It should be preemptively noted that the idea of free economy is different than that of a ‘free market’ in which no regulation, subsidization, single monetary system, or governmental monopolization exist (think barter and trade). The idea of free economy is an easily misconstrued one that speaks to the capitalized benefits or distractions introduced, and taken advantage of, during the course of a percentage of consumer experiences with a monetarily free product or service.

This idea has been exorcised without a name for ages — but as we know and as is important in our corporate analysis as investors — with a name, all things in our culture tend to become more popular as they are more easily referenced and recognized. Now that the ‘Open Source’ community has exploded over the last decade, along with software patent protests and plenty else, a massive industry has been born from the idea of free economy. In these models, software is usually offered free of charge, and the company accepts payment for support services or additional software features that might be more tailored to enterprise utilization; thus, they target the guys with money in their pockets.

Recently, I got an idea started for a new company of mine that will greatly utilize, but well balance, the idea of free economy. In this business, I will utilize a key service, which I offer to consumers without charge, to keep consumers and past customers on, and coming back to, the retail website on a regular basis. This provides many benefits for the company and as such is much more than worth the cost of upkeep for the free service.

In any case, it does make you wonder where a world populated by free economy will end up. If everyone offers a free product or service to attract more uptake for their paid product or service, how long will it be before crossover begins to rear its head on a massive scale? For instance, if I offer free use of inventory tracking software with the hopes of getting the consumer to purchase my physical inventory bar-code tags, but someone else is offering a free system to help print your own inventory bar-code tags while wanting you to purchase their inventory tracking software, why wouldn’t I just grab the best of both worlds for free.

Such an act would hurt both business models. While support is one service offering that’s difficult to overlap, there are valid instances in which this crossover could do some serious damage to hard-hitting business models.

Supposedly, there are also some good books on free economy. The one recommended in the eDoorways press release I mentioned earlier is called “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”. While I haven’t read it yet, I certainly intend to. Perhaps Mr. Anderson has some answers for me.

In any case, if free economy is our future, how can I — as a consumer, myself — really complain? Does it inch us closer to a truer idea of a free market or does it inch us closer to communism? Is it better or worse? Even if support becomes free, only as a matter of necessity, wouldn’t it be interesting to exist in such a system? Where would that leave business in general, and where would it leave our race?

With such deep questions, I imagine you can see the root of my desire to get my hands on that book, but for now, free economy is what it is. It will take its toll on business, and it will provide opportunity for business as it is doing for eDoorways, as it will do for the company that I’m working to build, and as it has done for many companies in the last decade.

Thankfully, no matter how unknown the future is, being armed with these new ideas will help us to make more informed decisions, regarding potential investment opportunities, when presented with the term free economy, and we will be better able to understand the cause, caution, and opportunity behind a price of “free”.

~A

I am often asked the question, “Who do you trade with?”  Unfortunately, the answer is not so simple, and in most cases, the inquisitor seems to expect the business card for a good brokerage agent or firm like they would expect a lawyer in times of trouble.  On the contrary, and without much detail, what they usually receive is a targeted answer based on what I know about where they’re attempting to invest and how experienced they are as a trader.  More truthfully, I utilize several platforms and avenues for different purposes.

I never use a broker if I don’t have to, because they have a mind and emotions of their own.  Brokers are only necessary when securities cannot be traded electronically.  Very few securities are setup like this these days, but it still happens on occasion.  When it does, you want a “drone” broker.  Drone brokers are gentlemen that sit at a trading desk all day long taking hundreds of orders a day.  If you use a TD Ameritrade broker; they’ll take care of you — quickly.

TD Ameritrade is the best and the brightest when it comes to trading penny stocks and maintaining watch lists.  I also enjoy their day-trading platform when I’m moving pennies like a dump-truck.  The thing about penny and sub-penny companies is that they tend to change their names and trading symbols often.  I’ve had other platforms miss the ball when these changes occur, but Ameritrade hasn’t missed it once for me even though I had a small form to sign and fax back when I initially got started.

Knowledgeably and service is also no shortcoming of Ameritrade’s.  When you call, there’s a solid specialist always ready to assist.  When you have a question, it can be answered by an online AI agent, a knowledge base of media-rich training presentations, or the same helpful specialist.

While their cash sweep system can sometimes be confusing to newcomers, Ameritrade has fewer distractions than any platform I know of which is why I usually recommend it to beginners.  This forces a new investor to seek out sources for information, learn about the SEC and FTC, understand options and futures, learn to differentiate emotion from sound decision-making, and understand the effect of the press.

One additionally nice feature of Ameritrade is that they allow account linking and nice separation.  This means that if you’re assisting a family member or friend with trades or if you’ve inherited securities, it’s easy to keep your securities separate from theirs while still being able to excercise control over the assets.  This tends to help at tax time.

E*Trade is easy to setup, they are a full-fledged banking system, their FDIC insurance can cover into the millions of dollars, and they make you physically sign the fewest number of forms of any trading institution I’ve ever worked with.  E*Trade allows for after-market trading and the standard futures, options, etc.

What E*Trade has that the others don’t is simple global trading.  In the past, global market trading was a nightmare.  I now use E*Trade for all of my global and large-sum US investments (thanks to their insurance rating) as well as for alternate checking and savings accounts when Wells Fargo is just gettin’ me down.

I also participate in IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) published by underwriters (usually a banking institution).  One of the biggest underwriters in many IPOs is Wells Fargo.  Since I bank with the “Farg” on a regular basis, I usually don’t have too much trouble picking up securities when they first hit the exchange.  This is a very different process from your common security investment process, but E*Trade is offering a simple way to do this now too.  I plan to participate in my next IPO through E*Trade.

