefit from using homeopathy.  Fears can be put to rest, once people are aware there are healing alternatives that are available and can be easily used.

Reader Question #4: Gary-  I read your article about Ecuador rats eating a hidden $100 bill. How many rats are there in Ecuador? Do they live in the houses?  Any other info about them?

My Reply: I have never seen a rat in Ecuador. (Except perhaps some of the real estate brokers who triple charge new residents when they sell them real estate.  It makes me feel bad that these expenses are eating up a lot of people’s savings!)

I read that story about Ecuador the rodent rats eating actual cash money and was surprised.  I have seen no rats… few snakes few spiders… But it of course depends on where you go.   Rat populations are probably very different in The Andes versus the coast versus the Amazon, etc. just as in the US.  We have a lot of rats and mice in NC on our farm…I think perhaps they are a part of nature but adopted a little mouser a few years back and she alone (Alice the cat) has changed the character of life on the farm!

Comment’s #5 from a reader from Oregon. Gary, thank you for your recent news letter.  one point you touched on that was of interest was the environmental challenges that will hinder economic recovery.  oregon now has more timber resources in the forest than 20 years ago.  timber left uncut during the ‘spotted owl’ years has now grown in size and added several million board feet to our inventory.  eastern oregon is now being considered for wind generation, and oregon’s coal deposits might be another source of revenue as demands oversees increase.  the conundrum is the very same progressive movement in oregon that halted most aggressive logging practices in the ’70s will no doubt be a major hurdle in the coming years.  oregon once stood on it’s three pillars of economy, ranching, fishing and timber.  environmental laws all but extinguished that prosperity here.  it is the loss of the use of these resources that hinders our recovery.  oregon will receive subsidies from the federal government as an offset to the revenues no longer generated from our forests.  this will put an additional burden on other states where economic recovery has been slow.  oregon, like other states, has the ability to support its state deficit if only allowed to access the resources and markets that are demanding them.  we must make a decision and exercise it.  we must decide which is of more importance, to blindly apply emotional concepts predicated on false science, or the application of practical fiscal responsibility hindered with environmental stewardship.  the choice is ours to make, or not.

Merry Christmas!

My reply: Happy holidays to you.  I grew up in Portland… had many loggers in the family and recall those huge trucks with about 3 logs to fill them barreling down and out of Mt. Hood.  Zig Zag, Clear Lake, Little Crater Lake, Frog Lake, Frying Pan Lake around Mt. Hood and the Coastal Range were our stomping grounds as teenagers.

Oregon Logging truck circa 1970.

It always seems strange when I watch the log trucks in the Blue Ridge with about 20 logs on the truck… and they are pretty small trucks compared to those in Oregon’s past.  The south has mostly private land for timber so the logging continues.

Today’s typical Blue Ridge North Carolina log truck.

This is such an extremely complicated issue polarizing the country and I do not see any quick or easy solution.

The ultimate value of course is added value and we have been testing various approaches to sustainable logging on our farm using the draftwood approach.

#1: Gain value added. This is the era when small and flexible are beautiful. Modern community technology makes it possible for even micro businesses to virtually integrate. I’ll give you a specifics in a moment.

#2: Invest in real estate. I know, I know people keep saying that prices are going down. Yet these same people keep having kids without making more land. This looks like an opportunity distortion to me.

#3: Bet on inflation. I do not see how with the massive government bailouts this will not happen everywhere…to a great extent.

#4: Invest in alternative power and sustainability. The same fundamentals as for real estate are at work…more kids…no more fresh water…trees…soil…clean air…etc. Plus one factor more. Each child born expects more.

#5: Invest in natural health. The current social economic lifestyle is flawed.  The acquisition of stuff creates too much work…leading to too much stress…with too little time…and poor nutrition…leading to pharmaceutical and surgical intervention. This intervention costs too much and is not a pleasant, effective approach that optimizes maximum human efficiency.

Based on this belief, I have been working with a team on a plan for our farm in North Carolina to create Draftwood homes built from local sustainable timber and fueled by micro hydro power.

Here is a sustainable logger we work with…  Ian Snider…  the local advocate of the Draftwood concept.  Draftwood… sustainable harvested, value added timber hauled out by draft horses.

Here is Ian Snider at one of his projects in North Carolina.

So far this has not caught on… but we keep testing the waters.The wood in the guest kitchen house we just completed in Florida came from this sustainable “dead” poplar we collected on our North Carolina farm.

Sustainable Timber

We are turning dead wood, like this poplar log, into a value added product.

This poplar sitting right behind our house died a few years ago and dropped branches on the house all winter.  Last spring we trimmed off the branches and last week a bad winter storm brought it down…we cut it in three pieces and dragged them to one of our fields.

We set up a portable mills in the summer and…

last year cut over a thousand board feet of nice poplar planks.

We used this wood to make the  guest house we renovated in Florida  more beautiful.

*

Guest house renovation.  This type of vertical business model may not always be the most economical in dollar terms, short term… but this is rich in satisfaction and fun.

Readers Comment #6: Gary, I know you use the word “terror” in your emails to get ratings, and frankly, it’s not part of what the world needs now, which is love and peace. Please reconsider.

My reply. Actually the way we work on the internet the word “terror” might reduce ratings…  but certainly will not help them. Terror is too common a word. Our rankings are increased by finding unusual niche words. But enough internet SEO lingo.

Dangerous Sparks Exist

The point is… there are many sparks that could create terror in the market.  Astute investors and business people need to be considering this. I want readers to be aware of these risks and I won’t pull any punches if they help readers prepare to make their lives better.

We can change ourselves… but probably not human nature and the herd.  This means if there is going to terror and if this creates a stampede… we need to be prepared.

I agree each of us should serve with love and peace in our hearts.

This is why I write so much about using compassion and passion in one’s business and investing.

Merri and I learned an important lesson while living with an Ecuador Yatchak. The shamans give enormous amounts of compassion, gratitude and positive energy in their healing ceremonies. Yet they also wear protective bracelets on their left (energy receiving side) wrist.

I am told there is an old Arabic saying… “Believe in God… but make sure your camels are tied up at night.” If one believes in the power of positive energy… one has to accept that there is negative energy out there as well and we need protection from it. The terror series looks at why there may be terror and how to prepare for the event… so one can still serve with love, gratitude and compassion during the turmoil.

#7: Comments on FM Training.  The duality of nature is why we have expanded our efforts in helping ourselves  (and our readers) tap our inner resources for outer expansion.

This is why we have started a our Quantum Learning Program that can help you create a new avenue of income wherever you live.

The FM Story

In telecommunications and signal processing, FM stands for frequency modulation that conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency.

The educational program Merri and I have developed uses a different form of frequency modulation we like to call “Full Mode” that opens enormous opportunity for expansion, understanding, peacefulness as well as greater wealth.  We are sharing this indepth program with a select few through our new teacher program.

FM teaching uses frequency (in music and a number of other ways) to integrate brain waves so the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.  This brings forth the three C’s:  Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

How the Quantum Learning History Brings Opportunity to You Now.

Merri and I are explorers, always looking for what’s next… trying to stay on or ahead of the leading edge.

This journey has lead us to alter the main mission in our lives every seven to 14 years.

During the 43 years we have been investing and doing business abroad, we have enjoyed capturing seven golden trends.

#1: 1970s Gold & Silver.

#2: 1970s investing in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, England, Australia and Hong Kong .

#3: 1980s. The Tigers, Taiwan , Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea & Turkey .

#4: 1990s. South America (which led us to Ecuador).

#5: 2000s. China, India and Eastern Europe.

#6: Invest in Real Estate and Global Micro Businesses throughout.

#7: Bet Against the US Dollar throughout.

Spotting these trends early brought us a strong and continual flow of income.   Now you can benefit from the latest… and perhaps strongest… of all the trends we have stumbled upon.

Our writing and talking about each of these trends over 43 years has helped thousands of our readers make and save millions.   The success of our readers has been a driving force in our lives yet we have always wanted to do more so continued looking deeper for a core idea that we could share that provided income, stability, good health and contentment.

Recent events have moved us closer to this core which is why we are developing a way for a few others to join us in the profits and fulfillment of this quest.

Since we seem to progress in seven year cycles, when we reached our 14th year in Ecuador we started expecting and looking for… “What’s next?”

That search led us to more time in the USA and our recent Super Thinking courses confirmed to us that our FM program has become increasingly pertinent to solving the socioeconomic problems created by accelerating change.

This Quantum Learning helps in innumerable walks of life.   This is why our new teaching program offers extra opportunity for you now.

Problems Create Opportunity

There is a huge and growing problem of accelerating change that requires accelerated learning.  Learning Spanish is just a tiny part of the demand this problem creates.  Expended learning capacity is far more valuable than just being able to speak Spanish.  So we are expanding the FM focus in our business… shifting into overdrive you might say with what we call FM Plus.

FM Plus Frequency Modulation/Full Mode Plus

FM Plus works by focusing on the learner first… the data second.  FM Plus “grows the learner” rather than just expands the information.  The explosion of data we must all process everyday means there is too much information to process already.    Let’s view this learning in terms of plumbing to outline what “Growing the Learner”  means.

If you have 4.5 inches of information flowing through a 4 inch learning pipe, the solution is not to add another inch of information.  The answer is to first create a six inch pipe and then an even larger pipe…a neverending expansion of abilities!

FM Plus incorporates Frequency Modulation…  7th degree exploration and Core Revelation (wormholes – universal expansion and shortcuts) to expand the learner’s thinking and information processing ability.

We’ll do this through our FM Plus Process which we have been using in our Super thinking Plus Spanish course. Now we are integrating this process into our International Investing and Business courses as well.  This means we’ll provide this training nine times in the US in 2011.

The demand for FM far exceeds the numbers Merri and I can handle in nine seminars.  Because Merri and I don’t have time to do more seminars we have added the teacher training program.

The teacher training program is described below, but let me say up front that this is a Beta program.  We have never trained teachers before. This means we expect the program to evolve… to probably offer more.

As mentioned we will conduct nine seminars in 2011.  Trainees in our FX Plus training plan can attend all seminars in 2011.  They should attend at least five.

There will be a trainee review session everyday during these nine courses.  It is most important to jump on those moments of clarity as they occur.

There will also be online personal training via conference calls and on Skype and via videos…with no additional expense of course.

FX Plus training plan teaches how to teach and how to create your own business simultaneously.

Each trainee will have our upcoming course on “How to Have Your Own Seminar Business” to help teachers see ways to make money by conducting their own seminars.

This course includes…

#1: How to earn millions from seminars courses and tours.  See how we have earned as much as $200,000 for a weekend’s work. (Once $135,000 in two days.)

#2: How to build a seminar business.  See the one day Washington-Atlanta-San Francisco system that helped our courses evolve and how to use this approach to help your teaching grow.  Gain strategic partnerships for added wealth.

#3: When and when not to use other speakers.  Seminars for speakers… a way to get it all out as your bank accounts gets it all in.   .

