Author Topic: Seeking advice on weekly report  (Read 7756 times)

Bevan

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 216
  • Karma: +19/-0
    • View Profile
Seeking advice on weekly report
« on: November 09, 2018, 09:41:42 pm »
I'm thinking of starting a weekly report, the idea being there are two ways to improve the material quality of your life.... 1) Increase Revenues, and 2) Reduce Costs. Called the "Thrive Report", it will have advice on practical ways to reduce costs, mostly in terms of food, water and energy savings. Stuff that even city folk in apartments can do.

But I'm looking for your advice on what you'd want to see in the "Increase Revenues" section. As an ex professional trader I can give some insights into trading discipline, market timing, trend and momentum analysis. I can also run a model portfolio of stocks, commodities, currencies etc. for anyone interested to follow. I can give research insights into key commodities and the top 40 stocks. As an impact investor, entrepreneur and project / corporate finance guy I can also advise on raising investments, financial modelling, key issues for entrepreneurs, product and business development etc.

The report will be weekly and cost less than a grand per year, the idea being it needs to be packed with money making and money saving tips. The problem is that there are so many "gurus" around and I don't really want to be just another talking head. Hence I'm soliciting views on what you think would be most useful for you to know, bearing in mind that no-one has a crystal ball or time machine. Of course I'll give everyone who contributes something useful here a free subscription for a few weeks.
Audi, vide, tace, si vis vivere in pace. Pax vobiscum.
Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient - https://www.thrivecentre.co.za

gcr

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1008
  • Karma: +28/-1
    • View Profile
Re: Seeking advice on weekly report
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2018, 08:31:09 am »
Bevan - I think for this matter to fly you need to address a few issues:-
  • What's your background in terms of trading
What was your successes like as about 80% of traders fail to make long term profits
If you are going to charge a subscription then you need to be sure that your advisories bear fruit for the investor
[/list] What's uniquely different about your offering - this was a similar path Keith McLauchlin followed but eventually had to join a company to stay afloat in the mid 2000's

Wish you luck with your venture - but as the dragons say "I'm out" 
Not everything that counts, can be counted, and, not everything that can be counted counts - Albert Einstein

Bevan

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 216
  • Karma: +19/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Seeking advice on weekly report
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2018, 09:01:51 am »
Ha, ha... no problem.

My brief bio is:-
- Mining engineer in SA for awhile
- Co-founded world's online coal exchange www.globalcoal.com and sold to Anglo, BHP, Glencore etc.
- Commodity trader for Macquarie (futures & options trading book with $100m VAR) and RMB in London, then becoming RMB's head of energy & metals trading desk in JHB
- Helped develop international coal ETF and FNB's Kruger Rand business
- Ran London Commodity Brokers SA office for some time, then worked for Thebe Investment Corp, running mining incubator and impact investing into several community and township ventures. Did corporate finance for Shell Trading, Burgan Cape Town terminal, setup two oil trading companies, major SA coal company to buy Anglo coal assets....
- Now I've setup Thrive Centre in Hogsback with my partner who has a lifetime of experience living off-grid in the Transkei, and who knows more about soil and sustainability than I ever will

The idea is not to try and convince people I know what to buy / sell etc. The idea is to try and offer some practical advice on trading strategies, discipline, starting and running businesses, raising finance, and of course cutting your costs with practical, nature-based living, how to go off-grid, using grey water effectively for wetlands and irrigating food, making own cheese, butter etc.

I was simply wondering what questions and information people might want to know on the trading and investing side, as I believe my background has offered me unique insights into many things. Although granted, I'm much more of a trader than an investor...  :)

In terms of trading success, it's very easy to be successful trading on a bank's balance sheet. You simply have to have bigger balls than the next guy and then wait it out for the market to prove your position right... I joke of course. Once I lost over $1m on a Friday afternoon and it took 2 weeks to make that back. But generally I ran around 12% return on my book, bearing in mind that many trades are often given to you by other departments e.g. hedging for project finance, and they might prove negative in your book, but positive somewhere else in the bank.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2018, 09:05:16 am by Bevan »
Audi, vide, tace, si vis vivere in pace. Pax vobiscum.
Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient - https://www.thrivecentre.co.za

gcr

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1008
  • Karma: +28/-1
    • View Profile
Re: Seeking advice on weekly report
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2018, 04:08:57 pm »
Thanks for the background info - very interesting CV
Though interested in 2005/2006 in trading I walked away from it as the impact on my tax didn't suit me ;D
Not everything that counts, can be counted, and, not everything that can be counted counts - Albert Einstein

Nivek

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 295
  • Karma: +6/-1
    • View Profile
Re: Seeking advice on weekly report
« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2018, 10:09:42 am »
I've looked into a few "income generation" generation sites that ask you to give you email to receive their special reports, but to be honest I haven't once found something I could implement myself that offered a good chance of success.

In fact I now believe the only reliable online income generation sites are sites that sell you online income generation tips! Ie, the whole industry is a scam.

I would love to be proven wrong of course, and if you could do do that and have me receiving a greater return than the investment cost of the signup I'd be happy.

Mr_Dividend

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 586
  • Karma: +21/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Seeking advice on weekly report
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2019, 04:54:39 pm »
It's all stuff that interests me, but I am too cheap to pay. You almost talking NETFLIX subscription amounts! Just an idea, but the new way of doing it would be to make it into vlog format and host on youtube and/or other vlogging sites

Money is then made through ads but also affiliates and product referrals  - some also have patron accounts. The downside is that it takes a while to generate any sort of income - you really have to plug away plus you need to learn video editing. The upside is that the earnings are limitless - huge world market - plus you might have some videos that make money month in month out for years.

If you do give it a go - get your lighting and sound spot and keep the videos short and to the point- people will not subscribe to real amateur stuff - but do not expect pro stuff either.