Unfortunately for E*Trade and their customers, I rate their customer support as a “low”; that’s as in “devil’s basement” low.  The staff person I most recently conducted business with had, “… worked with the system for two years now…”, so he thought he had it all figured out.  The second representative had a similar mindset but must not have been there for quite as long, because his mind was still open to some degree.  After nearly reaching through the phone a few times, he was finally able to assist me.

When it was all said and done, I felt like appending, “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”, to my sigh of relief, but I didn’t.  On second thought, being open-minded enough to assume that they must be brainwashed slowly over the course of employment, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe it wasn’t really their fault.  For those who hadn’t been brainwashed long enough, it still seemed that there was hope for them yet.  It just takes a strong customer willing to repeatedly tell them they are wrong until the light bulb goes off.

Zecco is the MySpace of trading.  They offer group discussions, show member earnings like it’s all a contest, and by far look the coolest.  Unfortunately, the signup process includes a lengthy agreement that makes me feel for the poor schmuk who was forced to write it.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the service overall, but it’s a good source for learning how the common public investor thinks and operates with consistently visible emotion, and the concept also helps we experienced traders have more volume, readability, and return in our daily practiced habits.

What’s really sad about this platform, is that it breeds bad trading practices.  Inexperienced traders see success dangled in front of them like a carrot in front of a rabbit and then turn around and participate in the emotional discussions brought on by other terribly inexperienced traders.  This keeps them losing and tugs on my heart strings a little every time I think about it.

In all, the platform you choose depends on your needs and experiences.  Obviously, one platform wasn’t good enough for me, and it may not be good enough for you either.  I’ll tell you one thing though; no private brokerage agent was ever good enough for me.

~A

Though Engadget is sceptical, it looks like Toshiba is now sitting on the front-line of portable fuel cell technology. By using methanol as the base for an electron-spitting concoction, Toshiba has promised fuel cell technology by the end of this quarter. While this is astonishing, to say the least, it’s not without its caveats.

Methanol, while it will more than likely come in cartridge form, is a liquid. 10 millileters of this stuff can cause you to go blind, and a tiny 100 millileters can tear you from this life and catapult you directly to the next. Then again, how far is that from the sulfuric acid that many batteries contain?

However, I expect the biggest concern, keeping with the recent energy and health theme, will be centered around the production of methanol. Some forms of methanol production require coal or oil. Fortunately, methanol can also be produced from methane and rust!

In fact, the early stages of this process produce, what’s known in the industry as, syn-gas which can be used as a fuel source or refined to pure methanol. As we now know, refined methanol can be used as a solid power source.

Even better, when methanol is used to produce electricity, it’s offshoot is water vapor. While this may be a small stumbling block when considering the visual of a leaky or moldy MP3 player, it’s one that I’m sure will be overcome by careful engineering.

Also, there are already eighteen methanol producing plants in the US not to mention the biomass plants that are beginning to pop up with solidified plans for extracting methane from new landfills.

Environmentally-friendly electric cars and devices, here we come. Thanks Toshiba for taking the big leap; I wish you well in dealing with the first heat wave. For the rest of us, we’ve got plenty to look forward to.

While I can’t recommend Toshiba as a buy, I do recommend looking at other companies pioneering similarly cool scientific advantages; get ‘em while they’re young!

~A

It appears as though all eyes are going to be on energy again soon. While the stats show our wave of ethanol production, alternative fuel factory/facility construction, and mass spike of interest have reached their peak and are beginning to taper off due partly to a number of growing concerns, there are now more countries and companies than ever focused on alternative energy and fuel sources.

I recently watched a movie titled “Home 2009“. You can download this movie for free all across the Internet, and now you can even get it on Apple’s app store for the iPhone and iPod touch. “Home 2009″ was also featured on Legal Torrents, and is beginning to attract some serious attention.

The movie documents the basics of human history but focuses on human-environment enteraction over the last fifty years. The full version (118 minutes) brutally describes the scars we’ve put in our Earth for a solid hour and fourty-five minutes before rolling some disturbing facts in silent text and concluding with a pat on the back for the improvements we’ve begun to make over the last decade.

“Home 2009″ focuses on making us aware that we could be slated for serious disaster within the next decade. For many, this is a wakeup call, but for those who have been in the alternative energy industry for a while, they’ve already heard the theories.

From biomass plants to non-corn ethanol to public transportation requiring only the power of the sun, we may not have the answers, but we’re making progress by leaps and bounds comparatively. With “carbon-neutral” and now “carbon-negative” as hot environmentally friendly energy buzzwords, we’re on the right path not only to having a more environmentally friendly race but to exciting consumers.

Excited as well as frightened consumers can evolve into happy customers which means we haven’t heard the end of the buzzwords, scare tactics, or government weigh-in. Additionally, in a country where the healthy choice is beginning to sell stronger and faster, US citizens are more interested than ever in what they are eating, drinking, and breathing. This also bodes very well for the coming energy industry.

What we’ve seen so far have been several attempts at cleaner, more environmentally friendly, energy sources. Namely, fuel. Now, money has been made, and the real research and development has begun. As long as the methane doesn’t come seeping out of the permafrost too soon, I expect we’ll make many leaps and bounds over the next few years toward technology and organizations that will withstand the test of time.

So, educate yourself on energy, the environment, their target market, failing alternatives, and the healthy choice, because it’s never wise to invest in industry that you don’t know. Then, keep your eyes peeled for solid opportunity, and let’s surf the new wave.

~A

I’ve added a few stocks to the watch list recently. I figured it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to explain them a bit. Let’s start with AIG.

American International Group (AIG) is a financial group that deals in insurance. Currently, they’re reporting losses and officer struggles. However, if anyone has the money to stay afloat in this market, it’s AIG. Current issues will undervalue the common stock price of the company, but when they bounce back, you’ll be ready. I currently recommend AIG as a buy for the next month or so, then a hold until 2013.

