Phil Town Investing

dsm711 · #1 06-10-2005, 02:11 PM

Does anyone know anything about this? It sounds to good to be true so it probably is. I went to a "Get Motivated Seminar" and I thought I was at an all day informercial. Just to be safe I cancelled the credit card that I used to get the info package. Whats really strange is that there is nothing on the net about it. It's like it's all being erased. If it were legit I would think there would be alot of chatter in the newsgroups.
TIA
DSM711

Phil Town · #2 06-18-2005, 01:10 AM

Hi dsm711,
I googled me and got your post so I thought I'd write a bit about the info package. Investools is the company that makes the tools I use and which I showed you on stage. They are public and had General Electric and NBC as significant investors. Barrons has rated them one of the best research sites for many years. While you can get almost everything they have on their site for free someplace on the net, their added value is in putting it all in one place. Short of buying day trading tools for a lot more money, nobody has a better research site. They have over 30% more data points per stock and 40% more stocks that they are tracking than any other site. One button click lets you look through over 12,000 stocks with over 300 data points including the NY and American Stock Exchanges, NASDAQ, Over the Counter, Toronto and Montreal exchanges. The class is required to get onto the website and, as I said at the seminar, you are not charged unless you complete the class and want to continue using the site.

The company is quite public. Google Investools and their website comes up with everything you need to contact them. You can read their latest annual report for total disclosure. Their symbol is IED if you'ld like to dig through the SEC database. Its at www.sec.gov/edgar.

I'd be happy to help you figure out investing whether you use their tools or not. My website is www.philtown.typepad.com and it is loaded with explanations about the approach to investing that was made famous by Graham, Dodd, Buffett, Munger, Ruane, Nygren and many more. I call it Rule #1 investing - which means you focus on not losing money the way a doctor's first rule is first do no harm. Here's a link to Crown/Random House where my book on the subject is being edited: http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/authors.html

I hope this helps.

Phil Town

Phil Town · #3 06-18-2005, 01:12 AM

Oh and one more thing regarding not much chatter in newsgroups : Investools has been around for years and the chatter has pretty much expired, I guess. There used to be more but people got their questions answered and its slowed down a lot.

Phil

tpl · #4 06-21-2005, 05:59 PM

I just attended the Get Motivated seminar in Cleveland, Ohio. Phil Town's portion had the biggest impact on me so I was just doing some searching for information on the software myself. I really like the capabilities Phil showed us today. I understand the bi-annual software user fee but I'm not sure you need to spend $1000 to learn how to use it. Anyway, I still feel it would be a good investment in the long run. The software almost seems to make your investment choices fool-proof. Just my opinion from what I saw today.

JBButler · #5 07-08-2005, 11:26 AM

I went to an event earlier this year, and I think Mr. Towns portion was the least like an infomerical of anything I saw that day. Kind of surprises me that you say this... it's like we went to 2 totaly different events. I think he's got a lot of good and truthful things to say about the way the stock market works and how irrelavant the traditional ways of investing are to the little guy.

As for Investools software... who knows. I don't think its a crime having good speakers sell your software for you at big events. But I think people are nervous about plunking down big money for things they cant fit in a shopping cart. The funny thing though is that some of the same people will have no problem plunking even more money for an oversized truck that will suck their wallets dry just getting them to work every day. I for one would rather spend the dough getting myself educated. Teach a man to fish... etc.

And anyway it's practically imposible nowadays for somone to be on the make with your credit card when they're booking out huge venues and publicizing their events in newspapers and on the net. But even if they were trying to hustle you, it's a credit card -- just get a receipt to prove what you were signing your name to.

MGG · #6 07-30-2005, 10:36 PM

I've put Phil's methods to work and my investments are up about 30%. I don't use Investools because it's overpriced and using info that is available on the net for FREE! You may have to do a little more work (research, tech analysis, etc.) but you should anyway. Phil seems like a good guy and his method DOES work! By the way: if you go to businessweek.com and enter a ticker, you'll see the finacials and a chart. Click on the chart to add data and you'll get essentially the same chart that Investools uses. Business Week is a contributor/sponsor of Investools!

TellItStraight · #7 10-15-2005, 05:13 PM

I went to a "Get Motivated" seminar, and yes I signed up for the $495 workshop nearly a year ago. I presently subscribe to their Investor Toolbox site, but I am looking for a different vendor, Perhaps, Meta Stock, Trade Station, or OptionVue.

I've learned quite a bit about Investools, Their Partner Success Magazine, and how they operate. So, If you have a few minutes, I'll tell it to you straight.

If you go to the "Get Motivated" seminar and pay for the $495 workshop, you are going to attend a day-long workshop which is about half educational and about half hype.

They show you quite a bit about how to analyze stocks, but they spend half the day telling you that if you want to make the real money, you need to learn how to trade options, and that will cost you more, much more.

They have three educational programs, Basic Options, Advanced Options, and Advanced Technicals for the tidy sum of $4,000, $10,000, and $16,000. The way it works, is if you buy the upper tier packages, you get the lower tiers thrown in for the price. (By the way, I'm going by memory on the prices, I may be off a little in either direction, but I think I'm fairly close)

I didn't purchase any of the programs. Rather I bought books from written by noted options experts and technical experts, Lawrence McMillan, John Murphy, Bernie Schaefer, etc. I read the books again and again, and then I started trading. I think I would do it the same way again. I only spend a few hundred dollars on the materials, and I suspect I got a more in-depth education. If I had several thousand dollars laying around, and was too lazy to do it on my own, perhaps their program would be the way to go. By the way, I am profitable in my options trading.

