Most people know Steve from his blog over at stevepavlina.com, which is a personal development haven for hundreds of thousands of monthly readers. Infamous for his 30 day trials and wild diets (most recently the 100% juice diet) Steve is not only an inspiration but an educator.

This book brought the best of Steve’s life’s work together and much more. It is a book that has to be read several times over as the information is abundant and unique in so many ways.

The core focus is on seven principles of conscious personal development: truth, love, power, oneness, authority, courage, and intelligence. When used in their proper forms these principles will not only fuel the mind but the soul of anyone seeking to be the best they can be.

The back half of the book takes the seven principles and applies them to everyday life with the following topics: habits, career, money, health, relationships, and spirituality. This is when the principles Steve preaches really take shape and form as while reading you immediately begin to apply them to your own life.

For me personally being a young 22 year old I now more clearly see the possibilities of what can be. There are no limits beyond the mind and by consciously walking through my life I know I will continue to grow and radiate not only love but peace, truth, and happiness each and every day.

I personally gained a wealth of knowledge and inspiration from Personal Development for Smart People. I watch Steve grow through every entry on his blog and now with his book I have roots to resort back to. The principles when applied in their purest forms are capable of changing your life.

David Waring is the Community host and InformedTrades icon. Each day David posts a market summary which can be found on the homepage, and is also responsible for most of the education videos on the site.

InformedTrades University

One of main areas of the site is the InformedTrades University which is large collection of investment education videos. Targeted for new investors video topics include fundamental and technical analysis, the general stock market, trading basics, and even forex.

The average video is a few minutes in length and main topics break down into modules which include 5 – 10 videos each. David and his team took their time putting the collection together as it includes easily 1,000+ minutes of video.

The Community

The site is centered around the InformedTrades forum which is the main community hub that contains over 135,000 posts from 3,300+ members. There is a forum for new investors to ask questions and for general market discussion the Trader’s Discussion forum is the place to be.

I asked who their target audience was and the response was well written,

“Consistent with our mission statement, our target audience is simply anyone who wishes to learn to trade. This includes novices just getting into the market, as well as experienced traders looking for quality news, conversations, reference materials, and information for ongoing education.”

Our Thoughts

Overall David and his team have done a nice job putting the site together and look to have a well established community.

One thought for the team would be to burn a feed for their daily market summary posts. If they can’t burn a feed then perhaps creating a blog is the way to go (I suggest WordPress). Having an RSS feed would allow the brand to greatly expand into other avenues alongside giving all readers an easier way to stay updated with the latest content.

David and his team focus on lead generation for the majority of their income, but one idea I would suggest is branching out. By creating an advertising page to sell banner space directly or even trying out Google adsense InformedTrades.com can possibly generate more income across a diversified channel.

Overall with Community and education as the focus InformedTrades should only continue to grow with time. They have a dedicated staff that keeps the forum spam free, a fantastic investment university, and a free community that continues to add new members each day. Click the banner below to check out the site.

The book does a very good job of breaking down the basics of technical analysis and gives example after example of how to practice what Brian preaches. It dives into the essentials and branches off into all the detail an investor needs to know to be successful.

The highlight chapter for me personally was 8 where Brian breaks down trends which is my all-time favorite investment strategy. The chapter alone had 14 different fully colored stock charts all highlighting different aspects of trend trading. He starts with the basics, “…an uptrend is marked by a stock that makes higher highs and higher lows, while a stock in a downtrend makes lower highs and lower lows.” Then Brian moves into explaining what makes a trend successful and how to use multiple time frames to your advantage. The flow is very easy to follow and even being a trader for over six years I still learned something new.

Later in the book Brian hits on another fantastic topic, profit vs loss ratios, and closes the book with several pages of just trading tips and truisms and a simple chapter, “Putting it all Together.”

Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes is a book that should be on every trader’s shelf, especially when just starting out. The facts, examples, and abundance of knowledge will have me referring back to it page for page in the future. You can learn more about Brian and his book on the site and be sure to check out his blog, Alpha Trends for daily technical analysis videos.