#4: How to use other speakers.  Gain the key to the room and the people within. Why the golden pen is mightier than both a glib tongue, the sword and the overloaded brain.

#5: Dealing with hotels.  Why the marketing does not talk to catering who will not communicate with accounting and the mess this means for you.  How to chose… arrange and survive the hotel.  Forget the $11,314 coffee bill… for swill.

#6: Scheduling seminars.   Magic dates and times for marketing… how far in advance to market and seminar death dates to avoid.

#7: Creating back end business.  How Merri made $12,936 dollars in 37 minutes by just standing still.

#8: Three types of courses… delegate driven… speaker driven… third party driven.

#9: The  importance of strategic partnerships.

#10: How to market seminars, courses & tours.

#11: List building.

#12: Alternative seminar and course location options.

#13: The benefits each of big seminars and  small courses.

#14: How to survive the dreaded problems.  What to do when enrollments are low. Handling the heckler, the takeover and the unmuted cell phone.  When the hotel fails.  Surviving speaker no shows and all of those types of things.

When it comes to conducting seminars, courses and tours, there are few people with more experience than Merri and me.  Over 43 years we have organized, marketed and conducted thousands of tours for tens of thousands in dozens and dozens of countries (even behind the Iron Curtain).  This course shares how we have done this… what we did right… what we did wrong… and what you can do better.

We’ll only train a small number of teachers to begin and our goal is to these teachers to work in their own ways and methods including of course teaching Spanish.  Teachers of our Spanish program do not have to speak Spanish by the way. In fact I am prohibited from speaking Spanish when I teach. You’ll learn why as a teacher.

Since this is a Beta program and we have never done this before we cannot guarantee who we will work with and who we won’t.

The FM Plus Plan Goes Way Beyond Spanish

Our training will teach you how to teach languages but covers many… perhaps all fields… and on your own.

For example. FM Plus can be applied to forex trading and investing.  Athletes of all types… golfing being one common sport benefit.  The Soviet Union… even though a third world country… excelled in the Olympics… as well as beating the USA into outer space… because it integrated FM teaching tactics as developed by Dr. Gregori Lozanov (one of Merri’s teachers) into its educational system.

Our FX Plus plan goes far beyond Lozanov and allows you to enhance whatever subject you wish to teach.

What You Receive

When you become an FM Plus Trainee, you are automatically enrolled in our International Club which allows you to attend all nine of our investment, business, and Spanish courses in 2011 (worth $5,981) FREE.

Here is the 2011 schedule

Jan. 13-16, 2011 Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora Florida ($749 or couple $999)

Feb. 11-12, 2011  International Investing Made EZ.  Mt. Dora FL ($499 or couple $749)

Feb. 12-13, 2011   International Business Made EZ,  Mt. Dora FL ($499 or couple $749)

March 10-13, 2011  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora Florida ($749 or couple $999)

June 24-25, 2011  International Investing Made EZ,  Jefferson NC. ($499 or couple $749)

June 25-26, 2011   International Business Made EZ,  Jefferson NC. ($499 or couple $749)

Oct. 7-8, 2011  International Investing Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($499 or couple $749)

Oct. 8-9, 2011  International Business Made EZ , Jefferson NC. ($499 or couple $749)

Nov. 3-6, 2011   Super Thinking + Spanish,  Mt. Dora Florida. ($749 or couple $999)

You are admitted to the teacher review sessions at all the courses.

You participate in videos and conference calls for all teacher trainees.

You’ll receive individual Skype training.

There are four payment plans:

#1 and #2: New enrollment full or monthly. This is for teachers who are not International Club members and who have not already attended a Super Thinking + Spanish seminar.  The fee is $2,900 or $259 per month for 12 months.

#3 and #4: Super Thinking plus Spanish Coupon deducts $750 full or monthly. If you have attended a Super Thinking + Spanish seminar… you have a coupon worth $750 so you pay only $2,250 or $259 a month for 9 months.

You attend our January 13 to 16 Super Thinking plus Spanish and learn how to speak Spanish in four days

Enroll ($799)

Enroll couple ($999)

Or finalize your teacher enrollment for the year.  Please select the plan that suits you.

We will be back in touch by email, but please let us know if you’ll attend the first training January 13- 16 in the comments section of your enrollment.

New Enrollment. $2,900 .

Monthly Payment Option: $259 a month for 12 months

Super Thinking less Spanish Coupon. $2,250.

We will conduct nine seminars in 2011 and hope you’ll join us for at least five of them as a trainee in our FM Plus (Frequency Modulator) training plan.Gary

Link to the Wisdom Tree Emerging Debt ETF.
Read “Hospital care fatal for some Medicare patients“

Here is the international investment three percent solution.

From 2005 into 2007 stock markets almost everywhere provided incredible returns. For example I work with Denmark ’s second largest bank. They are global equity experts and one of the portfolios (the Green Environment Portfolio) we created together rose 266.3% in one year. Another (The Emerging Market Portfolio) rose 114.2% in 2006 and 122.6% in 2007.

Yet in each case these portfolios also encountered gut wretching drops on their way up. That Green Portfolio for example in July 2007 dropped 103.22% in one month. The Emerging Market portfolio also moved like a yo-yo (see below).

In fact, over the last three years, despite impressive gains, there have been two periods of global market panic when almost every stock market dropped….like a stone….only to recover like a rocket ship.

The  in late 2007 we saw a huge wave of dumping shares.

This begged three questions.

#1: “Was this the big one?” Yes it was.

#2: “Will markets again recover…and when?”  They did.  In 2009 there was a huge recovery.

#3: This is an even more important question. “How can we as investors know what’s coming with at least a semblance of accuracy?”

The answer to this third question is  important because when a recovery comes, history suggests it will be sudden and dramatic.

You can see the recovery potential in the performance of the portfolios we created and tracked last year from November 2006 to October 2007. Equity markets collapsed in a month but recovered even faster. The portfolios utterly collapsed from July 20 to August 17. Then they rose between 40% and 128% in just two weeks.

If the recent stock market dive is just another short term correction, some investors will make fortunes.

We saw stocks explode up from 2003 to 2007, then crash 50% in 2008 and rise almost as much in 2009.

The gray line is the Morgan Stanley Global Stock Index… the green the performance of the State Street Global Advantage Fund.

Here are three simple facts can help you spot distortions in equity markets.

The first fact was confirmed by Alan Greenspan in his excellent book, “Age of Turbulence”.

“A major aspect of human nature-the level of human intelligence-has a great deal to do with how successful we are in gaining the sustenance for survival. As I point out at the end of this book, in economies with cutting-edge technologies, people, on average, seem unable to increase their output per hour at better than 3% percent a year over a protracted period. That is apparently the maximum rate at which human innovation can move standards of living forward. We are apparently not smarter to do better.”

That’s a huge fact. Overall we should expect the global economy to grow at about 3%.

This gives us a baseline for how much an investment should grow.

If an economy rises faster than 3%, it is distorted. During early stages of excessive growth, investors will be attracted. Shares will rise faster.

If the economy remains robust, shares become overbought. Then watch out! A correction will come.

This leads us to the second fact which is “all investments have risk”.

Rather than wasting time trying to avoid risk…which cannot be done, investors should look at three risk elements instead.

#1: How much risk is there in any particular investment?

#2: What perceptions doe the market have of the risk?

#3: What risk premium is due?

Bank accounts and government bonds, for example, are perceived as the safest investments (especially if government guaranteed). A look at their long term history shows that they pay about 3%. So if a bank account or government bond pays less…in the long term it’s bad. If it pays more…that’s better. Yet the idea is that bank accounts will not really make money. They will just keep up with growth…at 3%.

To get real growth requires taking risk. If an investment appears to be less safe it will pay more than 3%. This is called a risk premium.

Bonds pay more than bank accounts because they are perceived to be less safe. Stocks pay more than bonds because they are perceived even riskier. Emerging market stocks pay more than major market stocks. Emerging market bonds pay more than major markets bonds.

Over the long run, bonds issued in countries and currencies perceived to be stable pay 5% to 7%.

Stocks in major countries should pay 7% to 10% annual return in the stock market as a function of global growth, long term earnings growth plus risk premium (above bank accounts and bonds).

To attain higher growth than 7% to 10% investors must either increase risk, trust luck or spot distortions.

This is good because the market is almost always wrong. Most investors always trying to avoid risk. Most investors dump their wealth into investments that are perceived to be safe. This creates excessive demand and lowers value and actually makes the perception wrong.

Knowing this helps wise investors spot trends created by distortions.

Take, for example, the emerging market trend that has been created by an imbalance in labor costs around the world.

There are 6.6 billion people on this earth (give or take a few hundred million). 1 billion of these people live on a dollar a day. 2.5 billion live on two dollars a day. This means that there is a vast pool of cheap labor that can create goods at bargain prices. Mature economies are buying these goods at such an increased rate that 20% of all goods produced now cross a border, mostly from poor countries to the rich.

This means that emerging economies are growing much faster than 3%. They are catching up and this has caused major markets to slow down.

The global economy grew 5% last year…way ahead of 3%. Mature economies are growing only 2.3% each year on average….so there is a lot more growth in emerging economies. Thus emerging stock markets are growing faster than matured stock markets as well.

Yet emerging economies are perceived to have greater risk.

Smart investors have seen the value create by this distortion and have been cleaning up. They have been paid a huge risk premium when the risk has not been real!

The risk has been eliminated by low labor costs in poor countries and improvements in communications and transportation.

From 200o to 2010  average annual return on emerging markets was 19.81% compared to 10% for major markets.

Finally we come to the third fact. Periods of high performance are followed by times of poor performance.

Emerging stock markets have outgrown major markets by about 7.5 times in the last seven years. Yet their economies are only growing about twice as fast.

Major markets have grown on average about 6.5% per annum for the past seven years….a little below what they should.

This means that it is probably time for emerging equity markets around the world to correct down and major markets up a bit.

Yet in times of global panic as we have recently seen, all markets tend to drop. This means that at this time major markets which may have been somewhat undervalued and should be rising are being pushed down by the drop of emerging markets (which should correct themselves).

Understanding these three facts leads us to know that a portfolio of global shares is the most likely bargain at this time.

This is why we have been recommending High Yield shares at this time. Most are major market equities that provide income and growth potential… plus make it easy to diversify.

There you have it. Understanding the 3% solution and what markets have done shows a distortion. Blue chips may be oversold more than emerging shares now.

In the long term, emerging shares will rise. Poor people remain and are willing and able to make goods that the rich will buy. This will push their economies higher faster than in major economies. Yet for now the three percent solution shows that major markets and high quality shares are more likely to recover from the current doldrums first.

Global investing has proven itself to be more profitable. Why not? Modern communications and transport coupled with a vast pool of low cost labor almost guarantees this fact. Now knowing three more facts based on the 3% solution can give you an edge when it come to taking advantage of the ups and downs in this global trend.

Study 54 High Yielding shares in my latest international investing report “Running Risk” $49.