Here is the real problem with Investools/Success Magazine. If you don't pay for the education programs you don't get access to the "good stuff" on the web site. That's right! When you sign up for the $495 workshop, you get access to the "Gold" version of the site. If you buy either of the 2 lower tier courses $4,000 and 10,000 you get "Platinum Access" But if you want access to all of the advanced technical indicators you've got to ante up with the big bucks. The selection of technical indicators that is included with the platinum and gold eccess is very limited.

What's worse is that they don't tell you that you're not getting access to the technicals. It's kind of like buying a car only to find out that you're getting it a piece at a time. First the wheels, then the engine, but if you want a steering wheel, pay up. It all has a very "used care salesman" feel about it.

I can tell you about their advanced technicals because, for awhile, I had access to them. I didn't know I had access to something extra until they took it away. Apparently they goofed and gave me something they didn't intend to for awhile. Now I no longer have access to the indicators that I came to rely on.

Also, prices for education and subscriptions seem to be a moving target. After pressing them, I learned that I don't need to spend the full $16,000 to get access to the advanced technicals, I just need to spend $1,995 for a book and a few dvd's. I won't get the one-on-one coaching, but I will get access to the technicals. No thank you.

This is why I'm looking for a different vendor. I know MetaStock has the technicals I'm looking for, and I suspect TradeStation does too.

In all fairness to Investools, they do have one indicator which they claim is proprietary that is truly amazing. They call it their "Market Forecast" tool. I have back tested it, and it accurately calls market changes for the DOW-30 and NASDAQ most of the time. This is my only hang-up about changing to a different vendor. I use the "Market Forecast" to trade .DIA options and .QQQQ optuions with much success. Since this tool is available on their "Gold Access" I think I'll probably drop my subscription down to gold and look elsewhere for the rest of what I need. If I ever find anything like Investools Market Forecast anywhere else, I'll drop Investools for good.

One more thought, Success Magazine is the cheap back door into Investools, but you get less. For example, you don't have access to the tutorial on how to read the market forecast with the success magazine version of the Investools site. This is another thing I was mistanenly given access to. (they seem to make a lot of these mistakes). When everyone signed up for the workshop and got their logins for the particular workshop I went to, we were all mistakenly given access to the full Investools site. It didn't take them long to realize they made a mistake, and then suddenly I found thay the look of the site had changed from green to blue and from Investools to Success Magazine. They tell you that both sites are the same, but that is not entirely true.

If you're stuck on the idea if Investools, be sure to contact them directly and compare prices, with the Success Magazine Version and make them get specific about what indicators you get, which tutorials you have access to etc. (you have to pay extra for the tutorials, something like $59.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably still go to the $495 workshop, just because it got me started, but I'd still stick with the books, and I'd go straight to MetaStock or TradeStation for my real analysis software and data.

Good Luck
TellItStraight

jcroeder · #8 11-02-2005, 01:06 AM

I just got home from the "Get Motivated" seminar and picked up the Investools packet. I appreciate the lat post from "GetItStaight" he gave me some good insight of what to expect.

I like everything I saw and have read so far about Investools, however I am disappointed to see that the cost has doubled. I have to pay $1000 for the workshop! I will call the 800 number and see if I can get it at the $495 price.

I guess I have but one question, is what I get for the $1000 worth it for a beginner investor?

Thanks in advance for your input.

John Roeder
jcroeder@cox.net

Mirella · #9 11-10-2005, 07:13 AM

my sister and i went through the investools course. we enjoyed the class but the instructors pushed options training and additional classes pretty hard. but then she emailed phil town to ask him his advice and he wrote back (within 3 days) the regular level access is enough and you don't have to get platinum etc. unless you really know what you're doing & want access to advanced technical data. we decided to hold off and save more money and 'paper trade' for a while until we really know what we're doing, but i think when we're feeling good about our skills we may go back & sign up for the basic tools. my impression is the tools are pretty cool and save you time, but the people running the seminars maybe think differently from mr. town and that's why peole are getiting confused.

Mirella · #10 11-11-2005, 07:47 AM

Hey I have an update...

I emailed Phil Town about Investools and what this other fella said on his site (above) & here's what he said in response (he wrote back to me within 3 hours (!!!):

================================
Hi,

The most important thing he got wrong is that the website is NOT limited in any way. The really cool tool he's talking about is fully there. Its exactly the same on both sites.

They do sell their other classes too hard, but I can't seem to get them to stop and I love the tools, the deal is great so I tell you guys to get this stuff. The price did go to $495 for test in four cities but Investools couldn't take the pain. They were losing money and went back to $995. You can look up their financials - IED is the stock symbol.

Remember that not everyone loves every kind of tractor out there. Depends on how you're farming. But for the way I invest, Investools is as good a site as I can find. Is it perfect? No. Is it worth $995 to save a lot of time. For me it is.

