Hello folks, today I am bringing a slightly different article once again, because there are no news from the programs I am investing (which actually is good, I like quiet programs).

Recently I saw some posts in GNI's thread at ASA that saddened me a lot, because I see lots of people that lost big amounts because they invested in December, lured by Robert's words that "everything was just fine" and was better to hurry up because it would close to new investments soon (how many times did they said that?).
So I decided to bring this article, to try my best to convince all of you to treat all hyips as "games", or better, as bets. Keep in mind I won't follow the same "professionalism" I try to do in other articles, but just bring my personal opinion, experiences and thoughts.



Longer readers of my blog already know I am a bit "geek", after all I was on IT engineering course for some time, and I couldn't resist to use Nvidia's TWIMTBP logo here, modified with my fantastic Paint.net+PowerPoint skills (yeah photoshop isn't cheap lol).
I just hope Nvidia doesn't sue me.....

So, everytime you decide to join an online venture, remember this image and that hyips (or any other online venture) are meant to be "played" and not to place your life/retirement savings.

Even if they appear to be real (or even if they are real), you will do much better decisions if you treat them like a game, and will easily spot when it is heading the south route.

Let's take GNI example: I honestly admit I thought it was real when I joined it, after all it was online for a good time, everybody was happy with it, and the concept seemed to doable.
But luckily, for me, I started to have my own doubts about it, and the boiling point was the "charity" thing, because it was strange their decision to use 2 unknown and dubious charities instead Red-Cross or MSF, which are much more known, and with a relatively good back track.

I placed that question in ASA forum, and the answer I (and other people with the same doubts) from GNI was "it's our decision, and if you are not happy just don't give money to it".
This answer was "lame", because I was expecting them to tell the reasons of their choice.

And suddenly I start seeing GNI as a "game", and everything that was happening started to have logic:
-all the problems that appeared and caused delays in payments were probably cashflow problems and they were buying time by blaming PPs and other things;
-the "everything was ok", despite the referral abuses (and no action from them) was to play with our emotions, to make us thinking "damn ref shark abusers, it's not GNI fault at all, let's support it". And was also an excuse to buy time for the delayed payments.
-the "going private" was also playing with our mind, to make us build our accounts, instead of withdrawing as much as we could. Don't you remember that they were always delaying the privatization?
- the bank problems...ok it might happened, but they kept saying "everything is fine", playing again with our emotions.
- their answer to the dubious charities: telling that was their decision and if we weren't happy we could just not give money to it, or even leave GNI. Again: emotional play, to make us thinking "ok, if they are telling to leave GNI, then it's because they are serious about all this, let's support them".
Remember that the same ploy "leave when you want if you are not happy with us" was also used by PTV.

After seeing all this, I quickly made my own conclusions and started cashing out from GNI (and I am glad I did it), and advised to do the same in my blog. I remember receiving furious emails and comments on shout-box. Most people were already too emotionally attached to it to see the red flags that were appearing on GNI.
The same happened with GeniusFunds, when I told the end was near...but in this case people were less attached to it.

But let's continue with GNI story (I am sorry if this is boring for you, but I want you to fully understant an important thing with this):

-then GNI suddenly had to be rebuilt, another excuse to delay payments. I still can't understand how people believed in Robert words. Seriously, how can a real business just do a "balance report" in the beginning of the year. I mean, they were always telling "everything was fine", and then suddenly everything is NOT fine, and only at that time they discovered the bets were doing fine, and that 6-7,5% weekly wasn't possible, and that ref abuses and bank suspension were worst than they thought.

I think that a "business" that pays weekly interest should at least do a "performance report" on a weekly basis, to check if the targets are met, and if adjustments are needed.
And what about ref abuses and bank account suspended? When they happened "everything was fine"...why were they only giving problems now?

And once again, peopled believed this, and they were so emotionally attached to it that I saw posts on GNI's private forum as absurd as: "who is on verge of depositing more?" and "looking carefully, the new plans are even better". This was just mind-blowing for me.

-then, after more and more delays, GNI sent a nice email with blonde jokes to try to gather some more deposits. This was another clear red flag, because they never sent such emails directly telling people to invest more. And the blond jokes were probably to make people forget the delayed payments. Once again: emotional ploy.

-then, a few weeks later they announce that GNI is closed. Errr...so some weeks before everything was on good track to recovery, and now this?
Thankfully, most people finally opened the eyes, but it amazes me that there are still people defending GNI, and attached to it.

----off-topic----
now talking about current GNI refunds....I finally got their strategy, and why they delayed the refunds two months (and still paying them in a very slow rate).
It's simple (if we treat it like a game), during this long time they could have opened different programs to gather funds for the refunds.

It makes sense and logic.

And probably this people that got refunded will deposit into GNI 2....because they will be emotionally attached.
(I heard that GNI 2 will be paying more interest than GNI 1 in recovery mode...does it make sense?)
-----/off-topic-----

So, after this long and boring (and sad) story, did you get the main point?


Emotions.....


And to summary, here are the two golden rules that you should always follow (not strategic at all, but to help you making better decisions):
#1- never, ever, get emotionally attached to an online program. Treat all them as games!
It will seriously help you, believe me.

#2- jump from a program when admins' start playing too "psychological", especially when there are problems with the program.
Not only this will be good to your wallet, but also to your health, because you will avoid the stress when the program falls, and the frustration for having believed in the admin words.

And if the program survives and is real (highly improbable), then you can admit your mistake of jumped from it, and return to it, if things look good again.



So start treating hyips as "games", and not your ultimate financial tool that will make you rich.


Some facts about hyips

There are some questions that are sometimes done my by some of my readers. Well, in reality, these are questions but facts:

Fact 1- when you win money on hyips, someone else is losing!
Simple as that.
How do I feel about it:
-if people play them as games, then I don't feel bad at all. After all this also happens in Forex, Stocks and Bets (exchangers, like BetFair).

Take the BetFair example: I have been doing money on it, and I am fully aware that I am winning someone's else money. And seriously I don't feel bad with this idea, because I suppose most people that play on BetFair are aware of the risks.

-now if people take hyips as "real", then it saddens me a lot, mainly when I see posts on forums of people that desperately placed life funds, hoping to earn some good money, and then lose it all.
I am not talking about those regular "whiners" that lose 2 bucks and make a lot of noise on forums when are scammed. I am talking about those who lose big (really big) amounts of money.


Fact 2 - hyips are not a zero-sum game
Neither is forex, stocks and bets world, because all of them have commissions.

But in hyips this is much worse, because usually admins take huge cuts of the total money "traded" on their hyips.
So if you simply invest/punt in many different hyips, just because of having a big "portfolio" then you will lose on the long run, unless you are a lucky person.

That's why it is important to make a good "due-diligence", not to determine if the hyip is real (some people claim this is the real DD), but to determine if it will be a good "game" and if odds are in your side.
And there is the reason I have so few program at moment, and why I am too picky....because I don't care about current program status or if it is paying now, I care most if it will be playing in future, and mainly if I will reach the 100% ROI.
Well, I am already stretching too much here, and strategies and money-management will be another article.

Fact 3- Hyips are a jungle
Now a days, most admins don't care about their program, and as soon things go south they will pull the plug and run away.


Ok, I think this article is already long enough, and these facts should be enough to put some fear on most readers.
Remember, treat hyips like games. Not a game in the gamble meaning, but a game where you don't get too attached to it.
As far I know, the most successful traders in forex and stocks have cold blood when doing the trades, and try to put all emotional aside. So it's logical to apply the same "cold-blood" in hyips.

I hope you find this article useful, not only for hyips, but also other online and offline ventures.