Gary

Belong to the International Club

Please join Merri and me.  Spread an epidemic of success… in health… wealth…. service to the community and personal fulfillment.   Be infected with positive purpose…. enthusiasm… fulfillment… extra income, profits and fun.

I invite you to join the International Club 2013-2014.  Save as much as $7,239 for as little as $177 a month.

As a club member you gain $7,792 of seminars, courses, online courses plus Spanish lessons and Ecuador tour discounts.

Join Merri and me  for seven courses and seminars that we’ll conduct in 2013 FREE.  Gain positive solutions to economic, financial and lifestyle developments.

Here are the courses you can attend at no cost.

June 14-15-16 Super Thinking Writer’s Camp, West Jefferson, NC.

August 31- Sept 1-2 Super Thinking Writer’s Camp West Jefferson, NC.

October 4-5-6 Super Thinking Writer’s Camp, West Jefferson, NC.

November 15-16-17 Super Thinking Writer’s Camp, Mt. Dora, Fl.

January 10-11-12, 2014 Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Fl.

February 14-15-16, 2014  Super Thinking Writer’s Camp, Mt. Dora Fl.

In addition members receive discounts on Ecuador farm tours and Spanish courses conducted by our Ateam Ecuador and Super Spanish teachers.  For example Super Spanish courses that are normally $699 are $175.  Ecuador real estate tours are reduced 20%.

Part of the courses we conduct are held on the New River in Ashe County, North Carolina.

New River

We’ll conduct three of the courses either at our farm or in this forest lodge.

50 delegates joined us.

The seminar in action.

After the seminar, International Club members join us at our home to talk with the speakers.

International Club members meeting in our home after a North Carolina seminar.

Four courses are in historic Mt. Dora, Florida.

Please join us this year through in Florida, and North Carolina FREE as an international club member… plus gain access to the agricultural tours and Spanish courses conducted by the Ateam Ecuador at a discount.

Super Thinking Spanish course at the historic train station in Mt. Dora.

There are many benefits of membership.

You (and a guest of your choice) can attend all eight of the seminars we have already set for 2013 plus any others we decide to conduct in the year ahead FREE.

As a club member you also receive seven online reports, courses and workshops worth $1,246 FREE.

The first of these seven online courses is “Tangled Web – How to Have an Internet Business,” normally sold at $299.

The second is our online course “Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher”, which has a $299 value. I am sending you this extra course free as I think it will help you have greater success. This is an extra $299 savings.

The third is our online course “International Business Made EZ” sold at $299.

You also receive fourth the 50 minute video by our webmaster David Cross on “How to Get Your Web Business Started”.

Your fifth course is the 50+ lesson course “How to Create your Own Website Using Sitesell” by Michelle Toole. (We are proud that this course was written by a student of our courses showing how well the 43 years of knowledge that Merri and I have accumulated and put into these programs can help you start your own global micro business.)

Sixth, you become a beta member in our newest online course “Event – Full Business – How to have a Seminar and Tour Business” currently offered at $349.

When you enroll, we’ll send you a password that makes the online courses easy to access at the Club website.  You can reserve as many seminars as you desire.

Five Positive Steps

Join Merri and me as we look at positive ways to prosper during 2013. Here are five ways to gain from the forces of change that can raise havoc with many.

#1: Having your own micro business for extra earnings, freedom, fulfillment and fun.

#2: Living and prospering in lower cost countries or small towns.

#3: Multi currency investing through US brokers and bankers abroad.

#4: Commodities that rise with inflation.

#5: Good value real estate…. especially multi dimensional and agricultural property.

We have specialized for over four decades in helping our readers excel in these five inflation beating opportunities.

The big benefits of belonging to the International Club are the power of repetition, updates and international friendships.  As a club member, you become friends with other members as you meet again and again.

Your first saving is on waived seminar fees for the seminars over the next year.

As you will see above and below you can attend Florida & North Carolina seminars.  If you attend just two of these seminars, the $1,799 membership fee will have already created a savings for you.

Yet there is more.  Much more.

International Club members meeting in West Jefferson for a reception after the North Carolina seminar.

Enough…. Enough with the Bad News.

Our 2013 mantra is BE POSITIVE in this negative world.  There is nothing as valuable as rarity but we need to remember that bad news sells. This means the mainstream media has slipped into offering information with an adrenaline rush.  Mayhem, murder and natural disasters.   These negative events will happen…. globally. We cannot do much about this.  Dwelling on insolvable negativity is not good for our health or wealth.

A recent quote from the Abraham Hicks website explains why nicely.

Continuing to tell stories of shortage only continues to contradict your desire for abundance, and you cannot have it both ways: You cannot focus upon unwanted and receive wanted. You cannot focus upon stories about money that make you feel uncomfortable and allow into your experience what makes you feel comfortable. A different story will bring different results: My thoughts are the basis for the attraction of all things that I consider to be good, which includes enough money, and health, for my comfort and joy.

Make 2013 Your Best Year Ever

What we can do is make ourselves Friendlier, More Compassionate, Happier, Stronger, More Energetic with greater intellect.  The way to start is to surround ourselves with successful, friendly, compassionate, happy, stronger, smarter, positive people who think as you do.

The International Club brings together experienced, like minded souls, who take a positive view and think outside the box… in constructive, thoughtful, doable ways.

Being in the club surrounds you with successful… positive… like minded souls.  This benefit alone is truly powerful stuff!

The courses you can attend free integrate Super Thinking with business and investing ideas and experience that enhance your health and wealth.

Focus on Ecuador & Smalltown USA & Canada

Learn how to create a BIG INCOME by thinking SMALL.   At the seminars you meet speakers who are attorneys and real estate experts for both Ecuador and small town USA.   You’ll rub shoulders with experts on global investing and pensions who can help you increase and protect your savings and pensions also how to increase the income you earn in positive ways you enjoy as you help your community.

(See a list of speakers you’ll meet at the club meetings along with other club members below).

Absorb  through  Osmosis

Merri and I are in our 45th year of organizing courses, seminars and newsletters about international and Super Thinking  lifestyles. The importance of this sharing… by like minded souls… was reinforced when a delegate from a course sent an email that said:

My Dearest Merri and Gary, Thank you for your most gracious hospitality last weekend. I am just thrilled at being a part of your group. You and Gary were exactly as I imagined you to be, warm friendly, kind, considerate, genuine, helpful, fun, sincere, what else can I say……I felt so comfortable in your presence and learned so much in your course. I was sad to leave the farm that Sunday afternoon. You made us all feel so welcome and cared about. You were so kind to make arrangements for a ride with the other delegates from the Charlotte Airport. They were so nice to me and so helpful, by the time the weekend was over I felt like they were my long lost brothers. Monday morning we all had breakfast at the airport together and I was so sad to see them go, I was sad the weekend was over, perhaps sad is not the right word for how I was feeling perhaps Gratitude is a better way to describe it. Grateful for having the opportunity to share the weekend with such wonderful, like minded Human Beings, in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. Thank you Merri and Gary.  Thanks to you I now have new hope and a new direction to move forward in my life.  I know by attending your classes and conferences that through education and due diligence I will make the right choices.

This delegate’s comments about “belonging and feeling like a brother” to the other delegates is a wonderful refrain we have heard from our readers, year after year.

24 years ago Merri and I created a way that readers can join us to be immersed in a year-long learning program through our International Club.

The ideas behind this program began all those years ago in Vienna, Austria while we were conducting a course there.  One of our older delegates, had some sort of attack. The first fear was heart trouble. Several delegates took him to the hospital.  Others stayed with him there. I don’t think that delegate was alone for a minute!

What impressed Merri and me was that no one asked the delegates to help this man.

The friendships of delegates sharing many courses had just grown so strong that it was a natural reaction, just as if a family member was ill. Fortunately, it was only travel fatigue and the delegate didn’t miss a session of the course!

When you join our International Club 2013 you become part of a special family. The very first member to join the club all those years ago wrote, Thank you for the enjoyable and informative courses. I am pleased to be part of your international family and look forward to continuing my education at the next course.

His feeling struck a familiar chord. It has always been one of my greatest satisfactions to see how much fun delegates have getting together, sharing information and making friendships as we learn how to improve our health and increase our wealth.

The courses draw like-minded souls.  For this reason some delegates come back again and again. They come to learn, but also to be with their many friends made at the courses. When like-minded souls get together again and again to discuss a common purpose, magic happens! I can’t explain it in any other way-but it is true.

In a way our meetings are almost like family reunions. Perhaps it is getting together and reflecting on what has been said and what has been happening.

Learning with those who are also interested in the world creates thoughts that multiply the value of what we gain.  This is hard to describe but results are most powerful and wonderful!  This is to me is as important as the great financial benefit of attending many of our courses.

See the 2013 seminars in detail  below.

We started and have continued the International Club for 24 years because there are wonderful benefits from having repeat delegates at courses. Having repeat delegates makes the whole course somehow more exciting for all. Being a repeat delegate makes it easier to make and keep wealth and to lock in the knowledge you gain. It’s an exciting lifestyle. We have fun, gain adventure, discovery and friendships and share ways to improve our health and wealth!

You can see from the schedule above a very busy schedule for 2013. Very few club members actually attend every seminar.  Many  attend almost all of them!  Of course we hope you be with us for all of them, but even if you attend just two of the seminars, you gain considerable savings.

Another savings: Lifestyle for Two.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO! You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

The International Club fee of $1,799 is less than the price of two seminars.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses and tours.

Let’s prosper in these times of change. Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? Join us at our farms and visit Ecuador. We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

You can attend all of our seminar , courses online courses and more plus $1,246 of online value.  Club membership is $1,799. 

Become an International Club  Member $1,799 annual.

Attend as many of the courses below as you desire.

June 14-15-16   Super Thinking & Writer’s Camp West Jefferson, NC.

August 31- September 1-2 Super Thinking & Writers Camp at Merrily Farms, NC.

October 4-5-6 Super Thinking & Writer’s Camp West Jefferson, NC

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking & Writer’s Camp Mt. Dora, Florida

January 10-11-12, 2014 Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida

February 14-15-16, 2014  Super Thinking & Writer’s Camp  Mt. Dora, Florida

In additional Super Spanish courses will be scheduled in Canada, Mexico. and the US throughout the year.

(Dates subject to change).

Join us in 2013 and learn how to take advantage of the fact that the Sun Always Shines Somewhere

Yes, I want to become an International Club Member. 

Annual membership $1,799. Click  here.

One reason we need global investment income is that the US dollar is falling… and more.

Yesterday’s political turmoil is the most serious we have seen in our fifteen years there.  This may enhance opportunity in Ecuador long term… but also reminds us of  the need to diversify.

There are causes of concern beyond the political unrest. The first being…

the fall of the greenback… Ecuador’s as well as the USA’s currency.

This chart from finance.yahoo.com shows that as of yesterday the dollar had fallen from about $1.20 to buy one euro to $1.37 to buy the same euro.  Since the dollar is the currency of the USA and Ecuador… residents in both countries need to spread their savings and investments into other currencies.