Hope this helps,

Phil Town

spoday · #11 12-07-2005, 09:54 PM

I just got back from the Get Motivated Seminar yesterday and found the price of the program has jumped again in one month from $995 to $1,995. WOW. Would have loved to take the seminar and try the tools, but don't have that lying around days from Christmas. Too bad.

dorothy79 · #12 01-06-2006, 10:18 PM

I made some calls and did some googling and found out that the price change is becuase they're testing the response to a 2-Day workshop. The $995 price was a one-day workshop with an unlimited toolset. The $1995 program is a two day workshop with an unlimited toolset. I guess Investools is product testing peoples responses to more education vs. using the tools with less education. I think you can still get the $995 if you ask for it.

snowshoe · #13 01-25-2006, 03:42 AM

I went to the Success Magazine Investools seminar at the end of September. I did not buy the high priced spread and, like many of the others here, kind of resented the heavy sell for the high cost classes for options trading. I have done and am doing a lot of studying on options trading, have traded profitably and use Investools. I am happy with Investools and plan on keeping it. I find Phil Towne's blog site and his advice and approach to be very logical. What I would like is to put together a group of people who are trading options, using Investools or similar tools and would like to share thoughts, research sites, tips, stupid moves (I've got a couple), etc. If anyone is interested, drop me an email. I see no reason that I should not be able to realize some impressive gains with what I am learning and would like to work with likeminded people.

jilfitz · #14 01-26-2006, 02:27 AM

I just came back from a seminar, and like everyone else I was very interested. I guess I thought I could join investools without taking the two day class (I know there is a mebership fee every 6 months). Can anyone give me advice on how to get started? It seemed easy when phil explained it, but now that Im researching I feel confused. Thanks to anyone who can help.

alkoller · #15 01-26-2006, 03:16 AM

I just came from the same seminar (Orlando, Jan 26) and was really impressed with Mr. Town, his approach, attitude, and the amount of information provided in such a short time. I intend to pursue the use of Investools on my own for now, having determined that the workshop is too costly both in time and dollars for my needs. However, if I had the time and money, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I found the reference material inadequate to pursue the use of the investment tools without more information, so this forum is already "gold" for me. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far. Like the gentleman who posted just before me, I am interested in any information you can provide on how to get started. I don't even have the web site URL and will go there from here to see what it's like (assuming I can access it).

Mr. Town, if you read this please know that I am an educator who very much appreciates good information delivered professionally. You were superb.

jilfitz · #16 01-26-2006, 11:53 PM

I spent the day looking at other software and found this: for now if you go on ebay you can oder analyzing stock and other great software at a very low cost that looks very simular to investools (like the guy mentioned above) I think for myself I will try this approach and then take it from there. I was told that these seminars try to get you to buy so much stuff and I said well Ill just go there knowing that and I wont be suckered. Im glad I went and I am very interested in investools, but I did not want to fall in the buying trap!

Motivated Mazloom · #17 01-27-2006, 04:24 PM

A few days ago I attended the Get Motivated Seminar, I thought it was the best one I had ever attended. Mr. Phil Town peeked my interest and I thought his presentation was extremely good and professional. The workshop sounds interesting and although I would like to attend, the $1995 is steep, the $995 is more affordable and attractive. I decided to do some research to find some atlernatives and also to locate satisfied/dissatisfied users. This website has been enlightening and I appreciate the input from TellItStraight. I am also happy to see Mr. Town's responses, indicating his continued involvment in providing information. Like SnowShoe, I would also like to hear from others about their experiences. So bottom line, has anyone else other than MGG made money? or atleast experienced Rule #1.?

N0lesfan · #18 01-27-2006, 05:43 PM

I too attended the "Get Motivated" seminar and was very impressed with Mr. Town's presentation. It seemed like a great sales pitch. The tools do look very simple to use and I am sure that they work very well.

My problem however; I can't just drop nearly $2,000 on a weekend seminar. I also can't afford $600 a year to use the website. Sure, if the tools work well I would be able to when I started making money but how do I feed the family until then?

Though I would like to begin investing further, I also don't have hours a day to spend researching. Does anyone have a suggestion for good tools to use that won't break the bank before I can start filling it again? I saw mention of Metastock, Tradestation and Businessweek.com. Are there any others that are better?

NASAfan · #19 01-29-2006, 02:56 AM

I attended the GET MOTIVATED seminar in Orlando (Jan 25, 2006). I was very impressed with Phil Town’s presentation and signed up for the 2-day INVESTools seminar. They advertise the first day free and only pay the $2,000 if you stay for the second day. However, the paperwork I signed when I picked up the ‘free’ material says:

"Attend the workshop at no risk. If you are not fully convinced that SUCCESS Magazines’ Investor Education can help you to achieve your financial goals, simply return your materials by the end of the first day of the workshop, and your credit card will never be charged!"

I plan to attend the first day ‘for free’ but am not sure about the second day (depends on the first day). My concern is this: If I open the DVD package, will they charge me? :confused:

nxa · #20 02-04-2006, 08:19 PM

I would say that investool is probably one of the best laidout scams there is. I attended there seminar and there 5 step course. In the seminar they made an implied promise that the 5 step course will make me a better investor to the point that the 5 step course will more then pay for itself and any future courses.

I am sorry to say that throughout the class all they kept doing is try to sell there other classes and the coaching thing.

All I can say is $3000.00 of mine were a waste. The web site might have some value but not a lot if you are not well trained on it.