Ford (F) is a bit unstable at the moment, but they’re the big player in the industry. Their vehicles lack solid fuel economy by today’s standards, but they’re bound to jump on the band-wagon sooner than later. As we saw with this year’s line, gas mileage is nearing the top of the priority list for the company, and it looks like their Lincoln brand my be gaining some headway with the recent issues surrounding General Motors. Currently trading at $5.44/share, I rate Ford as a buy for the next couple of months and then a hold until 2015.

This brings me, finally, to Google (GOOG). Currently trading around $400 per share, these guys were down to $300 not too long ago and around $700 not long before that. Google is slated to introduce a new computer operating system into the market mid 2010 that will compete directly with Microsoft’s most popular product line (Windows) and Apple’s OSX. This means that over the next several months, this one’s rated as a buy, then it’s a hold for life.

Keeping you in the loop,
~A

On July third, I found myself in Chicago for the fireworks display.  Unfortunately, the “ooos” and “aaas” weren’t there for me this year.

The display was obviously less than spectacular.  Yes, I’m sure that it was a pricey display, but relatively speaking the display was not what it might have been.  It seems that the recent economic stress has placed a cap on recreational spending.  Although I’m not yet sure, in my own mind, if I should be happy to see local governments working to rein in spending in response to “crisis” or sad that it had to come to this.  After all, there are a lot of things in this world that simply aren’t about the money.

Following the fireworks display, the night before, was an eventful fourth.  Most notably, the Taste of Chicago was taking place downtown.  There were a few rides and some water attractions, but the majority of the blocks and blocks of activity were centered on food.  Along with the regulars: churros and corn dogs, I found hot dog and brat varieties that I’d never seen before.  Needless to say, I didn’t eat a thing.

I think that these two events, in such close succession, show America and our economy in an interesting light, but to avoid a controversial and political uprising, I dare not elaborate.  Many of our most influential discoveries are self-discoveries.

Speaking of fireworks, eDoorways — one of my prime stocks-to-watch — has turned extremely volatile.  With the buildup of the once-impending investor conference that was slated to expose the highly-anticipated launch date announcement, we saw common share prices shoot higher than they’ve been in more than a year.  Shortly after the announcement of an obviously unexpected launch date, share prices plummeted to just over a penny.

Last week, eD issued a press release announcing the introduction of a demonstration.  To our knowledge, this is to be a live demo that investors will be allowed to peruse to their satisfaction.  Steps are now being taken to plan the roll out sometime this month, and a final deadline for the demo is expected in a press release this week.

The demonstration itself has caused a small amount of turbulence bringing the common share price back to nearly two and a half cents.  With low introductory volumes this week, it appears shareholders are awaiting the promised press release before making any rash decisions.  I expect that share prices will have a positive outlook once a demo date is provided.

Our key focus, now, is the demonstration.  We can see potentially outdated wire frames on the front page of the eDoorways website (http://www.edoorways.com), but how will the site really function as a web application.  This is a key turning point and an early climax in the launch of the eDoorways platform that could be a breaking point for a hopeful company or solid footing for many climaxes to come — each presenting a new doorway.

My current recommendation on eDoorways is a hold due to current market volatility which means that if you haven’t purchased your shares just yet, you’re walking on ice much thinner than the rest of us.  While I believe in the success of this company, many minds make up common share price.  We’ll soon see whether the future of eDoorways can solidify in the eyes of shareholders.

~A

It seems we have finally made it.  After more than eight months of anticipation, eDoorways is finally ready to announce their upcoming launch date thereby making a promise to all of us shareholders who have been on the edge of our seats for so long.

The big news will be presented at ther second ever shareholder conference taking place on Monday, June 29th at 11:00am Eastern, 10:00am Central time.  Once the announcement has been made, we can expect eDoorways to be on track for launching their first doorway known as “SOLVE”.

“SOLVE” will be the first of many doorways that eD will roll out to the world, and it is expected to include basic networking and consumer-to-business and business-to-business applications.  This doorways will likely launch with a massive media push in the Austin, Texas area.

While it’s clear that this isn’t the end of eD’s launch announcements, it certainly is a great beginning.  My estimate is that we’ll see common stock prices for EDWY rise back to $0.0035 per share by the date of the announcement, and we may see a spike beyond that during the conference itself.

At the first conference, Gary Kimmons spoke about the web 3.0 platform but was unable to provide deep insight into a solid date of launch.  This time, we expect to receive nothing less, and it appears we are now in the final stretch.

-Aaron

From the beginning, I have been solidly against bailouts being issued from our government to any entity, credit-serving banks, and our government speaking at us and down to us as though We are not our own government. I know we’ve heard enough of this, but I’d like to point a few things out to help solidify a notion in so many minds, because it’s our notions that will warn us — not the media.

I heard a theory of mine come from the mouth of someone else a couple of days ago, and it got me thinking. It’s obvious that I’m not the only one with the notion that this country is running on credit. When placed out in the open, it seems like such a simple thing to understand, but this isn’t the way we think when our market begins to degrade and a strange media-induced panic ensues. In fact, all we were focused on when our market crashed was getting our credit back.

“Banks aren’t lending anymore!”

If banks continued lending, more people might default on credit, because they’re losing their jobs. Isn’t that amazing? We can’t support our credit habits if we’ve lost our jobs. That’s because most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and the large majority of each paycheck goes directly to pay for credit. How sad is that? How despicable is that?

Of course banks aren’t lending anymore, and you’d better believe they won’t lend as easily in the future. They’ve realized there are consequences to securing deals with irresponsible Americans. Yes, they tempted us and pulled on our heart-strings, which doesn’t seem fair, but in very few circumstances are an individual American’s needs for credit dire.

Who’s to blame for a seemingly detrimental plummet in the real estate market? How about all of those Americans with twenty thousand dollars down on a two hundred thousand dollar house filled with furniture tacked right into the mortgage with two or three cars in the driveway and a closet full of clothing bought with credit cards?