Welcome to October. Our message last week, October Investment Risk warned about the Ides of October and how this can be a bewitching month.

Already on the first day of October we can see several events that could create havoc in global stock markets.

First, the falling US dollar as shown above. Risk adverse investors have been fleeing to dollar bonds. Now where will they go? The ensuing confusion will not be good.

Strikes in Europe. One of our readers who is headed to Ecuador shared this note: Hello from rainy Brussels where I am stuck for an extra two days because of air traffic control strikes which shut down Belgian airspace until tonight.  I am so glad to be away from Europe.  The Spanish and French Air Traffic Controllers have also been on strike for the last few days so traveling by air in Europe is really challenging. Plus a French railway strike started last Thursday.

Strikes in Ecuador. Latin America has been one of the strong performing market segments so instability in this region could be a spark for an October run as well.

Add them together and…. who knows, but you have been warned.

There are great opportunities created by potential problems.  In fact these difficulties are currently creating profit for me.

Take for example the opportunity in the falling US dollar.

In a message Portfoilo Allocations 1-2010 January 14, 2010, I wrote how I had borrowed the equivalent of 9% of my portfolio in US dollars to invest in Mexican peso, New Zealand and Australian dollars.

In another message Global Multi Currency Economic Update July 1, 2010, I wrote:  The biggest of the seven trends I have cashed in on over the past 42 years has been the declining US dollar.

There are several ways to speculate against the greenback.  Personally I use the multi currency sandwich. I borrow dollars at low interest rates and invest the funds on dollar related currencies…. currently the New Zealand, Canadian, Australian dollars and Mexican peso.

This is a slow, partly hedged speculation versus the dollar… but forex profits are not my main goal.   The interest differential is what assures my profit… if I can wait for the dollar to drop.  My loan cost on dollar loans is currently below 3%.   My average yield is 6.31% so I am paid about 3.31% to borrow the dollar.

100K ea.

MXN BONOS  10% Due 2024 117  = 8%

EUR INVT BNK AUD 6.0 2013 101.49  5.56%

EUR INVT BNK NZD 6.5 2014 104.77  5.38%

Average 6.31%  + $18,930
Loan cost      $   9,000
Return           $   9,930

Plus I have Forex profit potential.

So far the year, this loan has been paying me $9,930, plus as the dollar falls I have a chance of a nice extra forex profit over the year. As another chart (of the Mexican peso to the US dollar) from finance.yahoo.com shows, there have been ups and downs all year, but I have made a nice forex profit on the peso I made the loan in 2009.

Plus there could be more forex profit if the September 30, 2010 Bloomberg article entitled “Mexico Peso Set for Biggest Gain in 19 Months on U.S. Housing, Employment” by Jonathan J. Levin is correct. This article says: Mexico’s peso is headed to its biggest monthly gain since February 2009 after U.S. housing and employment data limited speculation that the country’s biggest export market may return to recession.

The peso rose 5.2 percent to 12.5511 per dollar at 9:58 a.m. New York time, from 13.2046 on Aug. 31, the best- performing major Latin American currency tracked by Bloomberg. It gained 2.5 percent during the third quarter. The U.S. buys 80 percent of Mexico’s exports.

“All the fears of a double-dip recession in the U.S. are dissipating,” said Ramon Cordova, a currency strategist at Base Internacional Casa de Bolsa SA in Monterrey, Mexico. “I see a positive outlook for the rest of the year.”

U.S. initial jobless claims decreased more than forecast, by 16,000 to 453,000 in the week ended Sept. 25, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Claims were projected to fall to 460,000, according to the median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Builders broke ground on 598,000 homes at an annual rate in August, up 10.5 percent and the most since April, the Commerce Department said Sept. 21.  The yield on Mexico’s 10 percent bond due in 2024 rose four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 6.48 percent, according to Banco Santander SA. The price of the security fell 0.5 centavo to 132.58 centavos per peso.

Plus my bonds in Australian and New Zealand dollars have brought a forex profit as well as the finance.yahoo.com charts show.

Here is the Aussie and…

the Kiwi.

The Kiwi forex profit is not much… but keep in mind my loan has cost 3% the Kiwi dollar bond has paid me 5.38%.

This does not mean you should run out and invest in Mexican, Australian and New Zealand dollar bonds.

This was the ripe investment a year ago.

Now with investors rushing into bonds… prices are not as attractive.  They may fit as part of one’s portfolio, but we have been looking more at high yield equities.

We’ll review 54 such equities in dollars, Singapore dollars, euro and other currencies at our October seminar.

Plus there is opportunity in real estate… almost everywhere.

Plunging real estate prices…. low interest rates and future inflation are three ingredients for explosive profits.

One of the high yielding shares shares I like philosophically is the Suntec REIT in Singapore.

Real estate makes a lot of sense to me now. Real estate prices have been crashing and creating some great values.  Asian real estate makes a lot of sense and Singapore is one of the most trustworthy places to invest in Asia.

Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (SUN SP) is one of two Singapore-traded REITs controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. Li used to be a neighbor long ago when I lived in Hong Kong and is very shrewd, needless to say.

New Singapore Casino.

Singapore has allowed two casinos to open.  I am sad to see this as Singapore used to have strict attitudes about gambling and casinos.  Lee Kuan Yew once said there would never be a casino in Singapore but these are two lavish locations opened in 2010, that will attract tourists and gamblers. Suntec’s main property is next door.

With just two casinos Singapore has already become a rival to Las Vegas.

Second quarter 2010 winnings put Singapore on track to have a $4 billion casino market on an annualized basis according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s just 20% below what Las Vegas is expected to do this year.

Suntec REIT’s has office and retail property next to the new casinos.  Suntecs office portfolio has 97.6% occupancy while the retail portfolio has 98.7% occupancy.

Asia has great potential and the Singapore dollar has excellent underpinnings.

Phillip Securities Research meanwhile is holding its forecasts and projections and maintains the Hold recommendation with fair value of $1.34. “We think management has done a good job in maintaining occupancy for the retail portfolio and improving the occupancy for the office portfolio. Note that office portfolio occupancy improved from 94.8% in 2Q09. Although reversionary rents probably softened in the wake of this, nonetheless leases were secured and mitigated the risk of tenants migration.”

The good thing about REITs is their stable dividends,” this time when bank deposits have very low interest.  Individual investors pay zero tax on the distributions, regardless of their nationality.

Singapore-listed REITs are required to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to unitholders, which makes them more attractive to those seeking dividends.

Suntec REIT ticker symbol of (SUN.Singapore), owns premium retail and office properties in Singapore next to new casinos. The company has paid uninterrupted dividends every quarter since it went public in 2007.

The shares are also traded on the Frankfurt exchange with the symbol (Frankfurt: P3G.F)

Smaller investors can participate in this trend also as there are numerous US mutual funds that invest in these type of shares.

A September 20, 2010 Morningstar article “Yield to Yield – Some dividend funds offer more, or less, than investors bargain for” by Katie Rushkewicz says: Income-seeking investors have been in a tough spot lately. Bond, CD, and money market yields are paltry. Pitiful fixed-income yields might make stock dividend yields look attractive by comparison, but they come with extra company-specific and market risk. The 15% tax rate that most stock dividends have enjoyed for the past seven years could expire at the end of the 2010.

However, more companies seem well-situated to reinstate or increase their payouts after using the aftermath of the financial crisis to pay down debt, bolster balance sheets, and amass cash. Some high-quality companies, like  Johnson & Johnson JNJ, even offer dividend yields higher than the yields on their 10-year corporate bonds. This rare phenomenon makes dividend-paying stocks more appealing to income-seeking investors. So does market volatility, because dividend-paying companies tend to be defensive.

Funds That Do It Well

Dividend funds can assume many identities, so it’s important to know what you’re getting into before buying. Some fund shops and managers have built long, successful track records using dividend-focused strategies.

Funds mentioned favorably include:

* Legg Mason ClearBridge Equity Income Builder (SOPAX) – Minimum investment $1,000.

* Vanguard Dividend Growth (VDIGX) – Minimum investment $3,000.

* American Funds Washington Mutual (AWSHX) – Minimum investment $250.

Gary

Join us next week at our North Carolina Conference, Autumn in the Blue Ridge. Learn about real estate in the USA, Ecuador and Singapore as well as see a review of 54 high yielding shares.

Super Thinking + International Investing & Business Seminar

Super Thinking + International Investing & Business Seminar, February 1-2-3, 2103 in Mt Dora Florida.

This is the premier seminar we have been conducting every February for over 30 years.  This February is special because the best opportunities come at the darkest hour and that time is here.  Learn how to…

#1: Borrow yen at 2.5% and gain a 5% profit in three weeks.

#2: Turn $499 into $142,020… per year.

#3:  Buy a beach view Ecuador home for $16,000.

Review these ideas in warm and sunny Lake County, Florida, with over 1,000 named lakes and the charm of historic Mt. Dora. This a special place especially at the this time of year.

(Click on photo to enlarge).

These are balmy winter days I shot of the Florida winter from…

my canoe.

Forces have come together for the biggest economic expansion in history.   Huge profits are waiting in business and investing… whether you are just starting… in the middle… are ready to retire or want to start an entirely new career.

One reason for this timing is cyclical.  Equity markets are selling at some of their best valuations in years.

This optimistic outlook is based on the development of earnings, cash flows, dividends and book values.

When you look at the big picture… from the turn of the century until now the entire global economic history has been a series of slow downs and catch ups,  but over the long run  values in the stock market have risen about 9.1 percent, respectively, compounded annually.

There are always emotional reasons for slow downs…  as we have seen in the past five years…  the worries of double dip recessions… high unemployment… concerns about fiscal cliffs. Such fears hold investors back.  Yet  global population growth and advances in production and prosperity are relentless.   Values increase as prices stagnate. Then markets break free and rocket upwards creating wealth, prosperity and growth.

Economic breakouts create fortunes.  This February we get to share with you three… enormous profit possibilities…. one in business…. one in investing and one in Ecuador.

All the facts have come together.   The next boom is about to begin.

We can see the power of breakouts from the last BIG ONE in 1979.   Warren Buffett saw it coming. He mentioned it in a famous 1979 Forbes article “You Pay a Very High Price in the Stock Market for a Cheery Consensus”.

Everything looked bleak.

The 1980s recession, the worst since the Great Depression, was about to begin.   Yet in 1979 Buffett said…. BUY NOW.    On August 13, 1982 the biggest global bull stock market in history began.

The Dow’s 1982 to 1999, relentless 17 year climb is just one breakout we can see.

Click to enlarge.

1979 was the darkest hour.  The herd was thinking negatively.   The reality?  A boom was on!   Then in 1999 another economic contraction began and has been with us till now… 14 years.   The cycle is repeating.  This is the beginning of an even bigger boom.

“It’s not what’s happening that counts. It’s what you do with it.”

Make no mistake… Merri and I have been able to help readers have better lives, less stress and to make fortunes during these last 17 economically depressed years.  Yet the simple fact is that the really big profits come at the start of a boom.  This is why I want to kick off 2013 with you and share more than my usual confidence and enthusiasm. 