Also, when I talked to there feedback Rep. he was no help. He basically shined me off when I asked for a refund.

I highly recommend that people stay away from these Scam artists.

JadeQuanYin · #21 02-09-2006, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TellItStraight

I went to a "Get Motivated" seminar, and yes I signed up for the $495 workshop nearly a year ago. I presently subscribe to their Investor Toolbox site, but I am looking for a different vendor, Perhaps, Meta Stock, Trade Station, or OptionVue.

I've learned quite a bit about Investools, Their Partner Success Magazine, and how they operate. So, If you have a few minutes, I'll tell it to you straight.

If you go to the "Get Motivated" seminar and pay for the $495 workshop, you are going to attend a day-long workshop which is about half educational and about half hype.

They show you quite a bit about how to analyze stocks, but they spend half the day telling you that if you want to make the real money, you need to learn how to trade options, and that will cost you more, much more.

They have three educational programs, Basic Options, Advanced Options, and Advanced Technicals for the tidy sum of $4,000, $10,000, and $16,000. The way it works, is if you buy the upper tier packages, you get the lower tiers thrown in for the price. (By the way, I'm going by memory on the prices, I may be off a little in either direction, but I think I'm fairly close)

I didn't purchase any of the programs. Rather I bought books from written by noted options experts and technical experts, Lawrence McMillan, John Murphy, Bernie Schaefer, etc. I read the books again and again, and then I started trading. I think I would do it the same way again. I only spend a few hundred dollars on the materials, and I suspect I got a more in-depth education. If I had several thousand dollars laying around, and was too lazy to do it on my own, perhaps their program would be the way to go. By the way, I am profitable in my options trading.

Here is the real problem with Investools/Success Magazine. If you don't pay for the education programs you don't get access to the "good stuff" on the web site. That's right! When you sign up for the $495 workshop, you get access to the "Gold" version of the site. If you buy either of the 2 lower tier courses $4,000 and 10,000 you get "Platinum Access" But if you want access to all of the advanced technical indicators you've got to ante up with the big bucks. The selection of technical indicators that is included with the platinum and gold eccess is very limited.

What's worse is that they don't tell you that you're not getting access to the technicals. It's kind of like buying a car only to find out that you're getting it a piece at a time. First the wheels, then the engine, but if you want a steering wheel, pay up. It all has a very "used care salesman" feel about it.

I can tell you about their advanced technicals because, for awhile, I had access to them. I didn't know I had access to something extra until they took it away. Apparently they goofed and gave me something they didn't intend to for awhile. Now I no longer have access to the indicators that I came to rely on.

Also, prices for education and subscriptions seem to be a moving target. After pressing them, I learned that I don't need to spend the full $16,000 to get access to the advanced technicals, I just need to spend $1,995 for a book and a few dvd's. I won't get the one-on-one coaching, but I will get access to the technicals. No thank you.

This is why I'm looking for a different vendor. I know MetaStock has the technicals I'm looking for, and I suspect TradeStation does too.

In all fairness to Investools, they do have one indicator which they claim is proprietary that is truly amazing. They call it their "Market Forecast" tool. I have back tested it, and it accurately calls market changes for the DOW-30 and NASDAQ most of the time. This is my only hang-up about changing to a different vendor. I use the "Market Forecast" to trade .DIA options and .QQQQ optuions with much success. Since this tool is available on their "Gold Access" I think I'll probably drop my subscription down to gold and look elsewhere for the rest of what I need. If I ever find anything like Investools Market Forecast anywhere else, I'll drop Investools for good.

One more thought, Success Magazine is the cheap back door into Investools, but you get less. For example, you don't have access to the tutorial on how to read the market forecast with the success magazine version of the Investools site. This is another thing I was mistanenly given access to. (they seem to make a lot of these mistakes). When everyone signed up for the workshop and got their logins for the particular workshop I went to, we were all mistakenly given access to the full Investools site. It didn't take them long to realize they made a mistake, and then suddenly I found thay the look of the site had changed from green to blue and from Investools to Success Magazine. They tell you that both sites are the same, but that is not entirely true.

If you're stuck on the idea if Investools, be sure to contact them directly and compare prices, with the Success Magazine Version and make them get specific about what indicators you get, which tutorials you have access to etc. (you have to pay extra for the tutorials, something like $59.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably still go to the $495 workshop, just because it got me started, but I'd still stick with the books, and I'd go straight to MetaStock or TradeStation for my real analysis software and data.

Good Luck
TellItStraight

Hi TellItStraight I wanted to write to you and thank you for saving me alot of time. Have you discovered anything new since you last sent this message? How is Gold working out for you now?

wildbunch · #22 02-18-2006, 06:55 PM

At the seminar, Phil Town was showing how to find undervalued stocks. i.e., finding stocks at a 50% discount. How do you do this?

kingsfanbill · #23 02-19-2006, 09:43 PM

I don't know how you get the info Phil Town promoted at the Success Seminar. I went to the weekend "class" that he was hyping. They told us about alot of techniqes that they would teach ( from courses at $5K to $ 30K per course ! ) But when directly asked about finding 50% off stocks, they brushed me off, saying "they woul get to it" but of course they never did. STAY AWAY from these guys !

Kaoss · #24 02-24-2006, 02:20 AM

Hello everyone.