“Bailout plans will save jobs!”

Bailout plans will waste money, and that’s the easiest way to put it. A bailout sounds very attractive, because we get our credit back, but isn’t that what put us here in the first place? When did We The People become a credit-serving bank?

This country was founded on the principal that everyone was to be treated as equal. Yes, we now understand flaws in existence even then. European men were the only ones who were allowed to take advantage of our new found rights, but we aren’t without flaw in today’s age either.

As equals, we have equal opportunity to succeed and exceed our peers. Competition is not simply allowed, it’s encouraged. Companies don’t get help from the government; they fight from the ground up along with the rest of the free world. If a company fails, it is that entity’s fault, and we do not assist it, because it had equal opportunity. The government destroys equal opportunity by bailing out one entity over another — picking and choosing as if we’ve lost even our lightest sense of equality.

It’s easy to equate a bailout to jobs lost, but we as Americans seem to be as dependent upon our jobs as we are on credit. Is that because we’re living paycheck to paycheck? Anyone in this country, the richest country in the world, should be able to survive for years without work. Instead, we grow old on credit, thanks to those paychecks, and leave our children with nothing, but now the gig is up.

It’s not about your job. It’s about a company biting the dust and about this country maintaining equality in the ideas and morals that we have always stood for. It happens, and it should not be counteracted or circumvented by anyone or any entity other than that company. That’s what keeps us on a level playing field, and it’s how we would have continued to grace ourselves with a right as equals.

True is the fact that if We The People choose to invest in a company, country, or human being, that is our God-given right. However, we must do so when we are not blinded by desire — by credit. Today, the media pushes views on us so fiercely that it’s difficult to ignore, but we must. It is our notions that will be our guiding light. Imagine that — the ability to think for ourselves.

What a terrible machine we’ve become, and how irresponsible we have been.

Let’s paint a picture together without a bailout. This picture is called, “Economic Normalization”. You see, at this moment, and before the “market crash”, we were pumped up on credit like a hateful athletic coward on steroids. Here’s the picture:

Companies fail, people lose their jobs, and thousands of bankruptcies ensue. Our largest real-estate investment entities, banks, motor companies, and others fall to their knees without an inkling of assistance. Bad CEO’s bail and thousands of workers follow. This would have been the first step of our future.

However, try not to think of this as a crisis of any kind, because so much more is happening. Though only a few, people are learning. Companies that are either too large to survive or too corrupt to save any money are giving way to a new era of organization. Perfect opportunities present themselves to do things differently, say goodbye to our industrial age once and for all, and develop more efficiently and with an environmental conscience. Some who lost their jobs go on to develop the brands and morals of the next generation instead of relying on those of the past.

Banks learn, and credit levels drop. Companies and people both learn to fend for themselves. The meaning of hard work and dedication are re-inspired as some rise above others in healthy competition. People become less dependent upon credit, and businesses only require it at the strongest levels of growth. However, when credit is used, it is done so with careful consideration and much caution.

Even cities such as Detroit might have been allowed to die and re-develop to become one of the most popular cities in the world once again. Senses of community would recur as people would join together with the intent to aid realizing, only after plenty of hard work, that there’s little need for credit dependency.

We forfeited this future, because it’s hard. Credit is easy, and so we’ll do that. We are undisciplined despicable excuses for United States Citizens. We aren’t leading the world to anything good if this is what we have to show them. Every one of us is a failure to our own kind, and sights of posh divas, whose bank owns every article they’re sporting, sicken me to the core.

I love the term “…bubble burst.”, used when describing the last two years of our market, because it describes everything perfectly. We had developed this massive bubble of credit-based everything, and we simply couldn’t support it anymore. It didn’t lead to a “credit crisis”, we were already in a credit crisis! Our big credit bubble had to pop, but not before spewing signs all over our faces.

My name is Aaron Belovsky. I am a twenty-two year old United States Citizen without a voting preference, because through this “crisis” and long before, I do not believe that either choice on the ballot is acceptable. For the record, President Obama, no government will ever be allowed to tell me how to live my life or what I should or should not do for myself on the grounds that it’s for “…[my] own good”. Mr. McCain, you’re a sad excuse for competition.

Still, I strongly believe that We The People will prosper either alone against lost leaders or with a leader who is strong enough to stand up against this country’s faults instead of defending and deepening them. It takes little to say this in my position, and I understand that, but if I were President, I would look every United States Citizen directly in the eye and answer their question with deep explanation; starting first with:

“What will I do about the credit crisis and market situation? I will do nothing further than fight the federal deficit squandered by my predecessors and take a special interest in a strong financial education for new generations. I will not fight to bailout any corporations, tell CEO’s what they are allowed to make, or provide housing to low-income families, because that is not what this country was founded on.

I will communicate and educate the American people with hard truths. We will unite and get through this together by helping those who help themselves, We will re-build without a dependency for credit, and We will persevere to re-establish ourselves as the leaders and peaceful superpower of this world.”

-Aaron

eDoorways recently announced their new partnership with Kristen Claflin. Kristen was brought in on a contract basis, and is making herself exclusively available for eDoorways. Kristen has directed marketing for many companies among which include Cingular Wireless who had one of the most successful ad campaigns in the history of America and initially worked with Apple on their iPhone technology as the first provider to offer iPhone service. AT&T snatched up Cingular along with their massive success when they recognized the amazing brand that attracted Apple to Cingular’s doorstep, thus inheriting the iPhone service offering.

For a short while, we saw eDoorways shares consistently drop to $0.002 per share. For those of us day-trading the stock, it made for a great opportunity as the initial announcements about Kristen hit the wire. For the rest, it may have been a bit frightening to see such a consistent drop and lack of media attention for about six weeks. Fortunately, the news about Kristen re-affirmed shareholder confidence, and is now helping the price-per-share rise again.

