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Your Chance To Tell Me What You Really Think |
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FORECASTS & TRENDS E-LETTER IN THIS ISSUE: 1. How Forecasts & Trends E-Letter Came About 2. How You Came To Receive This Weekly E-Letter 3. How I Choose Topics & Subject Matter 4. Your Responses To Topics Tell Us A Lot 5. Please Complete My Confidential Reader Survey 6. The “Other” Gary Halbert – Required Reading! Introduction As you should know by now, I am in the investment business. My company has various services, investment programs and alternative investment funds that we offer. We have thousands of clients all across America, many of whom we have never met in person. Since 1977, I have been writing a monthly newsletter, Forecasts & Trends , that has been mailed to our clients free of charge. The newsletter encompasses many topics including several that range beyond investing. My clients overwhelmingly appreciate my analysis of various topics in addition to investments. In the weeks just after the September 11, 2001 tragedy, I decided to start this E-Letter. I did so because there was so much disinformation in the media just after 9/11, and I felt compelled to send my clients something that might help them make sense of what was going on, based on my best sources. At first, I called my periodic E-Letters “SPECIAL UPDATES” and in the beginning, I wrote them whenever I had some special information to pass along – no set writing schedule – and again, just to my clients. The first e-mail ‘SPECIAL UPDATE’ I wrote was on September 21, 2001, just 10 days after the 9/11 disaster. The last ‘SPECIAL UPDATE’ I wrote was on September 11, 2002. How You Came To Receive This Weekly E-Letter In the late summer of 2002, I was contacted by InvestorsInsight Publishing, and they asked if I would consider writing a weekly E-Letter for their newsletter audience. At first, the task of writing 6-8 pages each and every week seemed daunting. But I must admit, the opportunity to write to a large audience of sophisticated readers had a great appeal and, of course, it held out the potential for attracting new clients for our business. So, I agreed. I renamed my E-Letter from ‘SPECIAL UPDATE’ to “Forecasts & Trends E-Letter.” My very first issue was sent to InvestorsInsight readers on September 17, 2002. That is how most of you came to receive this weekly E-Letter from me. My clients continue to receive my weekly writings, as you do, but they are on a separate – confidential – e-mail list from my company, as opposed to being a part of the much larger InvestorsInsight audience. My thanks to Mike Casson, President and founder of InvestorsInsight Publishing, for inviting me to be a Contributing Editor back in 2002. As an InvestorsInsight reader, in addition to my writings, you also receive weekly columns by fellow contributor John Mauldin (an old friend and former business partner), and Doug Casey who I have also known for many years. How I Choose Topics & Subject Matter Having been in the investment business for almost 30 years, when I was asked by Mike to write this weekly E-Letter, I naturally assumed that the subject matter would largely be investment related. And who wouldn’t, given that this audience is dominated by sophisticated individuals and institutional investors. Yet over the years, in writing to my own investor clients, I have also written about many other non-investing topics – including economics, world events, geopolitics – and my personal favorite, domestic politics. While I am not a member of any political party, and never have been, I happen to be a conservative on most political issues, as you’ve no doubt figured out if you have been reading my weekly columns for long. Over the years, most of my clients have come to enjoy my political and geopolitical writings as much as they appreciate my articles on investing. (I don’t know if that is a compliment or not). In our periodic surveys of our many clients, most tell us that they enjoy the political articles as much or more than the investment topics and advice. So when I began writing for InvestorsInsight, I continued to write about and analyze various topics in these pages, including investing, the economy, world events and yes, politics from time to time. The bottom line is, I tend to write about whatever is most interesting to me each week. Your Responses To Topics Tell Us A Lot We can get a pretty good idea of which topics you like to read based on the number of e-mail responses we get each week. Based on that, we can see if you like the investment columns the best, the economic columns the best, the world events columns the best, the geopolitical or domestic political articles the best or others. I’m an investment guy, as you know. I’ve been doing investments for almost 30 years, and writing about it for the last 28 years. My firm has been advising several thousand investors across the country for well over a decade. So you would assume that my articles related to investing would be the most popular by far, wouldn’t you? I certainly would, given the sophistication of this audience. And especially given that my investment articles tend to focus on “alternative strategies” for making money when the outdated “buy-and-hold” mantra of Wall Street has proven not to work well in recent years. But in fact, we tend to get more responses from readers to my political articles than we do to my investment and economic related columns. Part of this is due to the fact that political