Watch Out For Those Income At Home Radio Commercials

Really sharp observers might notice a small change to the website. When we started the Official Geezer Guide we decided to focus entirely on ways for our readers to make extra money to supplement their retirement with an online business. But like any new business, as you get into it you discover more and more about your market. So if you look at our banner we have broadened our mission from helping seniors make money online to Helping Seniors Make, Save and Invest Money -both online and offline. So look for articles and information products on a wider range of topics.

We will continue to produce our own books, but we will be recommending books by others and featuring articles by others as well.

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Wondering how much you need to retire on? Here is a free retirement calculator from CNN Money

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/retirementplanner/retirementplanner.jsp

Each month we post new articles on our FREE Articles page. We cover a wide range of topics from income generation, savings, finance and lifestyle issues.

In one of my features below I talk about the coming high yields in treasury bonds. If you want to learn more about bonds, read our new article by Mike Larson, Sayonara Treasury Bubble.

1. Watch Out For Those "Income At Home" Radio Commercials

If you listen to the radio you have probably heard them. There are several commercials about how people are making up to $50,000 a month with their own home business. The ads say they are associated with Fortune 500 companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon. They give you a number to call and a website to visit. But when you call they won't tell you what the business is. The operator keeps telling you it's a great opportunity but won't tell you what it is. When I tried the website I found the same thing: Lots of claims, and testimonials from folks claiming to have made thousands and thousands of dollars -but no information. But the website had a chat board so I decided to try that. I chatted with a nice lady apparently named Kelly. Here is a copy/paste from the chat:

Kelly Says: Let me explain a little more. XXX is a cutting edge marketing system that allows you to build an internet-based business from the comfort of your own home.

Kelly Says: We are associated with a company that does over $3 billion in sales and is publically traded on the New York Stock exchange.

Kelly Says: I am sorry, I only have limited information. For more questions or customer service please CLICK HERE.

Kelly Says: XXX will help you launch your business and give you all of the tools that you need and a personal business coach -- the time is now! CLICK HERE

Kelly Says: The Home Business Tax Guide for FREE is only available through this chat and for a limited time. Please don't miss this great opportunity.

Kelly Says: This is a Home-Based Business that works for regular, everyday people... and we guarantee it!

Kelly Says: Not only do we include the book, video and computer DVD, but we actually include the name and direct phone number of your personal business coach!

Kelly Says: All this for just $39.95 plus shipping. It's an amazing offer! Just CLICK HERE

Me: You must be kidding? You won't answer my simple questions and you want me to send you money..???

Kelly Says: A valid Credit Card is required to take advantage of this free trial. Also, at this time we are not able to accept C.O.D., Money Orders or Personal Checks.

Me: One last chance, I will be happy to send for the CD if you just tell me what kind of business this is.

Kelly: It is a great business. A valid Credit Card is required to take advantage of this free trial. Also, at this time we are not able to accept C.O.D., Money Orders or Personal Checks.

You are probably wondering what I replaced the name of the company with XXX. Well that is because these companies like to sue bloggers like me who rat them out. It's not that they can win the lawsuits -they usually can't unless you actually lie about them. But these days it costs about $50,000 even if you win to defend yourself in Federal District Court where they typically sue. Basically they use the courts to intimidate people.

So about two days goes by and then I got a call from a salesman at the company. This was apparently their last-ditch effort to sell me, so they decided to admit what the company does. It turns out they will set up several websites for you all loaded with affiliate banners to big companies like Wal-Mart, Dell, Amazon and others. When people click on the banners you earn a commission. They wanted $199 plus hosting for the first website and they had a gold package or something like that for $799 I could get ten websites. Sounds good, except Google ignores these websites and the only way to get traffic to them is with pay-per-click advertising. I have don't have enough room to explain all the details here, but if you wanted to make any serious money -and if the websites were any good at conversions, you would have to invest thousands of dollars per month in pay-per-click advertising to make any serious money.

Now, you can make money with instant niche websites designed to make money from affiliate programs, but probably not the kind of money they were claiming. There is a guy from Boston who used to be a huge eBay PowerSeller. He now runs Instant Niche Maker. This is a system where you can set up instant little websites easily and quickly with no technical knowledge -and for far less money than these guys were talking about. And these websites can be found by Google. Best of all you can try it out for only $4.95 instead of hundreds of dollars. And best of all its also a bit of fun. Now you won't make thousands and thousands of dollars, but you can make some good extra money. Here is the link to the Instant Niche Maker $4.95 trial.

2. Get Ready To Lock In High Yields on Government Bonds and High Quality Corporate Bonds

I don't know exactly when the inflation will start but it will. We are still in a deflationary period and will be for a while which is good for folks living on a fixed income. Think about it: If you have your money in a T-Bill or Money Market fund and you are earning 1% interest, but prices fall 2%, then you have made a 3% gain when all is said and done. So a little deflation can be a good thing; especially for people on a fixed income. Now to Long Bonds.

There are two factors that affect the yield on long-term (20-30 year) Treasury Bonds: inflation and the amount of money the government borrows. Let's look at inflation first. It is no secret that the government is printing lots of money and pumping it into the marketplace in order to stimulate the economy. So far that money has been absorbed because inventories were high and producers had plenty of products to sell. But those inventories are now being worked down. Pretty soon there will be lots of money chasing fewer and fewer goods. When this occurs you get inflation. When you get inflation, investors demand a higher interest rate because they know the value of their money is being eroded. So if and when inflation occurs, the price of the bonds will drop making the corresponding yield higher. This has happened before. During the last days of the Jimmy Carter administration, long bond rates went as high as 9%.