The upcoming February seminar is divided into three main sessions.

Each session helps you learn how to gain freedom, remove stress, earn more and do more good in and for the world.

Session One :  International Micro Business – “How to Have a Positive Global Income”.   You can turn $499 in $142,020 a year, even in small towns.

Session Two : Ecuador Living and Real Estate.

Sessions Three:  International & Value Investing Outside the Box.

Here is a partial syllabus of the seminar:

SESSION ONE:  How to Turn Your Passion into a Profitable Microbusiness.   A micro business can be the best investment you can make. Start small and magnify your investment with your effort, enthusiasm and energy.

* Turn $499 into $142,020 through writing and publishing… without risk.  In just one year.  Cash in on the blowback from the global community.  The global economy is good but big business… big government…. big medicine and global everything is also impersonal, often harsh and inhumane.  This expansionary process leaves us believing in nothing.  We are cynical of the global banks… the aggressive police… the intrusive government… the big church… the monetized medicine… the negative media… the unfair laws…. the failing currencies… all the broken promises.

Yet as humans, we have to believe in something and our last bastion… the one we can see, hear, taste, smell and feel is our local community… either as a  place or as a collection of like-minded souls.

This is also where we can actually accomplish something and actually have an impact at doing some good.

On January 1st, 2013, Merri and I launched a new business “Positive Community Magazines” (PCM) with David Cross our webmaster and Dave & Sherry Johnson. This opportunity is for anyone young or old.  PCM offers excellent income… less stress, fulfillment and positive service to the community.  This business helps publish positive community magazines in small towns or to small communities of highly focused, like-minded souls.

Warren Buffett believes so much in this potential that he is buying newspapers in small towns all over America.

In 2012 Berkshire Hathaway purchased 63 small and mid-sized daily and weekly newspapers throughout the United States.

He plans to buy more and says: “I like buying individual papers at the right prices.” 

Buffett stated that Berkshire is not buying big newspapers or more newspaper shares because he believes in the value of local communities.

In February, you’ll meet Dave & Sherry Johnson who had a good life until times turned sour during the 2007 recession.  They lost everything so they moved to Asheboro, North Carolina which Forbes magazine highlighted as “One of America’s Ten Fastest-Dying Towns in the USA”.  They started a community magazine and from the ashes it has risen from success to success.   They now earn over $17,000 a month.  They came to our Writer’s Camp.  We saw their amazing business model and let no moss grow under our feet before asking them if they would help us spread this incredible concept around the world.

We know trends when we see them and this is even more exciting than the trend we saw in Ecuador’s expansion 17 years ago.

As an Independent Community Publisher of Positive Community Magazines, you will publish positive, upbeat community publications dedicated to representing, encouraging and celebrating the community you serve by focusing on the lifestyles, talents, gifts and contributions of the people who live and work there.  Plus you’ll earn as much as $17,635 a month.

Learn how to gain a proven business model with training – archive of articles – design templates – access to low-cost printing – marketing materials – and a very, very low investment (as little as $499) to start.

The Money – Here is the Proforma Income for a 64-page Magazine

In the model magazines the ad revenues run around $13,000 (40% ads/$500 per ad page) and editorial revenues of $4,635 or a gross income of  $17,635 a month.

Printing  and operational expenses are in the $5,800 range leaving  profits of $11,835.  You increase the bottom line if you do more of the design and distribution work yourself.

Other advantages of magazine publishing include the freedom to set your own schedule,  PRESS credentials, prestige, service to the community, philanthropy, being in the know and having a well respected profession.

Saves Lives.  Here is just one example of the good you can do. Sherry Johnson shared this story.

She wrote: Gary,  we even save lives.  In one issue of their magazine they told the story of a little boy who was struggling with a rare disease that caused life-threatening seizures.  One day, while his mom was out shopping, the little boy had a seizure so she rushed him to the hospital.

She called ahead and the nurse met her at the emergency room.  As it happens, the nurse had read the article in the magazine (which someone had brought to the nurse’s lounge) and she recognized the little boy from the article.  Since she knew immediately what was wrong with him, no time was wasted and he was treated quickly.  They were told that this particular seizure was especially bad and that the article probably saved his life.  This doesn’t happen every day but once in a lifetime is good enough!

Downtown Mt. Dora, Florida

Another session in the seminar shows “How to have an international micro business.”  These sessions are highly practical and usable. They focus on how to use modern technology to start global micro businesses based around a website, with minimal investments of time and capital.

By starting small and building with stepping stones and a harmonious focus, Merri and I have learned how to own profit generating phrases at Google.  We, along with our webmaster, David Cross, share the secrets of how you can use words to create your own global income.

The seminar shares how we us “Seven Ps”  (Person, Problem and Promise, Product) to zero in on key word phrases.  The Fifth P (Promise) develops new customers. The Sixth P is the Prospecting Path and Seventh P is the Presentation that creates income.

Learn about other microbusiness possibilities…

In the global micro business sessions we’ll see ideas on how to:

* Create Export Businesses

* Earn from Self Publishing and Writing

* Develop Internet Sales

* Cash in on Ecuador Business Ideas

* Find Organic Agricultural Business Ideas

* Profit With Health Business Ideas

* Turn Ideas for Tours and Seminar Businesses into Profitable Lifestyles

* Create a Multi Dimension extra income lifestyle.

Multi dimensional living can create a lifestyle that brings better health and lasting “real” wealth.  Many readers  are choosing a multi dimensional lifestyle, living on a farm and earning in other ways such as writing.

Activity on the farm in North Carolina. It’s tax deductible and profitable but…

I cannot call it work.

Merri and I have been fortunate. The self publishing business has treated us well.  However a great deal of our financial stability also comes from being multi dimensional.  We have lived on our own farm and seminar camp and orange grove and in our own Ecuador hotel and hacienda.  We are always fixing things up…. buying broken places or taking broken ideas and making them whole.

For decades we have been buying houses and fixing them… painting, restructuring and such.  This is our hobby… that happens to be profitable… or maybe that’s our business and writing is the hobby that also happens to be profitable?

The point is what we do is not work.   We just regularly do what we love and figure out how to earn income in the process.  The adage framed on my desk given to me by a beloved Indian Pundit is “Action is Thy Duty… Reward Not Thy Concern“. With this motto and a bit of common sense living joyfully and earning merge.

Our daughter, Cinda, and David Cross, our son-in-law webmaster and granddaughters, Sequoia and Teeka, have taken this lifestyle route as well.   Cinda loves animals so is a veterinarian and specializes in animal acupuncture which she can do at their farm.

David has his website and voice-over business he can run from their farm and the girls love working in the gardens.

David and Cinda’s multi dimensional farm. They now produce 60% of their food and earn extra income selling their excess organic crops.

Using the Bio Degradable “Bio Wash” to gain added value we have been able to double our production and quadruple the profits in our orange grove.

In the multi dimension segment of the seminar we review how to spot “live on agri and B&B opportunity” in small towns and Ecuador.  We’ll also look at Bio Wash, that we have supported now for nearly 20 years. We’ll show the environmental as well as health and business benefits it brings.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

SESSION TWO: Ecuador Living.  Talk about catching an early wave… Merri and I caught the Ecuador expat trend right at its beginning 17 years ago.   We brought readers who joined us in Ecuador then… some amazing opportunities.  This cycle has matured but there are still great bargains if you know what to do.  No one has as much experience and as many contacts in this field. This experience is also dependable.  We do not sell Ecuador real estate so you won’t be hearing any hidden agendas.

A beach house for $16,000?  Is that bargain enough?  You cannot beat experience when it comes to learning all the ins and outs and buying real estate in a country like Ecuador.

For example after more than a dozen years of traveling… working… buying and selling real estate and running businesses in Ecuador… we led Jean Marie Butterlin from France to the coast and he began scouring the beaches from Manta, north to Pedernales… finding the bargains…. meeting the landowners…  understanding the rules, regulations and customs.

That experience made him the expert of Ecuador beach real estate so that bargains could be found and so his clients could overcome the biggest problems and intelligently buy real estate on the coast.

We’ll share how to  buy beach property intelligently.

Here is Jean Marie’s second beach home…. secluded overlooking this…

isolated beach home for just…

$16,000.

You’ll learn how to overcome one of the biggest mistakes most real estate buyers make on the beach.

Dr. Andres Cordova will speak and join me in updating Ecuador real estate and residency rules.

Dr. Andres Cordova speaking at our seminars.

Andres is our friend and Ecuador attorney. He is the grandson of one of Ecuador’s more famous presidents and was a senior partner in a law firm that represents Ecuador’s treasury.

We’ll also review how to create an Ecuador export business as Merri and I have for many years.

Roberto Ribadeneira speaking at our seminar about how he can shop, ship and charge for Ecuador export businesses.

We’ll review the Ecuadorshop Logistics service that provides all these services for exporters in importers into the USA.

We’ll share how Roberto provides an exclusive service that helps readers who export from Ecuador monitor production and quality and assure timely delivery.

This is a great service that provides every detail for importing products into the USA.   We have used this logistics service ourselves for years and became the largest shipper of Ecuador roses last Christmas.  One big benefit is that the service can send each product direct to the buyer in the USA.  The Ecuadorshop Logistics service makes small and medium scale Ecuador exporting possible.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

Session THREE  – International & Value Investing Outside the Box.  This session shows how to protect your investments and savings, plus what to do with extra profits you’ll earn.

The educational program Merri and I have developed uses a different form of frequency modulation that opens enormous opportunity for expansion, understanding, peacefulness as well as greater wealth.

FM teaching uses frequency (in music and with each sense… sight…. smell, tactile and even smell) to integrate brain waves so the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.  This brings forth the three C’s:  Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

FM creates relaxed concentration… a key to happiness, health and success.

You learn whole brain thinking that can help improve your freedom, satisfaction and income through business.

This part of the seminar helps us integrate their brain waves so they are more intelligent, intuitive and relaxed.

The Super Thinking sessions show three ways (baroque music, relaxation and nutrition) to get into and stay in a state of relaxed concentration… a mental state shown to enhance almost every human capability… especially writing.

Merri and I are explorers so we have used this techniques for decades. We  are always looking for what’s next… trying to stay on or ahead of the leading edge and need ways to think outside he box.

The Super Thinking sessions share how we do this to live better…. using frequency modulation to be smarter… stronger…. more energetic… more aware, friendlier, compassionate, happier and healthier.

We are in our 45th year of business and we share what we have learned and where this is leading our activities in our upcoming seminar. Join us.

Spotting new trends and applying them to our micro business has brought us a strong and continual flow of income through good times and bad.  More importantly the process has been fulfilling…. beneficial to society and healthy.    Now you can benefit from the latest… and perhaps strongest… of all the trends we have stumbled upon.

Applying the concepts of super thinking to spotting trends over the past 45 years has helped thousands of our readers make and save millions.   The success of our readers has been a driving force in our lives yet we have always wanted to do more so continued looking deeper at ways we can share how to have income, stability, good health and contentment.

