Education in choosing your next investment

To investing in the HYIP world, it is worth while to educate yourself to improve your earning probabilities. My key to winning in HYIPs is diversification. Here is the contribution by John Mulhollem, admin of answerstoyourquestions.com and everythingunderoneroof.org

Education in choosing your next investment:
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There's a lot to be said about the arena that many of us dabble in. To some of us it's a playground, to some of us it's a serious game of poker. No matter what your personality or motives are, no one enjoys losing money.

I believe that's a common factor that binds us all into one group. The problem is that too many really don't know enough about playing in this everchanging world. Keva and I were recently discussing this topic, when I asked him if he would be willing to post this thread if I was willing to write it.

Hyips, Hyis, PPPs, surfs, managed accounts, gold games - these are all part of the world we currently play in. Many of you already know, either by personal experience, or by hearing or seeing it, that about 98% of the programs out there today are either a scam, a ponzi or a program that is poorly managed. If you don't enjoy losing your money, this is obviously a landmine to do just that.

The question remains, how do I find the 2%? These programs that will make me money, where are they? The only way I can answer that, is to tell you they are there. It takes an immence amount of time and effort to find them but they are there and the rewards are absolutely gratifying.

I have come up in this business the hard way. When I started, I didn't know my a$$ from a hole in the ground. I very quickly learned just how fast my money could disappear. I played small amounts but it added up in time. One day, I came across a program, that I thought was the real deal. I put a lot of money in it, money I DIDN'T have to lose. Guess what, I lost it. Every penny, I lost it. That was a turning point for me. I swore then, that I would never fall into a trap like that again and to this day, I haven't.

I knew the time was now, that I either got educated, or walk away. Take a guess what I did......

Looking back now, I see a divided line. Two paths one can take. One is the easy road, one is the hard road. They both have their rewards; what you need to do is choose one of these two roads.

Road 1. Self education.

Self education is without a doubt, a very long hard road. It's full of pitfalls and at times, you can never see the light at the end of the tunnel. It involves getting into hyip watch groups and finding solid referral sites. Notice I didn't say MONITORING sites.

The biggest trap that most fall into is greed. If you're a greedy person or desperate, stay far away from this world.
If you can clear your mind, be objective and stick with a plan that involves a large diversification across a number of good solid programs, then and only then, will you make some money. Finding good programs takes time and effort but most of all, patience. Build a solid protfolio of no less than 15-20 programs. Look for programs that are transparent, programs that supply good DD and programs that have many
trusted people recommending them, specifically people that are well known in the hyip arena. Don't go looking for programs in hyip monitoring sites. While there are a few decent programs there, it's very hard to judge which ones can go the distance. Not only that, you can be tempted by programs that claim to pay out these unbelieveable percentages.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from them. You may get lucky now and then but I guarantee you, you will lose in the end. By educating yourself, you can expect to find solid programs that pay from 1% a week, to 40% plus a month.

Road 2. Trusted diversified programs. If you not someone who wants to spend a lot of time, searching and digging for these solid programs, you may want to consider sites that use diversification for your deposits. There are a few solid ones out there and chances are someone in an good hyip group could point you to them. These are sites, that don't normally pay outstanding returns but they are usually somewhat safe because of the fact that they do diversify.

Let me give you an example. If you heard about the forex market and how much money you could make there, you would do one of two things. You could take the time and effort to learn it or you could give it to a trader that already has the knowledge and experience to trade for you. You will make less in returns if he trades for you but your money is safer with him because you dont have the knowledge to do it yourself. It is the same in the hyip arena. Sites that offer a diversification of your deposits take a cut because of the time and effort they have put forth to educate themselves.

By utilizing these diversified programs, you can expect to make anywhere from 1% a week to 25% plus a month.

If you decide to go the path of doing it on your own, here are a few good rules to go by.

1. Check the IP number against a good scam list.
2. Always email the administrator and ask questions and don't be afraid to ask the hard questions. Sometimes their answers will tell you exactly what they are. Check out their answers to see if they are telling you the truth.
3. Look for recommended programs that others trust.
Now, Im not talking about 1 person, I'm talking about several people, experienced people.
4. Look for how long the program has been running.
Don't be fooled if they say they've been around for years, and only been on the web for a short amount of time. There is seldom any truth to this.
5. Check their forums and their feedback.
6. Check public forums to see what people are saying about them.
7. Look to see if their payout percentage is realistic.
Over 3% daily is pushing it.
8. Don't fall in love with a program.
9. Get your principle out asap.
10. Watch for any changes that could be displaying warning signs.
11. Try to go after programs that have been around at least 6 month to a year.
12. Always use a test spend before putting larger amounts of money in.
13. Never reinvest your principle.
14. Spread you money around evenly, across different programs.
Do not target just high paying programs.
15. Is the site NetIBA certified?
16. Is what they are offering make sense?
17. Always read everything on the site. Some create loopholes to give an excuse not to pay you.
18. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose, no matter how good it looks.
19. Get into as many watch groups as possible that monitor these sites performances and watch them like a hawk.
20. Stay away from hyip monitors.
21. DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY! 15-20 programs or more.