Anything involving with your money should be scrutinized well. Like any astute banker or creditor, you must check the credibility of those asking you to invest your hard earned money to their investment proposal. With so much scam online, it’s quite hard to trust easily. In fact, it can be downright suicide if you lose your sense of skepticism. You have to always do due diligences in everything that involves your money. Don’t be a guinea pig for mistakes that others will learn from.
Penny stock offers are many and varied and all of them tempting. They can flood your inbox with “once-in-a-lifetime” offers. These email messages are often well-written and designed, with persuasive words and convincing testimonials from upwardly-mobile-looking personages. Phrases such as “hot penny stocks,” “best penny stocks,” “top penny stock picks” the list goes on and ever on are quite often used. If you don’t know much about stock trading, there’s a higher-than-average probability that you’ll plump for the deal and pray to strike it rich. If, on the other hand, you’ve learned from your own or others’ experience, you’ll know deep in your gut that this just might be another fraudulent offering.
In the words of Warren Buffet: Don’t invest in anything you don’t know about. If you don’t know anything about penny stocks, then don’t start. Learn about it first and seek guidance from the experts before diving into anything so risky like penny stocks. To know if the messages about penny stocks are scams, here are some tell tale signs it is a scam.
The first sign are guaranteed returns and absurd return claims. Stocks are risky investments. In fact, among the investment products pyramid, they are right at the top. So definitely, there are no guaranteed success rates. The only things guaranteed with stocks are volatility and risk. Returns in stocks are the highest among investments because of the high risk. But absurd returns are phony. If such returns were true, the odds of someone achieving that is like someone hitting the jackpot prize. You can only make true money on stocks by investing long term just like how Warren Buffet did. He’s not the greatest investor for nothing.
Next, penny stock scams tell you that their offer is for a limited time only and that you are getting a steal by investing now only and that the prices right now are a bargain. While it is true the prices could be a bargain, it will take an intensive research to do that. Such claims need to be verified and unless they can prove it, then you have to remain skeptical. Plus the stock market is always there. There is no such thing as a limited duration offer. You can avail stocks any time you want by having an account with your broker.
These offers also try to persuade you with their glittering success stories. Again, this is one strategy that never gets old in tricking people into the scam. You should research these claims carefully. In fact, ask the company to provide proof of their claims.
So how can you tell which penny stock offers are scams? It’s not easy; but it’s not that hard either. Don’t be gullible; don’t be easily fooled. Verify the stock’s authenticity, and the credibility of the broker or promoter touting it. Check their company records, which ought to be available online; if they’re not forthcoming with their information, then there’s something wrong. Make sure the company offering the shares has legitimate state and federal licenses to do business. Always double-check to see if such companies are registered with the SEC.
No one should be able to pressure you into investing you, and you alone, shall make the decision. Before you accept an offer, make doubly sure it’s not something too good to be true. Because chances are, it is. Success doesn’t often happen overnight. In fact, with stock trading, it’s as uncertain as choosing heads or tails. Take your pick, but beware of the outcome.
The contributor of this column has came across a capital structure expert by the name of Josh Yudell. I believe Josh Yudell to be widely considered an expert in the fields of investor relations, SEC compliance, corporate finance and capital structure.