I am actually a former employee of Get Motivated Seminars. I was bored surfing the net and I stumbled over this thread. Get Motivated Seminars is such a scam. All they want is your money. The reason the give out so many damn tickets for "almost free" is so they can get as many people to go to the seminars so they have a higher percentage of people to buy their over priced workshops. Did you know that Success Magazine is the same company as Get Motivated Seminars? I took calls for people calling in to cancel their workshops and I took ticket orders from the same phone. They just told us to answer the phone differently. Anyway... I don't really think it is a good idea to waste your money on these workshops only to be conned into spending even more money. Yeah... it might help you, I don't know, but it is way over priced and they will only keep raising the price ($495 up to $995 then up to $1995) just to see how much people are willing to spend to possibly make a little money. What are you really gaining here? Not much. You have to spend $300 every 6 months to keep the damn website on top of all the classed and personal mentors you wasted your money on. I actually did go to one of the seminars but I didn't get to see the whole thing. I did however get to see Phil Town, who I thought was a surprisingly good speaker. Very good at persuading people to buy someone else’s work shop. That’s right folks... This is not his program. Get motivated seminars just pays him to sell it. Also I really didn't like the fact that this is a religious based company. They would try to persuade the employees to go to bible studies while on the clock and take special "Motivated You" classes. No one can move up in the company unless you take these classes about religion. Also Peter Lowe has his "optional" 15 minute religious speech right in the MIDDLE of the seminar. Who is really going to get up with the risk of loosing their seats, its general seating (except the floor seats that they don’t even tell you about b/c they want you to get 150 tickets for $49) Anyway its almost like a religious cult there forcing people to hear about someone else’s beliefs. People should be able to believe what they want with out someone trying to push something else onto you. I just thought that was odd. Anyway I just thought I would give you all the inside view. Take it as you will.

Just one last thing... THEY WILL NOT CHARGE YOU IF YOU DON'T SEND BACK THE MATERIALS AFTER YOU CANCEL AND GIVE YOU YOUR REFUND!! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON SHIPPING!

-Anonymous

5RIVERS · #25 02-24-2006, 10:59 PM

I would like to see Mr. Town's response to some of the negative posts about the seminars that he is so highly recommending to the thousands of attendees.

felix · #26 02-25-2006, 02:36 AM

You can ask the owner from www.forexbastards.com to review this if you like. Just go to the site and email him.

JBButler · #27 02-28-2006, 01:37 AM

i took a class & i've emailed phil town before with investing questions. (by the way he usually answers within a couple days, which i think is pretty great and not exactly the mark of a dishonest person.)

my understanding is that the reason the investor ed classes don't spend time talking about how to buy $1 for fifty cents is because they're mainly there to teach you how to use the software to invest in whatever way you prefer. in other words the software is just that, software, a database for stock searches. once you find companies you like you still have to apply your own rationales for figuring out whether something's a good buy in your book. if you email phil (his email's on his blog) he will tell you how to run the right search on the software so you can find companies that are "on sale" "half off".

good luck.

vogon1956 · #28 03-14-2006, 11:46 PM

As with many here, I went to a 'Get Motivated' seminar (and yes, good people to see showed up: Steve 'flat tax' Forbes, Colin Powell, Rudi Giuliani) in Tampa where Phil Town also spoke, and I found his talk both informative and interesting, and the deal with 'Success Magazine's version of Investool worth exploring. I too went to the internet to do more research, and I still like Phil, and still think Investool is worth exploring (and the course too), but I did find a fly in the ointment:
Numerous websites with clearly generated domain names (e.g. http://www.xyb.net/) showed up in my Google searches which have identical content other than the domain ('xyb') being different. Other blogs and pages seem to be evenly divided about the value of the course, so overall I don't think it's a classic scam, but it does bug me. Not as much as the blatant religious plug by the 'host' of the seminar, Peter Lowe, but it does bug me.
Does anybody have a clue what these generated domains are about?

salaseven · #29 03-19-2006, 08:20 PM

These domains have something to do with spam marketing, but they probably aren't Town's fault. If I Google myself I find my own name all over random spam pages like this. I think it just kind of happens after you pass a certain threshold of existence on the internet. Nobody knows why spambots do what they do...

kylemcpeck · #30 04-10-2006, 04:51 PM

Controversial?

Yes..

But, he made today's pick for Kyle's Book Club

Get Real · #31 04-18-2006, 07:43 AM

Come on guys. This is all a big scam. If it was so easy to invest this way, there would be dozens of mutual funds run by MBA's that would give you these returns. Perhaps Mr Town did earn million, but it was luck not soem formulas in his book and seminars.

bluemynx · #32 04-19-2006, 06:27 AM

Like practically everyone else posting, I attended a Get Motivated seminar, and heard Mr. Town speak. I found this board looking for some more information, as I signed up for the workshop and it is this week-end. I have a couple of thoughts about previous posts:

1) The seminar was exactly what I expected, and I think is pretty fairly represented up front. I heard a number of really good motivational speakers, many of whom had something to sell. That is the nature of the beast with motivation seminars; I thought it was actually pretty low key selling. I was somewhat disturbed by the religous slant of a couple of the speakers, as it was unexpected; however other speakers (Mr. Town included) didn't have that bent to their pitch at all. I feel like if I take away one good idea from a day like this, it was a good day and worth my time. I always get something out of it.