The Stock Code methodology is based on applying the very basic concept of supply and demand to determine the flow of the overall financial markets. JP and Oliver believe in keeping things simple and feel that when you know the market is efficient then you can capitalize on its movements. Technical analysis is not necessary to make money.

Currently their site is free and open to everyone, all you need to do to gain access is to simply create a user ID and password. Eventually the brothers are planning on launching paid premium products that will really show what The Stock Code can do. This is smart on their part, hand out the free goodies (more like teasers) to prepare for the main event.

The site itself currently offers the Safe Trader membership for free which gives access to 11 articles, 1 audio clip, and 3 short videos on the site. Furthermore there are 11 reports covering stocks, forex, bonds, and futures giving the site a total of around 400 pages of free material.   This material is not only simple market education but also a breakdown of The Stock Code methodology.

One page I did like in particular was the members welcome page. Once you complete your free registration and gain access to the member’s only area, the breakdown of how to find and use the material is well laid out. JP and Oliver walk you through getting started and making the most of the site. They also refer you to the Safe Trading Blog.

The Safe Trading Blog is where JP and Oliver show charts and updates of markets they are currently tracking. The blog runs the WordPress engine, is well laid out, and is easy to read and navigate. They did a good job of putting an ad for their product right in the main sidebar and featuring their RSS subscription button. The only major problem I saw though was that the blog isn’t being consistently updated. There hasn’t yet been a post in June.

Some ideas for JP and Oliver to help gain more credibility and traction for The Stock Code:

1. Start posting more consistently on their blog, safetradingblog.com. The last post was on May 29th and this gives a dead inactive impression of the material.
2. Update the about us page and add more detailed content. Knowing the background of the founders themselves is just as important as the product. Also, a detailed background of what the Stock Code actually is and how it works is very useful.
3. Add more links to “join for free now” throughout the homepage / landing page. The first time reading I had to find the link to join when it should be extremely simple for me to register.
4. Consider alternative ways to gain leads. Some sites just have a simple one line box that says, “submit your email and get your free report!” This is a lot easier then going to a 2nd page, creating a user ID, password, etc.
5. Add more claims of historic returns. When it comes to the stock market investors simply want to know how much they can make. “We’ve returned 25% the last 3 years!” will play into a reader’s mind.
6. Remove the testimonials page until you have testimonials. Blank pages = no good. FAQ page is another.

Overall I think the concept of The Stock Code is actually pretty cool. Like any investment product if you can prove your results then you will gain credibility and a following. A great example a guy who has done this is Dan Zanger. You don’t have to go as far as setting world records, but for many people like myself if you can show me you’ve made $xxxxxx or xx% return then I will be interested enough to explore further.

I suggest JP and Oliver work on showing their past wins with the overall market and making sure every visitor to their site knows they are great investors. Hitting on visual as well as verbal appeal is very important. I hope they continue to offer free material as it only helps them sell their brand and paid products. If they can make readers believe The Stock Code really exists, then they will find success.

Quotestreaming is a new site that is designed to provide not only real time quotes to monitor your portfolio with, but also real time stock charts, and even last sale information. Everything is run through the website itself so there is nothing to install on your desktop, and you can watch an unlimited number of stocks.

What You Get

Here is a list of what you get pulled from the features page:

Live charting (java charts, technical charts, historical charts, tick charts), unlimited portfolios, American and Canadian index list, real time ticker, interval data download, access to trading sites within the stock screen, audit trails, option chains, stock screeners, technical alerts, and complete customization control.

Pricing and Free Trial Information

Quotestreaming is regularly $29.95 + exchange fees (which are less than $5), and they offer a free trial to test out the site for one month. The free trial is good only for the month you sign up during though, so for instance signing up on the 30th of a given month will only get you x hours of the free trial, versus signing up on the 1st and getting the whole month at the discounted rate.

The free trial only charges you the price of the exchange fees – again less than $5 – to your credit card. If you do not cancel you are automatically billed for the next month at the regular rate of $29.95 + fees which includes everything. If you prepay the year the service only costs $329.45 + exchange fees.