Currently, eDoorways is on-track with the new promises they have made regarding their service offering, and it has been noted that a launch date will be announced this month. Their 10-k filing is currently stuck in the perverbial pipe, but I have every confidence that they’ll get it filed on their second try.

The launch-date announcement will likely occur at this month’s shareholder conference for which no date has yet been set. Once a date has been set for the shareholder conference, I’ll be the first to let you know. Meanwhile, I recommend buying as many shares as possible at or below $0.0025. Although I cannot make any strict guarantees, it’s likely we’ll see the price rise to $0.0035 or above once a launch date is announced.

I look forward to the press releases and announcements to follow, and as always, I’m very excited about the eDoorways brand.

-Aaron

I made an interesting discovery recently. I don’t recommend it for the faint of heart, but it’s more predictable and stable than day-trading. It’s a strategy for flipping penny stocks.

Usually, “flipping” makes people think of turning houses over, getting rich quick, or experiencing the latest pyramid scheme, but in this case, it’s actually quite healthy. It helps to re-instate the value of the security at hand, and it dramatically jump-starts your buying potential.

A standard was set many years ago stating that the lowest price any security in the US may sell for is 0.0001 cents. When I say US, I’m referring to specific US-based trading boards. These securities are usually considered to be severely undervalued, mostly worthless, and potentially fraudulent. It’s precisely these securities, however, that I sniff out for successful flips.

Fraudulent companies are a serious risk that any penny trader takes when investing. As long as an investor does his due diligence, there should be much less to worry about. Namely, call the company. Companies that operate out of garages are fine, but be sure that they know their business like the back of their hand. Ask some tough investor questions about their plans for the future, what they’re doing to achieve those goals, and get straight answers. If they can’t provide the answers without a sidestep here or there, they either have no passion for their company or they don’t have much of a company at all.

As always, anytime you get into a company, back the idea 100%. You’ve got to be behind what they’re doing. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to read the market scenario well enough to make any kind of prediction. If you’re loosing money, it’s because you don’t know what’s going on with the company or its market.

In the case of severely undervalued penny stocks, I look for good companies with great growth strategies, and products either very close to launch or in the early stages of launch. They also need a high average trading volume. Securities like this usually come with lots of press releases as deals are struck and shipment dates are met.

Watch them closely, and you’ll begin to notice a 0.0001 stock price jumps to 0.0002 or 0.0003 when a good-news press release hits. These companies are always full of lots of energy, so good news comes often. 0.0001 to 0.0002 is a 100% jump. To most of us who are used to trading $10 shares that jump 10% to $11 at signs of good news, 100% is a lot to think about.

Warning — don’t get greedy! This is the reason many people fail at this tactic and I get the sells over them. Take the 100% jump, and do not shoot for 200%. It’s more difficult to predict trading volume for a 200% jump than a 100% jump. Also, don’t push your luck. Many many many start-up companies fail every year. Flip a security three or four times, then upgrade the use of your new buying potential.

As I stated earlier, these companies must to have a large average trading volume. Usually, you’ll see the volume really show its face when press releases hit, because we run a reactive market. Realizing this number will help you to understand how many shares you’ll be able to get in and out of the deal at one time. Shoot for no more than a quarter of the average trading volume in your buys, and you’ll get the shares sold without much hassle when good news hits.

Naturally, this isn’t a great path for everyone, but it is a great way to gain good starting capital. If you’re rolling in the dough, there’s no need for high-risk strategies such as this, and you’re much safer and healthier sticking to the 10% gains.

Also, by selling at higher dollar amounts than you buy at, you’re helping the chances that a particular stock has to succeed and surpass it’s severely depressed value. It’s only when we sell low in fear that we depress the value of a security.

When you’re done flipping a company, if the market is in good condition, and their passion is still in the product, buy a small chunk to hold on to for yourself. More than likely, if you think the company has a great idea that they are capable of bringing to fruition, they probably will. By holding onto a chunk of your own, you also help the depressed value of the stock by decreasing the buy pool which also has a tendency to increase share price (demand is greater than supply). So, stake that long-term claim, and reap the rewards when your company makes it big.

-Aaron

“We are in a time of hyper-change. Since the economy has changed so drastically, we need to re-evaluate the market and see what, if any, changes need to be made prior to launch. eDOORWAYS is not going to leave anything to chance. Management believes that the original design of the eDOORWAYS service offering is on target. However, if we were to launch now into an unresponsive market (i.e., one that is not necessarily adverse to eDOORWAYS but to commerce in general) there is no guarantee that capital sources will give us a second chance. Unfortunately, there are many Web 2.0 startups with significant operational overhead now finding themselves in the position of being unable to raise the money they need to sustain their launch. A prudent approach is to advance with great care. We are therefore taking a path in which there are two parallel activities. The first involves an evaluation of the emerging new market conducted by professionals and an evaluation of the eDOORWAYS service offering in view of what they find. Should modifications be required, we are in an excellent position to do so now, rather than later when it’s too late or too expensive. The second involves preparation for an initial launch in Austin. It is management’s goal and desire for the emerging market to further define itself and for our activities to carry us to a Q2 or Q3 launch this year.”
-eDoorways Corporate

It seems as though they are carefully analyzing the market and searching for the best possible time to launch this site. The market isn’t on the upswing just yet, and eDoorways provides several great points in other discussions that show the deep thought they have given this topic. While the company will likely thrive in a market with conscientious and careful consumers, it could fail in a market with dishearteningly unresponsive consumers. By eD’s predictions, the best time to instigate response to their brand may be Q2 or Q3 of this year.

While I was truly hoping for a launch in Q1 as initially sighted as more than a distinct possibility by eD in late 2008, their concerns with this date seem valid. With the recent decision on the future presidency, the current state of the economy, and the alternating states of the average consumer, we are lucky to survive the market turbulence ourselves.