The other factor is expanding government debt. The budget just signed plus the stimulus bill and the TARP funds will result in a higher government deficit. When the government spends more money than it takes in it has to borrow the difference to keep the government running. The Treasury Department does this by creating bonds. They sell short-term bonds such as 1 year and 5 years Treasury Bonds and longer term bonds, many that mature in 20 or 30 years. The sale of bonds is governed by two factors: supply and demand and risk. The government sells bonds at an open auction. Investors bid on the bonds. Just like when you sell something on eBay, when the supply is great, the price of the bonds falls. This results in a higher yield (interest rate). A few years ago the government was selling between $100-$200 Billion worth of bonds per year. With the projected deficits, the Obama government will be selling between $100 Billion and $150 Billion of bonds per month.

This is the largest supply of bonds to ever hit the market. There is no question this will cause prices to fall due to oversupply. When the price someone is willing to pay at auction falls, that means the interest rate goes up. This has already started. Long bond futures have plunged an astounding 20 points - from 143 in mid-December to less than 123 by the end of April. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury Note has exploded from a November low of 2.06% to 3.11% this week - a gain of 51 percent. Some bond traders predict that the rate on these 10-year Notes could go as high as 5% and rates on the longer term 20 and 30 year bonds could go as high as 7% or even 8%. Eventually the Treasury Department will have to cut deficits. If they didn't then the price of the bonds would keep falling and those higher interest rates would kill any economic recovery. When this happens, the price of the bonds will once again rise. But if you were to purchase the 20-year or 30-year bonds at that time, you could lock in that high interest rate for the life of the bond. And as the bond price rises you could also realize a capital gain.

When the price of government bonds falls and interest rates rise, the same thing happens to corporate bonds. But these bonds have to pay even higher interest rates to compete with the government bonds which are theoretically safer. So if the government bonds are paying 8% interest, a bond from a blue chip company such as IBM or Proctor & Gamble might have to pay 9%.

The other factor related to bond prices is mortgage rates. As the interest rate on government bonds rises, so do mortgage interest rates. Rates are now hovering around 4.7%. Earlier I hoped this would fall further because the government was trying to force down inertest rates, but we may have reached the bottom. So if you are thinking of refinancing, I wouldn't wait much longer.

3. The Mexican Swine Flu Could Cause a Jump in Online Sales

We are still in the early stages of the Mexican Swine Flu outbreak. What you are seeing now is a lot of concern and panic but still very few cases. One thing working against the spread of the flu is the time of year. The flu tends to spread more rapidly in the late Fall and early Winter. But, we are now heading into Spring and warmer weather. However, this strain may be different so we just don't know. But one thing we do know is that people are afraid and are staying at home. This could be a boon for online sellers on sites such as Amazon.com, eBay and sellers who have their own websites. Both Amazon and eBay stock prices are up nicely since the flu danger was announced.

None of us like taking advantage of other folk's misfortunes, but all retail sales have been off including online sales. Events like this cause people to change their behavior -and I see no reason not to take advantage of it. So if you are currently selling online, now might be a good time to promote your listings.

4. Would You Like to Get Into Internet Marketing, But Don't Know Where to Start?

I have known the folks at the Internet Marketing Center since they started ten years ago. They are the oldest and largest internet marketing training service on the web today. They have recently launched a new service called BeBiz. BeBiz is a complete website builder that requires no technical knowledge to set up and it comes with excellent support and training materials. And they even help you find products to sell.

You get access to absolutely ALL of the tools, resources, and expert support you need to start your own fully-automated Internet business from scratch. Don't Mistake 'BeBiz' For A Site Builder!

Site builders are just what the name says - a tool to build a website with no hope of traffic, sales leads, or even a remote possibility of making a sale. And there's a very good reason for this, which we'll cover in a moment. But first, we hear from HUNDREDS of frustrated people each month...

Beginners just like you who have just found out that they've invested a MASSIVE amount of time and effort into building a website...Only to discover that it was doomed from the start. Until now, you either had to be a computer genius, a marketing whiz, or have really deep pockets to get a business on the Internet that will actually make you money.

But starting now, you too can start your own money making Internet business and start earning money...

... Even if you're not a computer whiz, you don't speak the language, and you have very little money to get started!

The BeBiz System Includes:

I have been promoting another website builder for the past couple of years, but this one is much more. I just made a special deal for my readers. If you use this link to BeBiz, they will waive the $177 set up fee and give you $250 worth of free traffic. This is a great way to get started with internet marketing. If it doesn't work for any reason, they offer a full money-back guarantee. And you can trust these guys. Like I said they have been doing this for ten years and they have a good reputation.

That's it for this month. Be sure and check out our Blog and subscribe to the RSS feeds if you want frequent updates. We just posted a warning about the Cash for Gold scam.

What is the best camera to take photos for eBay, Amazon and my Website Sales?

Check out my recommended camera store at:

Skip's Recommended Digital Camera Store


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Watch Out For Those "Income At Home" Radio Commercials