2) Someone commented on wanting to know how to find discounted stocks; I took a total of 3 lines of notes during the seminar, and spent 20 minutes looking around Mr. Town's website. Mr. Town has posted a "cheat sheet" written by someone who follows his methods there, and within 40 minutes of goofing around on the Investtools website, I was able to do complete the 5 steps, identifying discounted stocks that met the criteria described in Mr. Towns' talk at the seminar.

3) I feel Mr. Town has been pretty straightforward in stating that the value is in the website, not in the "workshops". If you get to spin your wheels for a day in a workshop so that you can have access to the website, so be it. Basically the question becomes is $1000 investment, plus an on-going $295 every 6 months worth it to have access to the tools available on the website. Period. Forget the sales pitches and the rest of it.

4) I find the post preceding mine laughable. Trading is just like anything: if you can succeed at it once, it's a happy accident. Succeed at it twice and it's luck. Succeed repeatedly, in a clearly replicated fashion, over an extended period of time (as Mr. Town has) and it's skill.

So far, personally, I'm comfortable with what I've heard from Mr. Town, and I'm less thrilled with the Get Motivated/Success Magazine crew. My plan is to buy Mr. Town's book, Rule # 1, and read as much of it as I can before the workshop, and use that to evaluate whether I think I'm in a position to use the Investtools website enough to justify the expense. I'm not anticipating getting tremendous value from the staff at the workshop; they're kind of the neccesary evil to gain access to the website.

Just one reporter's opinion.....

txholdm · #33 04-25-2006, 11:03 AM

All, I saw Phil's book Rule # 1 in the WSJ paper on the plane. First thing I did was to go to the website and purchase his e-book so that I could read it on the plane going back home. I have to tell you... I have been investing on my own - learning from my own mistakes (costly way..) and just before I saw this book and read it, I basically came to the same conclusion. Phil's got a great point... and when I read his book, I found myself agreeing with all his points and advice. It was basically a STAMP of APPROVAL for my own investing approach that I finally developed after 6 yrs. of trial and error.

It is up to you how you want to invest - just be careful though. It can be a costly mistake if you make the wrong moves. Luckily I had excess cash that I could loose (wasn't my intention...but wall street folks have a BIG STICK!!!.. if you don't know what your doing, they'll take your money away from you in a new york second!)

If you don't take a business approach to stock investing, then you might as well go to Las Vegas and gamble. Because that's all you are doing.

I have read investing books worth 100s of $$$ and am yet to read such a clear one that combines fundamentals and technicals. I even read and was practicing Buffetology by Mary Buffet... The ideas are the same but for some reason, I felt that it had a few missing links for succesful implementation. Also, Buffetology doesn't talk about the big stick... because they believe in a longer term apporach (buy & hold for years) until the stock reaches its intrinsic value. But Phil tells you how to avoid the disappointing returns even if you buy a great company.

Phil,
if you read this message, I would like to thank you very much for your personal dedication to take the time and pass this knowledge on to us. You had no obligation since you have already made your money. But I believe it must be a need for greater satisfaction that we all search after our basic social needs are met - such as day to day living, etc...

I just signed up for the investools -- I did not go to the seminars. I looked them up after reading about it in the book. I paid around $3K for coaching, 5-step plan and access to the tools. My take on this issue is that if you are serious about investing "RULE # 1" is a MUST! As I said, I have been in the market for the past 6 years and $3K is nothing compare to some of my losses and gains. In stock market, you need every edge to stay out of the way of big guns. As Phil said, you might be able to do just fine with MSN money, etc.. but if all you have to spare is a few hours a week on your investments, then you need all the advance tools. I will give this a try for the next 6 months. I have already bought one stock that is up couple hunder bucks and know if and when it reaches the sticker price, it will more than pay for the tools cost and the next years access fees. It is expensive, if you can't afford it, don't stretch your budget it. Use the free tools and then use the house money to buy investools. I'll update you all on my experience once I get to start using it.

I currently carry a -$12K :( loss on my Schedule D and well on my way to make that a positive in about 12 months. :)

If you don't apply Rule # 1 to stock investing or anyother investing, I highly suggest you buy CDs, Money market funds, bonds ,etc... where at least you get your principal back. But infilation will eat any gains you might have. Or go with the index fund - which over 10-20 yrs. migth give you 7-8% given our current macro economic outlook.

Good luck to you all!!! and Phil, thank you very much again for giving us the basics of common stock investing.

Best Regards,
txholdm

Get Real · #34 04-28-2006, 04:52 AM

Sorry for your loss to Mr Town. He may have some valid points, but this is a scam. For those who realy think they can invest in a few companies based on readily available information on the internet....remember Enron.

Mr Towns strategies are dangerous and should not be tried unless you are willing to lose your money. Anybody who offers these motivational seminars is full of it. I will not post on this again, but I hate seeing people lose money to con artists.