I still believe that eD will “empower” both businesses and consumers by pushing a new revolution in online marketing. It’ll just be a little bit closer to the market upswing.

-Aaron

Throughout my lifetime as a Citizen of the United States of America, I’ve come to realize how far so many of us live outside of our means.

When I was growing up, my family “upgraded” from trailer life in Texas to a small house built by my father and finally to our very own bought-off-the-market home. On the fore-front, we looked like we were moving up in class. However, I was well able to see the back-end design of my family’s entire financial situation, and with each argument, discussion, or bill-paying session, I was educated.

Trailer life was my family’s richest point in the history of my lifetime. We had the worst credit, the least debt, a solid place to rest our heads, and our family life was thriving. There were few credit cards or interest payments, and there was very little mortgage to speak of.

After saving just enough to qualify for the down-payment on a home, my parents skipped a few hard-earned steps and chose a life that was well beyond their means. Two and four hundred thousand dollar homes were now within reach without any need to have two or four hundred thousand dollars in hand.

My parents would later explain they put themselves in debt to provide me with a life that they didn’t have, and I would later argue that they could not have given me a better first-hand, what-not-to-do, financial education. My parents have now gone from home to home for more than a decade and a half, eventually paying enough in interest to afford their own home outright without additional investment.

The credit score and history that one will find for me is low, because I’ve not built it up. I pay all of my bills on time for the things that I use. Contracts are avoided wherever possible, and the only contract in which I currently take part is for the condo-apartment in which I reside.

The condo-apartment is rented, not “owned”, but they are trying as hard as they can in this market to sell the unit out from under me. The condo-apartment is known as Kennedy Point in Madison, WI, and the rented units are managed by Urban Land Interests in whom I have come to realize great disappointment.

I recently received a letter from management informing me that they would be offering a 5% down qualification for a loan to purchase the two hundred and four thousand nine hundred dollar condominium ($204,900). The letter informed me that for the first year, they would “buy-down” some of the cost and make the first year’s interest rate stand out at 3.5%. The second year would take on a similar deal, but it would rise to 4.5%. And finally, I would pay at 5% interest for the remaining twenty-eight years.

Throughout the letter, they used mild pressure-tactics that were sure to let me know that if I chose not to entertain their offer they would be showing my apartment throughout the remainder of my lease (7 months) to any prospective buyers. At the end of my one-year lease, I will not be allowed to renew and will be forced to vacate for that lucky buyer who wins the 5% twenty-eight year interest rate. I was also informed that final details would be mailed to me soon.

First, let me address the fact that a 5% interest rate has been praised in the current condition of the economy. Everyone is hand over fist in their excitement for now being the time to mortgage a home.

“Get in while the gettin’s good!”

“Right now’s the time to buy!”

I’ve heard it placed in a million different ways. As one of the characters in the greatest animated film on the face of this earth, Happy Feet, puts it, “Let me tell something to joo!”

Paying 5% interest for a period of thirty years puts the total payout, in thirty years, at right around four hundred six thousand nine hundred dollars ($406,900). If you recall, the originally advertised price is two hundred four thousand nine hundred dollars (204,900). Should I choose to save that money instead of mortgage my life away, my children will be able to buy a home outright or make sound investments.

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you know I’m an investor, so I will invest that money over the course of those thirty years as it comes in and have several million dollars by the end of it all. Imagine handing your children even a small chunk of a final net worth like that one day.

For those of you who do not have thirty years, the best gift you can give your children is a financial education and capital punishment for crimes of credit. I’ve seen so many parents hand their children money in return for a promise. The situation works out to be something like the following:

“Mom… I need a cell phone…”

“What do you need a cell phone for?”

“Everyone has a cell phone! I will be able to text my friends and let my friends call me. And you’ll be able to call me too! Whenever you want.”

At this point, Mom’s thinking about her child growing up and being too young, she’s thinking about the point of control she now has on her teen, and she’s agreeing with the ability to call her teen at any time she feels is necessary. The trouble is, the child has little or no money, no financial education, and there are very few completed chores to speak of.

“I will get you a cell phone under these conditions…”

More often than not, the parent hands over her part of the deal before the child takes care of his. The cell phone is a simple example, but I’ve overheard conversations like this one on day-to-day desires. The child wants something, and the parent attempts to bargain for a new level of control. In any example fitting this bill, the parent is asking the child to pay her back in one way or another at some point in the future.

How that translates is that all of these examples, and others fitting the same bill, are of parents extending children their first lines of credit. Many times, the children do not pay back their newly acquired lines of credit, because they know that their parents can’t affect their credit score, their teen lifestyle, or break their legs. All this does is increase hostility in a household.

When the child makes it into the world and is forced to struggle through their own financial education, the first thing they look for is another Mom. They find Mom in banks, mortgage companies, credit card companies, cell phone companies, pay-day today style organizations, their local Target, and other lending institutions. The child is already used to receiving reward before effort instead of the sensible reality that effort yields reward.

By the time said child grows to a level that “saving” is possible, the next step is owning his own home. His total net worth is closer to a real net of fifteen or twenty-five thousand dollars which is money that has gone completely un-invested. There have likely been many early years of late struggle, he has racked up debt in countless other ways, and now he truly believes that the next step is to put himself into the greatest debt of his life with a home.

I received that second letter, regarding the sale of my condo, from management the other day. The letter outlined the complete plan for their “buy-down” that was supposed to lower the first two years of interest payments. As it turns out, the amount “they cover” is the exact equivalent to the price I would be asked to pay in closing costs. So in reality, I save nothing over the first two years. More importantly, once the third year hits, I’ll be paying exactly what I’m paying right now from month to month.