Join us to learn our most recent experiences and most advanced concepts and ideas.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

There are two more Reasons to be in Mt. Dora February 1-2-3.   One is old time values.

The Lakeside Inn seen from Lake Dora.

130 years ago three local, and reasonably successful individuals, sitting around around one afternoon when one of them says “hey… lets build a hotel”.  The three agreed, plans were drawn up, materials were ordered and work began.  The year was 1883, Mount Dora was still called Royellou, Chester Arthur was President, and it would still be several years before the railroad would make its way in to town.   This leaves the Lakeside Inn as the oldest, continuously operated hotel in the State of Florida.   The Inn is just across the street from our meeting place and is celebrating its 130th Anniversary throughout 2013 with a number of special events and celebrations.

Mt. Dora Arts Festival.  This is is ranked in the top hundred art shows in the US. It’s a juried fine arts festival, for art lovers, casual festival-goers and families.

Downtown Mount Dora, with its New England architecture and breathtaking views of Lake Dora is the backdrop for this event. In addition to the endless rows of fine art, including oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, clay, sculpture and photography, the festival features local and regional musical entertainment at a main stage in Donnelly Park.

The event draws over 300,000 visitors and features more than 285 artists from all over the world.Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar -

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

Join Merri, me and the following speakers:

* Thomas Fischer of Jyske Bank, who will talk about International investing, forex, plus borrowing low to invest high.

* Rich Checkan of Asset Strategy who will update the state of the precious metals markets.

* Dr. Andres Cordova updating Ecuador real estate and monetary, residency and tax regulations.

* Dave and Sherry Johnson. How to turn $499 into 142,035 with Positive Community magazines in small towns.

* Shirley Peacock.  Lake County real estate.

* Mike McDonald. Aegis Capital Corp.

* Lou Shinamin. Ruggie Wealth

* Larry Grossman. Sovereign Pension Management.

Join Merri and me at our Super Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar – February 1-2-3 , 2013, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here $799.   Couple $999

See  How to Attend this Seminar for $177 instead

Read Mexico Peso Set for Biggest Gain in 19 Months on U.S. Housing, Employment

Read Yield to Yield  Some dividend funds offer more, or less, than investors bargain for

See more on Suntec Reit

We’ll see a global investing major market value update in a moment.

First, let’s look at this important data that Thomas Fischer at Jyske Global Asset Management (JGAM) just shared.

Thomas Fischer is Senior Vice President of Jyske Global Asset Management.

Thomas began his banking career in 1975. In 1978  he started in the trading room as a Foreign Exchange dealer, and spent the next 22 years trading currencies. During this trading career he spent 2 years in London and 10 years in Germany where he was head of the international currency section of a major German brokerage company.

During his time in Germany he successfully completed an MBA focusing on the external environment and corporate finance.  In 2000 he joined Jyske Bank Private Banking and was promoted to Manager of International Client Relations in 2001.

In 2008 Thomas joined the newly established Portfolio Management Company Jyske Global Asset Management (JGAM), as Senior Vice President.  He is  a member of JGAM’s Investment Committee focusing on our Foreign Exchange strategy.  He travels the world giving presentations about the markets and the investment opportunities at JGAM.

Yesterday’s message Global Investment Portfolios Focus looked at JGAM’s medium risk international investment portfolio.

This portfolio has been updated and Thomas wrote:  On July 15 JGAM’s Investment Committee held its monthly meeting, deciding on how to invest our managed portfolios. All trades agreed at the meeting have now been carried out and therefore we can publish the changes we have made.

The overall asset allocation remained at a neutral position in all asset classes except for a small overweight position on cash in low and medium risk portfolios.

However Thomas added more. Here is information on what the future that we should all be thinking about.

The markets have been caught in a verbal fight between optimists and pessimists. The latter group most prominently presented by Princeton University Economist Paul Krugman, has warned policy makers that the world is heading for the worst depression since the thirties.

Mr. Krugman has on many occasions warned that the US is in danger of falling into a deflationary trap. He is advocating for a much more aggressive stimulus plan as unemployment remains stubbornly high, with little job creation at private companies.

The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke however, has been more optimistic and recently expressed that the US economy is on track to continue to expand in 2010 and 2011. World trade is up 20% year-on-year but is recovering from extremely low levels.

The optimists also argue, that the corporate sector should start investing soon and thereby improve the employment picture. When the corporate sector increases spending, nominal growth should pick up and help improve budget deficits.

According to The Economist magazine, the recent uncertainty may be down to a fundamental battle between bond investors who benefit from a debt deflation solution to the current crisis; and equity investors who gain more from a nominal growth solution to deficits. The jury is still out and with no clear indication of where we are heading, uncertainty will rule the market. We still believe that we are heading for a recovery and a growth scenario, but as long as the “war” between optimists and pessimists are raging in the media we maintain our neutral positions.

After four consecutive quarters with rising equity prices, Global equities had their first down quarter since March 2009. In the second quarter 2010, the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World Total Return Index (with net dividends reinvested, December 1969 = 100) declined 11.2 % in local currencies, 12.7 % in US dollars and 3.5 % in euros.

So who will win out… the optimists or the pessimists?

Personally  I am prepared for either scenario.  In our last International Investing & Business Conference we looked at seven places to inest now that can prosper in either a positive or negative economic scenario.

#1:  Value Markets

#2: Multi Currency Spreads Increase Cash

#3: Emerging Markets

#4: Wellness

#5: Water Alternate Energy

#6: Truth & Cohesion

#7: Real Estate

Value holds a special place for investors and business people… local or global because value is another way of seeing distortions.  Distortions are vacuums and nature abhors a vacuum.  Imbalances will always correct themselves. To have success in investing or business… one simply has to spot good value.

Understanding value is the tricky part. 

This is why once a quarter we look at a major equity market valuation analysis by Michael Keppler.

If you are a new multi currency subscriber learn about Keppler Asset Management here.

For the last quarter to the end of June 2010, Keppler points out that  year to date, the MSCI World Index lost 7.1 % in local currencies and 9.8 % in US dollars. However, due to the 14.6 percent decline of the US dollar to 1.2249 versus the euro, the world equity benchmark index gained 5.6 % during the last six months, if performance is measured in euros.

Two markets advanced in the second quarter and sixteen declined. Denmark (+4.5 %), Sweden (+0.3 %) and Singapore (-0.1 %) performed best.

Japan (-14.8 %), Austria (-14.3 %) and Italy (-13.4 %) came in at the bottom.

Year-to-date, four markets are up and fourteen markets are down. The best performing markets in the first half of 2010 were Denmark (+21.7 %), Sweden (+8.8 %) and Belgium (+1.2 %). Spain (-21.4 %), Italy (-14.8 %) and Norway (-13.7 %) performed worst year-to-date.

Performance numbers are in local currencies unless mentioned otherwise.

The Top Value Model Portfolio currently contains the following six “buy” rated countries at equal weights:  Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Keppler’s current ratings suggest that a combination of these markets offers the highest expectation of long-term risk-adjusted returns.

Keppler’s neutral value markets are now: Australia, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain.

The low value (sell) markets are:  Belgium,  Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong,  Sweden, Switzerland and USA.

Keppler also added:  As the chart below indicates, our implicit three-to-five-year projection for the average annual gain of the Equally-Weighted World Index now stands at 14.3 % p.a., up from 11.9 % three months ago.  The two main reasons for this increase are (1) the Index dropped by 9 % during the second quarter and (2) fundamentals have improved: Earnings are up 16.6 % — the larger part of the increase coming from disappearing write-offs — and dividends grew by 4.1 %. In addition, the low interest rate environment makes stocks look attractive.

Keppler’s implicit three-to-five- year projection provides some profound clues about how to invest and conduct business ahead.

His statistics suggest to me that the economy and markets are still going to grow.  The pessimists… according to my interpretation of these numbers… lose.

This is not the only indicator I track that suggests positive days ahead… not immediately… but over the next three to five years.

From now until October offers a special micro window of opportunity…. maybe one of two before 2002… when the next 15 to 17 year bull cycle will begin.

Right now seasonality is dragging markets down until around November.  Perhaps we’ll see one more good bear pull April to November 2011.  Then the recovery will begin in earnest. From now until then, history suggests times will be bleakest… a great time to find good value.

Thomas Fischer also mentioned the beauty of Denmark’s summer and wrote:

Summer has arrived in Denmark and we are basking in glorious sunshine. We hope the weather will “perform” for the next few months and thus create a warm background for our August Copenhagen seminar.

We have a range of world class speakers and should have some really exciting presentations. We will furthermore have excursions allowing you to get a closer look at our beautiful city. We will conclude the seminar Saturday evening with a gala dinner and opera arias performed by some of the best Danish opera singers from The Royal Danish Opera. We hope you will take this opportunity to come to Copenhagen and experience some renowned Danish “hygge”/coziness. You can see the whole program and a short video at the below link at http://jgam.com/copenhagen-seminar-2010

When we forwarded the invitation in April the price was approx. $2,050 per person in a double room, but since then the USD has strengthened against the Danish Kroner and the price today is approx. $1,700. The price includes accommodation including breakfast at the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel just voted the best hotel in Denmark, reception at our offices, seminar fee, excursions, lunches and a gala dinner with entertainment and dancing.

Danes have been voted the happiest people in the world and now we also have the best restaurant in the World. The restaurant is called NOMA which is a concatenation of the two Nordic names Nordisk (Nordic) and mad (food). The chef, Rene Redzepi, uses only Scandinavian ingredients and how about this for a starter: crunchy baby carrots served with edible “soil” made from malt, hazelnuts and beer, with a cream herb emulsion beneath.

Our slogan “Global investments with a personal touch” is not just a slogan we really enjoy any opportunity to meet with our clients and friends. We sincerely hope that you will join us in August in Wonderful Copenhagen.

See details on how to join Merri and me at Jyske’s bi annual Copenhagen seminar here Global Wealth Management Seminar.

Merri and I walk  the waterfront every day when we are in Copenhagen.  We love…

the sights, the…

cafes and…

open air.

Merri and I hope to meet you in Denmark in August!

Gary

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

during…

its annual arts festival. 

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule for Summer 2013

May 30-31 & June 1  Super Thinking + Spanish  Atlantic City, NJ   (Teacher Rick Brown)

June 14-15-16  Super Thinking Writer’s Camp  West Jefferson, NC  (Gary & Merri Scott)

June 21-22-23  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 5-6-7 Super Thinking + Spanish  Sarasota, FL  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 12-13-14 Super Thinking + Spanish Kelowna, BC, Canada  (Teachers Shawn & Suzanne Bandick) Get details here

August 16-17-18  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

September 27-28-29  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

October 4-5-6  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar West Jefferson, NC    (Gary & Merri Scott)

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking +Writers Camp Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri)

 For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all seminars and courses and more FREE or at a discount as an International club member.  See details here.