topics, by their very nature, tend to illicit more reader response, as compared to an investment or economic article. “Able Danger” – A Case In Point My August 16 E-Letter on “Able Danger” had a huge e-mail response as compared to my September 6 E-Letter that discussed how to evaluate professional money managers. The September 6 E-Letter included some due diligence tips I have never made public before. Yet the Able Danger article was far more popular. We had over 400 e-mail responses to the Able Danger article! In fact, we’re still getting e-mail responses to that article, mostly from readers who thanked me for bringing that information to their attention, and those that had additional information or thoughts on the issue. Very, very few disagreed or criticized me for writing it. [FYI, the Able Danger issue has not gone away. The Senate investigating committee headed by Arlan Spector is still pressing the Pentagon to give up information on what it knew and when. The Pentagon appears to be stalling. Hopefully, the truth will come out eventually, but don’t expect the media to let you know. See the first link in SPECIAL ARTICLES below.] By the way, we do our very best to respond to all of your e-mails that request a response. We appreciate your input, suggestions and comments, including negative comments (within reason). So, please keep it up. With that in mind, I would like to ask you for a favor. READER SURVEY I would like to ask you to take just a couple of minutes of your time to complete a brief survey that will greatly help me to know what are your favorite topics. This is your chance to give me your valuable input. If you complete the survey, I will give you an advance copy of my new SPECIAL REPORT which explains in detail the strategy of Absolute Returns . There is a link to the Special Report at the end of the survey. Please take just a couple of minutes of your time. Your input is completely confidential and anonymous. We cannot trace your input back to your name or your e-mail address. How is that? If you click on the link below, you will be taken to an independent website that administers anonymous surveys for third parties. So, unless you request a response to your survey, we do not get your e-mail address.
Please click on the link below and complete the survey:
The “Other” Gary Halbert Since new subscribers come onboard this E-Letter frequently, it is important to advise readers from time to time that there is another Gary Halbert that is prominent on the Internet. His name is Gary C. Halbert. I am Gary D. Halbert. We are not related, and I have never even met Gary C. Halbert. If you do a Google search for “Gary Halbert,” you do not find a direct link to me until you are 40-50 links deep on Google’s fourth or fifth page of links. The first 40-50 links refer to Gary C. Halbert, not me. I do not know for sure exactly what Gary C. Halbert does, other than he writes a newsletter and has a website TheGaryHalbertLetter.com. From what I read on the Internet, Gary C. Halbert has been a marketing/direct-mail consultant in the past. So, if you do an Internet search for “Gary Halbert,” you will see a LOT about the “other” Gary C. Halbert, and nothing about me, Gary D. Halbert until you get several pages deep in most search engines. Just keep that in mind. Now, if you search for “Gary D. Halbert” on Google, you will find me at the top followed by pages and pages of links to things I have written in the past. Lastly, I do not endorse or recommend any of the services offered by Gary C. Halbert. Please Complete The READER SURVEY That’s all for this week – I’m stopping short of the usual 6-8 pages so that you can complete my confidential Reader Survey. Please do so as I very much want to get a lot of input and suggestions from you. Remember, if you complete the brief survey, I will give you an advance copy of my latest SPECIAL REPORT on “Absolute Returns.”
Please click on the link below and complete the survey. This is your chance
to influence what I write about each week in these pages.
Very best regards,
Gary D. Halbert
SPECIAL ARTICLES
The latest on Able Danger.
New Orleans: A Swamp of Corruption.
Penny-Wise Pelosi
Hillary & Bill on the ticket (with Bill as VP). |
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Forecasts & Trends E-Letter is published by Halbert Wealth Management, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Information contained herein is taken from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed as to its accuracy. Opinions and recommendations herein generally reflect the judgement of the named author and may change at any time without written notice. Market opinions contained herein are intended as general observations and are not intended as specific advice. Readers are urged to check with their financial counselors before making any decisions. This does not constitute an offer of sale of any securities. Halbert Wealth Management, Inc., and its affiliated companies, its officers, directors and/or employees may or may not have their own money in markets or programs mentioned herein. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. All investments have a risk of loss. Be sure to read all offering materials and disclosures before making a decision to invest. Reprinting for family or friends is allowed with proper credit. However, republishing (written or electronically) in its entirety or through the use of extensive quotes is prohibited without prior written consent. |
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