What disturbed me the most was a passage I read at the bottom of the page. It said something to the effect of, “People don’t buy homes based on the total cost of ownership. They buy them based on the monthly fee they have to pay.”

First of all, I’m not sure why they think that statement is going to sell condos. Second, you can bet your ass that statement is correct, because very few look at much more than the monthly cost during final discussions with Mr. or Mrs. in-debted to society. But more than that, why would I be interested in paying exactly what I’m paying now in monthly fees, plus be locked into a thirty year mortgage instead of a one-year lease, and be forced to pay an immediate $14,245 in down payment and closing costs. What a ridiculous proposal!

Further, if I somehow chose to look past the idiocy of the offer and accept it, I would be living beyond my means. I have not earned two hundred and four thousand dollars that I can use as spending money, because it would be more than a quarter of my net worth. At this point in my life, it’s more important for me to invest than spend. If I signed any kind of mortgage right now, I can expect to set myself back by more than most Americans can handle.

Credit turns people against people, companies against people, companies against companies, government against companies, and countries against countries. It breeds lies, mistrust, and more pain than war. The losses can span generations and take strong holds in our families better than the traditions we once observed. If we are going to live in a society that depends upon currency, let’s at least learn to manage that currency properly.

Do you and yours the greatest favor and drop the credit. Give up your house and discover a true home when you live within your means beside your thriving family. It’ll be your first step to killing the credit cards and removing the claws of this credit from your family. Give the gift of hard lines and financial education to your children, and turn a blind eye to “offers” from thieves.

To live within your means is to be certain that you and your children, your true legacy, are outright cared for before you declare any kind of reward.

Your loyal Financier,
-Aaron

It’s been about a month since I’ve started to pick up on the more recent market activity. For the most part, I stayed out of the game this year, but with the market getting so volatile, I chose to get back in, work my way to retirement, and start this blog that you are reading now. What does a volatile market mean in times like this? In short, it means change.

Our market has been on a downward spiral for about a year. The downturn was evident based on a technical analysis of the good ol’ Dow Jones back in July of 07. We saw a good market start to rise a little too fast after the start of 07 until it stalled in July with a starting bout of heavy volatility.

Now, we’re back. When a market rises, you don’t see the kind of speed and volatility you see when a market falls, because that kind of behavior is only present when there is a surplus of greed. Instead, a rising market moves more slowly in a pool of fear. What you see, in terms of volatility, is mostly found in the day-to-day happenings with the media.

The media is your guide for a rising market. They lead the hope, fear, let-down, and pump-ups that drive the state of the market when it’s at its most vulnerable. The media drives the thoughts of the people by embodying and proclaiming the thoughts of the people. This is the state we are in right now.

I found my way back into the market, because I know now is the time to buy in order to realise heavy future gains. Long term, I have picked the companies that make the most sense. These are the companies that you are going to see in the news, who’s products you are going to start seeing on your shelves, and who’s websites you and your children will visit. These are companies like eDoorways, Hat Trick Beverage, and others.

I will also continue to diversify my long-term portfolio with high-value companies that have been stripped of their dignity by the ravages of fear in the market. These are companies such as EBay, Potash, General Motors, Ford, and others that we will see start to rise again over the next two years.

Focusing on the short-term, I fill my portfolio with the keys of volatility. Financial, real-estate, and other mortgage-backed securities line my pockets week over week as the media lines up thousands of investors for rides on the emotional rollercoaster of torment. It’s easy enough to see where the hope is and where the hope will be shattered. Everyone can see it. The challenge is getting out before others start to get greedy and getting in while people are still fearful and before people get hopeful.

As we watch the market rise, there will be plenty of opportunity to read the media for short-term gains. When I look for a short-term gain, I look for a company that’s worth more than it’s trading at through the magic of technical analysis. I then match that to direct and related media volume. I also look for future media broadcast possibilities (press releases, calendars of events, blogs of disgruntled employees being layed off, etc).

Based on this volume, I’m able to determine the most likely future of a company’s stock price. I then value the stock price at what I think it’s worth in the current market and where the company is headed. This gives me a sell point that I monitor as news develops. My short-term gains are usually gauged between two weeks and three months.

As for my long term gains, I look for companies that have a solid business plan, plenty of market demand, fresh ideas, plenty of start up capital, enthusiastic management, and a low buy price. I pickup millions of shares, and I hold through thick and thin as though I’m married to the company. My long-term gains are gauged between one and five years. I never move longer than five years due to market situations like the one we’re in. If I put all of my eggs in one basket for too long, they’re bound to be crushed eventually.

-Aaron

The process is a multiphase approach. The first phase is all about short-term growth: buy low and sell high!

Now is the best time in the history of the United States since The Great Depression to get in on the stock market. Playing off the words of the great and powerful Warren Buffett, right now the market is frightened, so it’s time to get greedy.

I’ve bought into a number of short-term gains. Namely, Fannie and Freddie. I sold off half my shares of Fannie with approximately a 40% gain. I’ll let the rest of Fannie rise before selling. As for Freddie, it’ll be on a roller coaster until this bill is passed allowing the government to buy into mortgage backed securities.

I’m not usually the day-trading sort, but this type of roller coaster action is great for selling high and buying low multiple times. When you’re playing with a few thousand dollars at a time, you can make a good thousand bucks in under an hour. These periods are usually targeted to between 12:30 and 2:00 (CST), so that’s the time to watch. The trick is knowing when to sell so you can hold up a good profit from your later buy-in. Normally, I’d recommend short sells, but there’s a ban on those until the second of October.

This is just the start of my tactic. These short term gains will exist all over the place as the market works to get back on its feet or fall face-first into depression. Gains like this will be around in abundance for the next year to two years.

The next piece of tactic is all about buying into great ideas and even better capital. That’s right, brand new companies. They’re cheap (mostly penny stocks in this market), but they’re not in abundance. It’s difficult to find the best of the best. Right now, I’m in a couple.