2014

January 10-11-12,2014   Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida  (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 14-15-16  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar  Mt. Dora, Florida

---

One path to everlasting wealth is via the hot emerging market economies.

This Latin path has led to some great profits. See where this path is below.

Yesterday’s message looked at the seven places where I am investing now that we reviewed at our June Quantum Wealth course.

#1: Multi Currency Spreads Increase Cash
#2: Value Markets
#3: Emerging Markets
#4: Wellness
#5: Water Alternate Energy
#6: Truth & Cohesion
#7: Real Estate

And we saw why Emerging Markets especially make sense.

A recent 10 year comparison of major versus emerging markets show some of the reasons that emerging markets are one of the seven places I like to invest in now.

A comparison of the Morgan Stanley Capital index Emerging Market versus Morgan Stanley Capital Index Emerging Market Index.

Annual Return   Emerging Markets 19.81%    Major Markets  10%

Emerging Markets Longest Down period 6 months – Major Markets Longest Down 6 mos.

Emerging Markets biggest downward drop 55% – Major Markets biggest downward drop  53%.

Emerging Markets PE ratio 12.9   Major Markets  PE Ratio 15.2.

Major Markets yield    3.70%.
Emerging Markets yield  3.22%.

In other words in a decade… Emerging Markets have appreciated nearly twice as much as Major Markets.  There has been little difference in the lengths or size of drops and Emerging Markets offer much better PE ratios.  The only area where Major Markets have excelled is yield.

Yesterday’s  message also reviewed the current best value Emerging Markets (according to Keppler Asset Mangement): Brazil, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.

Now let’s look at the Hot Emerging Market region… LATIN AMERICA.

Here is an excerpt from today’s www.Ecuadorliving.com article that explains why.

“In the first book I wrote back in the early 1970′s I wrote that ‘the sun always shines somewhere”.  This has been the motto of our publishing company since.

“On the eve of the 4th of July… a celebration of Independence, it may be fitting to remember this fact and that this celebration is about an attitude and way of life, not a place.

“The only source of real freedom comes from a strong economic base where everyone has a chance to live well.

“The history has been that industrialized countries provided this economic base of freedom and emerging countries did not.  So great fences have been built to keep the poor from moving to places where most are rich.  However as the tide changes we have to wonder… will the walls built to keep people out start keeping citizens in… like a Berlin Wall?

“Readers often ask me about Nationalization in South America.

Photo from May 6 Economist article on Bolivia nationalization.

“I often receive notes from unsettled readers writing with worries about Correa nationalizing all of Ecuador whenever politicians in Venezuela or Bolivia or Peru act up.

“These really are different countries… different people…. different political histories and Correa is quite different having risen from poverty via the educational route not military.

Photo I took of Correa in Cotacachi.

“Yet the economic prosperity is growing in Latin America… as excerpts from the New York Times below explains.

“We can see the future in the here and now.  Plus our imagination is a value tool if we use it realistically and see ahead with an open mind.  Our forward vision is always blurred by the haze of quantum uncertainty that creates this  world.

“We should hedge our bets.

“One chapter there was about the ‘Concept Conversion Trick’ and says:

“The Concept Conversion Trick begins when people agree on a good concept for working and living together. The people go to work and if the concept is good they will create a paradise. The government gives them a flag and a song. Then the government pulls the trick. The government convinces the people that the flag and song are important. Then while the people are busy watching the flag and singing the song, the government replaces the concept with a set of ever increasing written rules and regulations administered by bureaucrats and backed up by a police force.

“This trick trades people’s individual freedoms for a shiver up the spine when the song is played and the piece of cloth is waved. The Concept Conversion Trick turns spirit into matter. Like trading love for a beautiful plastic doll. When the trick has been pulled and the dust settles, the people realize too late what has happened. Anyone who steps out of line is called unpatriotic or even criminal. He is swatted down by the bureaucracy or police force, crushed with overwhelming power or made an example of so others will tow the mark ‘for the good of society’. All this is done in the name of public interest.

“If this writing sounds prophetic having been written 25 + years ago, it was not. Any simple review of any previous great society shows this trick and evolution. Like the Roman Empire, things may get better for a while, then worse and then better again. In the long term, as societies age, they can lose their original vibrancy and life.

“Should we be surprised? Does not every single thing in this universal existence develop in the same way, vibrant and flexible while young and growing thicker and more brittle with age?

“My father loved animals and worked at the Portland City Zoological Gardens. He was a really kind, gentle, fair and scrupulously honest man. Yet one of his jobs was doing the zoo’s annual budget. I recall him spending weeks late at night (on his own time) working over these budgets each year. I also remember his telling me that every year they had to ask for more money because otherwise the city government would give them less. ‘If we do a good job with their funds, they penalize us,’ he told me.

“This is how the bureaucracy and society works, millions of small units each trying to grow and spend a little more, until the whole thing swells into an unstoppable mass of self-interest. This is the universal nature to grow until the growth becomes so excessive that balance is lost!

“This truth shows us the nature of mankind and every underlying force that goes from birth to continuity and then transformation. This is the way of life and if we are smart investors we recognize this and adapt.

“This is why I have almost always bet against the US dollar.

“This is why my business has been global for more nearly 40 years.

“This is why I have been so involved in Ecuador.

“My experience is that Ecuador is a very democratic free country filled with sweet friendly people. My bet is that the flag waving focus on drugs and terrorists and anti US sentiment will mislead a lot of potential investors and create bargains here now. That’s where I have been putting my money.

“An article in yesterday’s New York Times entitled Economies in Latin America Surge Forward by Moises Saman shows how correct this decision has been. Here is an excerpt:

“LIMA, Peru — While the United States and Europe fret over huge deficits and threats to a fragile recovery, this region has a surprise in store. Latin America, beset in the past by debt defaults, currency devaluations and the need for bailouts from rich countries, is experiencing robust economic growth that is the envy of its northern counterparts.

“Copper awaiting delivery in Valparaíso, Chile. Latin America has benefited from strong Asian demand for commodities.

“Strong demand in Asia for commodities like iron ore, tin and gold, combined with policies in several Latin American economies that help control deficits and keep inflation low, are encouraging investment and fueling much of the growth. The World Bank forecasts that the region’s economy will grow 4.5 percent this year.

“Recent growth spurts around Latin America have surpassed the expectations of many governments themselves. Brazil, the region’s rising power, is leading the regional recovery from the downturn of 2009, growing 9 percent in the first quarter from the same period last year. Brazil’s central bank said Wednesday that growth for 2010 could reach 7.3 percent, the nation’s fastest expansion in 24 years.

“After a sharp contraction last year, Mexico’s economy grew 4.3 percent in the first quarter and may reach 5 percent this year, the Mexican government has said, possibly outpacing the economy in the United States.

“Smaller countries are also growing fast. Here in Peru, where memories are still raw of an economy in tatters from hyperinflation and a brutal, two-decade war against Maoist rebels that left almost 70,000 people dead, gross domestic product surged 9.3 percent in April from the same month of last year.

“We’re witnessing what are probably the best economic conditions in Peru in my lifetime,” said Mario Zamora, 70, who owns six pharmacies in Los Olivos, a bustling working-class district of northern Lima where thousands of poor migrants from Peru’s highlands have settled.

“Vibrancy mixes with grit around his pharmacies. A Domino’s Pizza vies for customers with Peruvian-Chinese restaurants called chifas. Motorcycle taxis deliver passengers to nightclubs. Competition, in the form of a newly arrived Chilean pharmacy chain, looms around the corner from his main store.
Los Olivos offers a glimpse into the growth lifting parts of Latin America out of poverty, but big exceptions persist. In Venezuela, electricity shortages and fears of expropriations caused gross domestic product to shrink 5.8 percent in the first quarter.”

The path below is right outside of Cotacachi, Ecuador.  See the rest of this article at today’s Ecuador Living message that shows why Latin America is a “Growing Place to Be”.

This is why I have invested heavily in Ecuador.

This is also why I have borrowed US dollars and invested the loan into Mexican pesos and Brazilian real. Learn about this tactic in my report Borrow Low Deposit High.

For example at our June Quantum Wealth course we looked at how the position I took with a$100,000 investment matched with a $100,000 US dollar loan at three percent returns 17% (before fees and forex gain or loss).

$200,000 Brazil bonds due 2016 that pays 10.00%
That’s $20,000 income per annum.
$100,000 dollar loan at 3% costs $3,000 per year

My return on the $100,000 invested is  $17,000 or 17% per annum.

Another one of my borrow low positions is an investment of

$100,000 Mexican government binds due Due 2024 that pays 8%
$100,000 AAA European Investment Bank Australian dollar 2013 bond that pays 5.56%
$100,000 AAA rated European Investment Bank New Zealand dollar 2014 bond that pays  5.38%

My average income on the three bonds is 6.31%  or  $18,930 a year.
My loan cost  on the $300,000 loan is $9,000.

My return on the $300,000 loan is $9,930.

New global bank regulations mean that it requires increasingly larger amounts to make this kind of investment… especially for Americans.  However new forex managed portfolios allow small investors to take advantage of this type of tactic.

For more details Americans should contact Thomas Fischer at Jyske Global Asset Management  fischer@jgam.com

Non US investors contact Rene Mathys at Jyske Private Bank mathys@jbpb.dk

Gary

Merri and I hike the harbor every day when we are in Copenhagen.  We love…

the sights, the…

cafes and…

open air and…

waterfront dining.  Summer is the best time to visit Copenhagen.

Peter Berezin, Managing Editor of Bank Credit Analyst Researech (BCA) will be one of the speakers at the August Jyske Bnak’s Global Wealth Management Seminar, August 25 to 29, 2010 in Copenhagen.

I love attending these Jyske seminars not just as a speaker but because I get to hear all the other speakers, whom I consider world class.

One speaker who may provide some special emerging market insights is James Ellert, Professor of Finance and  Strategy, International Institute for Management Development, a global business school in Switzerland.  This school offers and MBA program for corporations,firms, institutions, and private and business clients worldwide.  This elite school located on the shores of Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland offers pioneering solutions that encourages open attitudes and provides relevant, innovative and rigorous research for a unique real world, real learning approach to apply new insights. The school  challenges boundaries for redefining ambitions and realizing performance breakthroughs.  This is one of the world’s top ranked business schools and the ideas from Professor Ellert can help understand emerging opportunities.

Other speakers include will be Bjorn Lomborg known as the “Skeptical Environmentalist.”  See more on Lomborg here.

Another speaker will be Jeff Rubin. Rubin was the Chief Economist for CIBC, a North American investment bank for 20 years. See more about Rubin here.

Kenneth Rogoff  the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University and former Chief Economist for the International Monetary Fund is also a speaker. See more at Rogoff.

Another speaker is Daniel Brehon, the foreign exchange strategist, for Deutsche Bank AG.  See more about Daniel Brehon and Deutche Bank here.

Another speaker is Peter Berezin, Managing Editor Bank Credit Analyst Research.