STEVEHAM · #35 04-29-2006, 03:21 PM

I stumbled on to this thread by accident but sure am glad I did. I went to the Get Motivated seminiar this weekend and signed up for the investor workshop next weekend. I really don't want to sit through a day and a half of hype for higher tier programs and pay $995.00 for it, but I am interested in trying the website for basic trading and investing. Does anybody know if you can pay for access to the website without having to give up $995.00 to do it? I appreciate all the info presented here!!!

velvet18 · #36 04-29-2006, 07:26 PM

I just want to thank everyone for their input on this. I too went to the Get Motivated seminar the other day... I found it useful for me personally -- for the price, it gave me what I expected. However, I'm smart enough to know that for that low price, they are going to try and sell me something.... they don't really care that I get my personal life together that much!!! :D

Upon entering, and seeing the red,white and blue backdrops and stand for the singing of the national anthem I (half) jokingly called my husband's cell phone and left a message "If I don't come back, this is a cult. Come get me."

Other than that, it was fine -- nothing was unexpected, I had a good feel for what I was paying for. The bible thumping was a bit of a surprise, but not a lot given the nationalistic theme/snake oil feel of the Peter Lowe guy....

The best part of this seminar was Mr. Town. He is a great speaker, and came across as honest. I am buying his book, but can't afford the seminar, plus I"m busy that weekend. But I'm here trying to find out more ... I'd like the software and I'd like to try the website, but... like I said I can't afford $1000 right now to go to a seminar that is just going to tell me "But Wait! There's More!!!"

The very best part of this seminar IMO was Tim Timmons. He was not only hilarious, he was delightful, and after having religion sort of rammed down my throat by a bunch of Texans, he did talk a little bit about the difference between religion and spirituality, which mirrors my own feelings on the subject, so I felt a little bit more at ease.

I would still like to find out more about this investing aspect however.... and I intend to start researching it. I will ck back here to hear what some of you may have found out about other things, and whether anyone has found or started a board dedicated to us newbie types!

cpdelhi · #37 05-01-2006, 07:11 AM

Phil,

During your recent "Get Motivated" seminars, you talked about the correct/right price (highlighted and circled in your presentation) to buy the stock and also showed that on investools website, where there is a listing of the current price of the stock and also the real/actual woth of the stock that helps in making a decision to buy the stock.

I am a member of investools now but cannot find that page.

Could you please guide or let me know, which page on the investools website has the comparison info of stock price.

Thanks in advance.

ponziscams · #38 05-01-2006, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpdelhi

Phil,

During your recent "Get Motivated" seminars, you talked about the correct/right price (highlighted and circled in your presentation) to buy the stock and also showed that on investools website, where there is a listing of the current price of the stock and also the real/actual woth of the stock that helps in making a decision to buy the stock.

I am a member of investools now but cannot find that page.

Could you please guide or let me know, which page on the investools website has the comparison info of stock price.

Thanks in advance.

This is not the Support forum for investools

txholdm · #39 05-02-2006, 12:35 AM

Hi cpdelhi,
it is under "Valuation" on the left side of the main page. You'll see a target price and you can adjust P/E and Growth rates.

txholdm · #40 05-02-2006, 12:39 AM

Ok. I got my investool up & running. I have to admit everything they have is practically available in free from from many different websites. It is just a matter of whether you want to save time or not... In my case I don't mind saving a few hours and paying for the service. I will go thru the 5 step education and will let you know as well.

take care-

cpdelhi · #41 06-30-2006, 01:33 PM

Can somebody please explain me the difference between Bonus shares awarded and the split of shares?

And secondly what is the impact of the Bonus shares on the price of the stock?

Thanks.

#42 07-03-2006, 10:31 PM

phil town investing i m not sure yet but i'm a hyip/monitor surf scam victim.. lot of my money lost.. but
thanks god for http://dm.webdare.com
it cover back all my lost like a magic..

i hope this can help you..

gedwards · #43 07-05-2006, 04:20 PM

I just completed the first day long Investools seminar in Jersey City, NJ (July 1st) and found it to be very intriguing but about 50% hype. Other than that part, I was truly impressed. I retired 8 years ago and now want to be more proactive with my 401k, etc. I have never traded stocks before and am really excited about what they are telling me to be gospel but of course, I am a little leary. Now they have 3 advanced programs - Associate $4999, Master $11999 and PHD $23999. I would love to compare notes with you and how you are proceeding and I think the gropu concept is great. Please contact me @ glennedwards@earthlink.net

vicuob · #44 07-08-2006, 10:19 AM

Hi,
I'll like to share the following backup copies of Investools DVD
The following are backup copies I have. If interested please reply to email.
1) Investools Basic Options (4DVD + Manual)
2) Investools Advanced Options (6DVD + Manual)
3) Investools Advanced Technical Analysis (6DVD + Manual)
4) Investools Currency Trader (7DVD + Manual)
5) Steve Nison Profitting with Japanese Candlestick DVD
6) Steve Nison Secrets to becoming a samurai trader : Advanced candlestick DVD

Email me for more info. vicuob@yahoo.com Thanks

IslandRick · #45 07-15-2006, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nxa

I would say that investool is probably one of the best laidout scams there is. I attended there seminar and there 5 step course. In the seminar they made an implied promise that the 5 step course will make me a better investor to the point that the 5 step course will more then pay for itself and any future courses.

I am sorry to say that throughout the class all they kept doing is try to sell there other classes and the coaching thing.

All I can say is $3000.00 of mine were a waste. The web site might have some value but not a lot if you are not well trained on it.

Also, when I talked to there feedback Rep. he was no help. He basically shined me off when I asked for a refund.

I highly recommend that people stay away from these Scam artists.