Pink:HKBV – Hat Trick Beverage
This company is great. They are inventive, but their start-up capital is a little low. However, they are turning contracts and deals like thriving real-estate market . I believe they have great growth potential.

Pink:EDWY – eDOORWAYS
eD is great. I’m way into this company. They are everything that one looks for in a great start-up: tons of capital, a great idea, great partners, and an awesome CEO. Following is a piece I wrote for a financial forum:

eDOORWAYS,

What a great concept. It’s a combination eBay, MySpace, Facebook, Amazon approach that puts the community and support with the product, puts the fun and ease back in shopping, and makes the job simple, informative, and interactive for sellers.

It’s thirty-two minutes after market close in the afternoon, and I know that anyone who’s walking in the front door on this investment right now can’t possibly be looking for short-term gain, because the liquidity simply isn’t there yet. So I know that I’m speaking to a forum of believers who back this company because they know it’s going to be the best thing since sliced bread. I’m a strong believer, and I’m slowly working my way to becoming a heavy investor.

Based on responses from the company to questions on their Corporate blog, we’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth that eD (eDOORWAYS) expects a launch in early 2009. They are hopeful for January or February, but a hard deadline has yet to be set.

Last week, it was stated that a press release showing site earning estimates (once launched) would possibly be published last week, but the press release didn’t come. eD is great about moving paper on time, so I’m sure we’ll either see the press release this week or next, but while this is an educated guess, it is still only speculation.

Both images of what eD might do for the look of the site and wire-frames of site functionality and process are available directly on the front page of their site at http://www.edoorways.com.

While eD isn’t allowed to make any estimates on their stock price, I most certainly can. I’m not affiliated with eD in any way other than as a stockholder. Over the last several months, the company has fallen from a six-cent high to nearly a tenth of a penny per share.

Liquidity on these shares is very low as approximately one-and-a-half million shares are traded each day. Today, it traded high at nearly four million shares. In after-market trading, the price fell one one-hundredth of a penny (7.69%). It’s likely that we will see this stock go down slightly to a tenth of a penny and hold by November.

I estimate that by the middle of November, enough press releases and detail will have made it out to the world that liquidity and volume will increase slightly, and the stock price will begin to rise. The one thing to look out for is that this is considered a “tech stock”. That’s market slang meaning companies of the technology industry. It’s lumped in with Ebay, Best Buy, Circuit City, Amazon, and the rest of the related industry. At this time, tech stocks are down and aren’t recommended buys.

The biggest reason for this recommendation is that spending in general is down, and most people pump large sums of their personal pocket books into technology on a regular basis. How many of your friends own an iPod, radio, television, computer, game console, computer games, dvds, music cds, “tricked-out” speaker systems for their car or truck, a GPS device, a new blue-ray player, or hundreds of other nick-nacks and accessories? A point of analysis here starts with the fact that these are expensive toys.

So, how does this play to eD? In fact, it plays right into their business plan. At this time, people are making the most informed decisions they can about how and where to spend their money (especially when it comes to expensive toys). The launch of eD will miss the holiday season for the most part, so their initial income stream will likely be steady and deliberate. What eD has that most other online shops lack is the power to inform and be informed, which is exactly what the market is demanding right now.

Based on my research as an average investor, as the eD community develops, each target audience will have the power to make collective decisions on products, and support for those products will be a click away. Consumers will be able to do all of their research in one place so that they can then make an informed purchase as a customer. This hits the demand in the market square on, and the business itself has plenty of enthusiasm and a great foundation from which to build a great brand.

Today, the bill authorizing $250 billion dollars in troubled assets purchasing power for the federal government was stopped by the House of Representatives. This caused falls across the board. Tech stocks fell further, financial stocks fell period, and the Dow came out less than seven hundred points under where it ended on Friday. This is how volatile and frightened the market is right now. It’s all fear out there — a perfect time to get greedy.

eD is at a great price per floating share. I see eD moving in the future toward higher-traded OTC markets. In less than two years, I’m sure I’ll be picking them off the common markets. Also in that two-year time-frame, I can see this company (the result of five hundred million dollars in start-up capital) hitting a dollar a share, moderate liquidity, and at least one split without a problem (according to eD, they have fifty million floating shares).

-Aaron

If you’ve met me, you’ll say I’m wise beyond my years. Should you come to accept one of my stock tips, you’ll be taken aback at my predictive accuracy. If you’ve given me a dollar, I’ve more than likely spent it on more money. I’m a twenty-one year young success. I’ve operated businesses, built departments, and opened people’s eyes my entire life.

I am strongly opposed to extended and high-interest credit, wasteful thinking, uneducated dynamics, and emotional business. More than once, I will refer to extended (as in time) and high-interest credit as “Living the American Dream”. If you take offense, I cannot entirely dismiss your point of view, but my guess is that you are either pinned beneath the ever-pressing thumb that is the consequence of your past desires or you believe that America is great, and I shouldn’t demean the “American Dream”.

Should you find that the latter describes your current state of mind, then I challenge you to discover the percentage of Americans with food on their plate at home or their local restaurant every night, one or more houses, one or more cars, and a job that pays thirty thousand dollars a year or better who are not currently in extended or high-interest debt. When you’ve got your eyes and ears open again, come back and help yourself to the rest of my blog.

Over the next couple of years, I’ll be using this blog to document and detail my path back to riches, around the world, and to college. By the time this blog is complete, I will be maintaining my financial position independently, and I’ll be twenty-three years of age.

Here are some key things I’ll be avoiding:

1. Credit
2. Stray ambitions
3. Other people’s opinions
4. Street and cardboard-box life

Following are key goals I’ll be achieving:

1. Financial independence
2. Financial diversification
3. Corporate exit
4. Setup a home financial management office
5. Determine collegiate plan and execute it

-Aaron