The strong US dollar makes this the year to enjoy Europe and Thomas Fischer at Jyske just sent me this note: Gary due to the increasing US dollar, the cost for our August seminar in Copenhagen for Americans has dropped from about $2,050 to $1,700, a 15% discount. (THE COST INCLUDES MOST OF THE FOOD, TRIPS, MAKING THE CONFERENCE A GREAT BARGAIN.)

Some great things about the Copenhagen conference are the seminar of course…then there’s the stunning food and the wonderful visits included…This package includes:  accommodation at the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel for four nights, (25-28 August) including breakfast,  Reception and dinner at the bank’s Copenhagen offices, seminar fee and materials for the seminar sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. full lunches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, canal & harbour tour on Friday in the late afternoon, four-course gala dinner with entertainment and dancing on Saturday evening, and a Sunday excursion including lunch.

Merri and I always go on the excursion also to Silkebord with a drive out into the country, lovely food, picnic cruise and a chance to see the main office and the trading center.  This is always our most interesting, favorite and delightful conference…and we hope you will join us there!  We love the stroll along the harbor, the fresh air, wonderful meals and interesting people from all over the world.

See details on how to join Merri and me at Jyske’s bi annual Copenhagen seminar here Global Wealth Management Seminar.

We also really enjoy the restaurants and coffee shops along Nyhavn.

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

during…

its annual arts festival. 

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule for Summer 2013

May 30-31 & June 1  Super Thinking + Spanish  Atlantic City, NJ   (Teacher Rick Brown)

June 14-15-16  Super Thinking Writer’s Camp  West Jefferson, NC  (Gary & Merri Scott)

June 21-22-23  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 5-6-7 Super Thinking + Spanish  Sarasota, FL  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 12-13-14 Super Thinking + Spanish Kelowna, BC, Canada  (Teachers Shawn & Suzanne Bandick) Get details here

August 16-17-18  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

September 27-28-29  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

October 4-5-6  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar West Jefferson, NC    (Gary & Merri Scott)

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking +Writers Camp Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri)

 For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all seminars and courses and more FREE or at a discount as an International club member.  See details here.

2014

January 10-11-12,2014   Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida  (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 14-15-16  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar  Mt. Dora, Florida

---

Here is some international financial thinking that shows strength in the idea of emerging market investing from the Chief Economist and Chief Editor at Bank Credit Analyst, Mr. Martin Barnes.

Join Merri and me in Copenhagen. We’ll learn more about emerging markets but also love strolling along Copenhagen’s famous pedestrian shopping street called Stroget. Stroget is not a name of a specific street, but a connection between the west and east part of Copenhagen. The shops are amazing… but the street entertainment even better!  Every summer that we are there we search through the fruit and flower markets on the streets for THE perfect fig…buy one each, find a great seat, sit down and slowly eat it while watching the crowds walk by!

Jyske Global Asset Management sent me this international financial thought from Martin Barnes a well known and highly respected economist frequently quoted in international financial news medias. Many of the JGAM investing managers have been reading Mr. Barnes’ writings for many years.

Bank Credit Analyst Research (BCA) was founded in Montreal in 1949 by A. Hamilton Bolton, who pioneered the concept that national economies and their capital markets are led by shifts in financial liquidity, money supply and credit.

BCA though expensive (their annual fees can run $60,000) has a wide following among financial institutions, corporations, individual investors and academics.  BCA along with Morgan Stanley and Jyske Bank are important sources of data for JGAM.

BCA has dramatically expanded the firm’s research capabilities and global coverage by building a large team of experienced economists and researchers and its operations are worldwide with offices in many major cities around the globe.

Here is an excerpt from JGAM’s summary of Mr. Barnes’ views on economics and financial markets: The economic recovery is developing slowly as normal after a recession caused by a financial crisis. Fiscal policy is being tightened but not to an extent that will endanger recovery. There is a strong case for investment spending as return on capital is high, whereas consumer spending will continue to be moderate because of high unemployment, squeezed house prices and a general need for saving (i.e. deleveraging).

The recent fall in equity prices is a correction and not a new bear market, provided that a new (and unlikely) recession is not underway.

Bond yields are historically low and could stay low for a long period as there is no private credit demand, no inflation, short rates are close to zero and not rising and risk aversion keep investors away from risky assets (e.g. stocks).

Emerging markets are in a better structural position compared to developed debt burdened and aging countries, therefore, expect the new economies to outperform the old world in the long run. Growth in emerging markets will cause a demand pull on commodity prices, especially the demand-supply balance on oil seems vulnerable. Commodities could become the next asset bubble but it will take time to evolve. At JGAM we agree to many of these findings.

During the week the leading world economies have been warming up and positioning themselves to the G20 meeting this weekend.

China is off the hook after it has abandoned the US dollar peg and instead re-introduced a crawling peg. This was foreseen and a clever move by the Chinese as the focus is now back on the US and Europe who disagree on how early and how much to tighten fiscal policy.

Because of the crisis in the eurozone caused by debt problems (not only in Greece), especially Germany has been keen on promoting and restoring fiscal discipline. This has caused concern, especially in the US, that economic recovery could be in danger.  A fall in US housing sales has only aggravated the concern. An inevitable consequence of the fiscal thrift is that central banks will be reluctant to raise interest rates for a foreseeable time.

This quote from the German minister of finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, illustrates the clash on fiscal policy across the Atlantic: “While US policymakers like to focus on short-term corrective measures, we take the longer view and are, therefore, more preoccupied with the implications of excessive deficits and the dangers of high inflation.” (Financial Times, 24 June 2010).

See an important point on emerging markets that I especially agree with Martin about below.

Merri and I hike the harbor every day when we are in Copenhagen.  We love…

the sights, the…

cafes and…

open air and…

waterfront dining.  Summer is the best time to visit Copenhagen.

Peter Berezin, Managing Editor of Bank Credit Analyst Researech (BCA) will be one of the speakers at the August Jyske Bnak’s Global Wealth Management Seminar, August 25 to 29, 2010 in Copenhagen.

I love attending these Jyske seminars not just as a speaker but because I get to hear all the other speakers, whom I consider world class.

This year speakers include will be Bjorn Lomborg known as the “Skeptical Environmentalist.”  See more on Lomborg here.

Another speaker will be Jeff Rubin. Rubin was the Chief Economist for CIBC, a North American investment bank for 20 years. See more about Rubin here.

Kenneth Rogoff  the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University and former Chief Economist for the International Monetary Fund is also a speaker. See more at Rogoff.

Another speaker is Daniel Brehon, the foreign exchange strategist, for Deutsche Bank AG.  See more about Daniel Brehon and Deutche Bank here.

The strong US dollar makes this the year to enjoy Europe and Thomas Fischer at Jyske just sent me this note: Gary due to the increasing US dollar, the cost for our August seminar in Copenhagen for Americans has dropped from about $2,050 to $1,700, a 15% discount. (THE COST INCLUDES MOST OF THE FOOD, TRIPS, MAKING THE CONFERENCE A GREAT BARGAIN.)

Some great things about the Copenhagen conference are the seminar of course…then there’s the stunning food and the wonderful visits included…This package includes:  accommodation at the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel for four nights, (25-28 August) including breakfast,  Reception and dinner at the bank’s Copenhagen offices, seminar fee and materials for the seminar sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. full lunches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, canal & harbour tour on Friday in the late afternoon, four-course gala dinner with entertainment and dancing on Saturday evening, and a Sunday excursion including lunch.

Merri and I always go on the excursion also to Silkebord with a drive out into the country, lovely food, picnic cruise and a chance to see the main office and the trading center.  This is always our most interesting, favorite and delightful conference…and we hope you will join us there!  We love the stroll along the harbor, the fresh air, wonderful meals and interesting people from all over the world.

See details on how to join Merri and me at Jyske’s bi annual Copenhagen seminar here Global Wealth Management Seminar.

We also really enjoy the restaurants and coffee shops along Nyhavn.

Important point about emerging markets

One of Martin’s comments was: Emerging markets are in a better structural position compared to developed debt burdened and aging countries, therefore, expect the new economies to outperform the old world in the long run.

At our June Quantum Wealth course we looked at seven places to invest now.

#1: Multi Currency Spread Increase Cash
#2: Value Markets
#3: Emerging Markets
#4: Wellness
#5: Water Alternate Energy
#6: Truth & Cohesion
#7: Real Estate

A recent 10 year comparison of major versus emerging markets show some of the reasons that emerging markets are one of the seven places I like to invest in now.

A comparison of the Morgan Stanley Capital index Emerging Market versus Morgan Stanley Capital Index Emerging Market Index.

Annual Return   Emerging Markets 19.81%    Major Markets  10%

Emerging Markets Longest Down period 6 months – Major Markets Longest Down 6 mos.

Emerging markets biggest downward drop 55% – Major markets biggest downward drop  53%.

Emerging Markets PE ratio 12.9   Major Markets  PE Ratio 15.2.

Major markets yield    3.70%.
Emerging markets yield  3.22%.

In other words in a decade… emerging markets have appreciated nearly twice as much as major markets.  There has been little difference in the lengths or size of drops and emerging markets offer much better PE ratios.  The only area where major markets have excelled is yield.

The current best value emerging markets (according to Keppler Asset Mangement) are There are nine top value (“buy”) emerging markets: Brazil, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.

See Keppler’s current emerging maret analysis here.

When you think globally… consider emerging markets. They have the image of being riskier… but when you look at the facts… they have outperformed major markets for years and are in a position to continue doing so for some time to come.

Gary

If you are a chocoholic as I am, don’t miss the really important reason to visit Copenhagen… the bakeries and cafes…. like Konditori La Glace!

Konditori La Glace is the oldest (and perhaps) the best confectionary in Denmark.  This cafe began 8 October 1870, and  has served sweet teeth like mine for six generations.  It is an experience just to visit the beautiful old rooms located in Skoubogade 3.   You can eat these confections on location take it back to your hotel or in a chocolate emergency they deliver.

Gary

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

during…

its annual arts festival. 

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule for Summer 2013

May 30-31 & June 1  Super Thinking + Spanish  Atlantic City, NJ   (Teacher Rick Brown)

June 14-15-16  Super Thinking Writer’s Camp  West Jefferson, NC  (Gary & Merri Scott)

June 21-22-23  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 5-6-7 Super Thinking + Spanish  Sarasota, FL  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

July 12-13-14 Super Thinking + Spanish Kelowna, BC, Canada  (Teachers Shawn & Suzanne Bandick) Get details here

August 16-17-18  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

September 27-28-29  Super Thinking + Spanish  St. Charles, MO  (Teacher Mark Frakes) Get details here 

October 4-5-6  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar West Jefferson, NC    (Gary & Merri Scott)

November 15-16-17  Super Thinking +Writers Camp Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri)

 For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all seminars and courses and more FREE or at a discount as an International club member.  See details here.

2014

January 10-11-12,2014   Super Thinking + Spanish  Mt. Dora, Florida  (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 14-15-16  Super Thinking International Investing & Business Seminar  Mt. Dora, Florida

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