Yes, it comes across as an infomercial, and yes, they upsell their more expensive training. I admit that it put me into a skeptic/scam/defensive state of mind.

I've seen many posts on the internet like this.

One thing I have NEVER seen is a post where someone spent the money for INVESTools, applied its techniques, and LOST money because it is a "scam".

Many people cry "scam" without actually testing it out. nxa's opinion has no value because he/she did not even attempt to invest. That was a sad waste of money.

IMHO people are quick to cry scam because investools training is expensive--and this triggers emotions.

There are a couple of investool yahoo groups out there. Join one and you'll see that the members aren't interested in discussing whether or not investools is a scam. They are too busy using it to make money.

In an earlier post someone claimed to be a former employee. I doubt that this former employee used the tools to invest.

In another earlier post, someone was unhappy with investools because they could not afford an extra $1000. If you're not proactive enough to come up with a $1000 and time to invest, you should not be investing in the stock market.

cherry · #46 07-30-2006, 05:23 AM

I just attended the Investool Stock class, $3000 dollars, in LA, CA.

The class was excellent and I learned a lot from the class.

However, I really felt *uncomfortable* about their pushy attitude. Half of
the class was teaching, another half was directly or indirectly selling.

I would sign up for the PHD class if the instructor was not so pushy.
When a person pushed you so hard to make a decision, you really
started to wonder about their real motivation.

At the first, I was very touched about the instructor's personal story, then at then end, I started to wonder....Why? Is he getting big commission out of this?

The instructor said, "If you dont give your money to the education,
you will give the money to the market. So, you may as well give your money to Investool"

That is very threatening.....

I hope that someone in the investool can read this post and express my concern to the CEO.

Please dont be so pushy!! We are adults. Sell us the good education, but dont push us to buy it!

cherry

IslandRick · #47 07-30-2006, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cherry

...However, I really felt *uncomfortable* about their pushy attitude. Half of the class was teaching, another half was directly or indirectly selling....

I completely agree with you. I went to the 2-day seminar in Dec 2005. I wish they would not resort to seemingly deceptive tactics and clever personality tricks to "fool" us into spending money. Did you notice the background music?

After a particularly motivating, smoke-up-the-ass speech, a 10 minute break was called. The lady sitting in front of me stood up and did a little happy dance in front of me to the song, "I Wanna Be Rich" By Calloway. I realized that it was the third time that day that I heard the song. All of the songs were carfefully chosen and on loop. If you forget the song, it goes:

I want money lots and lots of money
I want the pie in the sky
I want money lots and lots of money
So don't be asking me why
I wanna be rich...

And she did her little excitement dance without even realizing that we were being fooled a little--unconcsciously. Very clever, in a less than honest way IMO.

I attended a 1-day repeat of the 5-step seminar a few weeks ago. Amazingly, all of the clever and pushy sales techniques were GONE. They mentioned their upgrade prices, which is fair enough, but no more sales pitches. Just straight up stock education.

I wish it were not this way, but once you pass the 2-day seminar hurdle I suspect that you will be clear of the personality-not-character type selling techniques. As it is, the entry level INVESTools seminars closely fit the mold of a cookie-cutter, snake oil seminar. All the cliche lines, key phrases, etc.

But it isn't snake oil! This is what drives me nuts about them.

prowe · #48 08-17-2006, 04:32 AM

Hey guys! Like most, I attended the Get Motivated seminar today in Greenville, SC. I liked what Mr. Towns had to say. I am a degreed economist, but not an active investor. I would like to do some of my own homework here. I have seen in several postings, that the info on the ridiculously priced website is available at other sites. Mr Towns himself stated that the value is in having all the info at one site. What are the sites that publish the information? I am especially interested in finding the sites related to publishing buying / selling information (the bottom red or green arrows). That has been the hardest to find.

Thanks, Pete

BigRoof · #49 08-19-2006, 04:28 PM

it is hard to learn the signals so be sure to paper trade for two months

lots of sites,
MSN money, download the free extra investor's toolbox
yahoo

I understand business week has a good one but I'm having trouble with the cookies

advfn.com

check out http://www.ruleoneforum.com/
and Phil Town's blog

there are also groups on yahoo

I attended in Greenville too, I liked it plan to go to the seminar

AVM77 · #50 09-08-2006, 12:06 AM

I attended the Get Motivated seminar in Greenville mid-August. I loved it, and would go to something similar again, we were there early and didn't miss a speaker. I would go again to hear new speakers & unlike many attendees I know that selling courses/books is a part of the event.

We signed up for 2 courses, the real estate course for $99 & the Phil Town investing course ($1,995 for a 2-day program). Unfortunately, I could not get the time off from work for Phil's course, although I hope to take it in the future, but that tiered-investment for $$$ scares me a bit.

I am not as aprehensive as some people on this site appear to be, it isn't a scam if you actually try the program. However, from many posts on here, I cannot tell whether or not you actually utilized the program. In my opinion it does take money to make money and no one is going to give you valuable information for free.

I do hope to hear more from people who attended Town's invest tools workshop and liked it, but then again, maybe a website like scam.com isn't the place to find those individuals.

I will get into the program as soon as I can, and return to give an honest assesment of my finidings.

Good luck to you all, happy investing!!!

PS - Phil you were great, very motivating & an excellent speaker, I look forward to seeing you & attending the invest tools workshop!