Who Should Use Quotestreaming?

Quotestreaming is designed for investors who…

1. Don’t already get free real-time quotes with their online broker.
2. Aren’t happy with what their broker’s tools being supplied.
3. Don’t have a broker all together and want access to real time quotes instead of delayed quotes.

Especially if you are with a smaller not well known broker, there is a very high probability you are going to get crummy service. Some major financial sites offer the ability to turn delayed quotes into real time quotes (I think Yahoo Finance, Marketwatch, etc. all offer this option), and their pricing may be similar or cheaper than quotestreaming.com. What you need to look to see is what exactly is offered with the service.

My Personal Experience

I had the opportunity to test out the system for several days before writing up this review to see what I thought. I currently utilize TD Ameritrade Apex and have used them for years, and they give me everything an investor could ever want and more. Basically, the following opinion is skewed towards a company that has millions to spend on their systems.

With that said, I wasn’t impressed with the service as I get much better right now for free, but I can see the value in it for the right user. I only got to test out the streaming quotes, last sale, and charting, and found them to be pretty standard. I have not tested out a service like Yahoo Finance and that I would be curious to compare and contrast.

The bottom line is this, if you are sick of delayed quotes and either A. dislike your broker or B. don’t have a broker then quotestreaming has something to offer you. The main service you are paying for is the real time quotes, with the charting, screeners, etc. all being added features. Their free trial will cost you less than $5 and as long as you cancel you will not be charged moving forward.

From the about page, you’ll find the main scoop of what VesTopia is about:

“We provide a state-of-the-art platform allowing individuals the opportunity to look over the shoulders of proven investors (Investment Directors), watching what they’re doing in real-time. You don’t need to be wealthy or market savvy to benefit from our services. You simply choose which Investment Director to follow, based on your own objectives and style. Then, after seeing what actions our directors are taking with their portfolios, you have the option of this information to serve your own portfolio.”

Investment Directors

As of this post there are 18 different investment directors. They aren’t names you will know off the top of your head, but once you get used to the site these guys will become regulars in your mind. More than half of them are CFAs and the top guru right now is a guy named Thomas Tan, who’s performance has him up 11.4%.

I have had the unique opportunity to watch all of the site’s investment directors over the last week and must say I am pretty impressed. Every director has their own personal profile where you can get a in depth look at their performance, bio, and most recent trades once you “connect” with them.

Market Insight with Articles and Videos

What VesTopia has done is taken the approach of making it a very personable experience with the investment directors. Right from the homepage you will find recent postings and even featured videos of insight.

There is one main blog feed where all the authors post, and you can subscribe to it via RSS to get the postings delivered to your favorite reader as they go live. Right now it seems the blog is fairly active, averaging what seems to be say two or three posts per week day. One cool feature is when you read an entry key words are highlighted and when you hover them you will get a definition of the word. Not sure if there is a way to turn this off, but the option would be good for advanced users who knows their lingo.

Site Demo

This is the best way to get a walk through idea of what VesTopia is all about. The video runs around ten minutes but does a great job of explaining all the site features.

You can view the demo video by clicking the image to the left or simply going here.

Money Buys Full Access

Think this is for free? Guess again. You can get basic access to some of the site features on a free account, but you will have to upgrade to obtain full access to it all.

This means seeing the Director’s live portfolio holdings of full positions, and getting a summary of their trades as they make them. There are multiple account types you can subscribe to, so if you only want partial access then you can go that route as well.

My Opinion

I think VesTopia has good potential, and it really all comes down to the skill level of the Investment Directors themselves. When you look at all 18 investment directors, it was easy to pick up and see that well under half have a negative performance rating. If I am paying $xx a month for full access I want to be watching some very impressive investors do their thing, not some joe schmo like me.

I am personally a fan of competitor Covestor.com, who is also a sponsor of Stock Trading To Go. Comparing the two both have their pros and cons, and I think one of Covestors focuses is on community and skill whereas VesTopia focuses purely on skill.

The Bottom Line

VesTopia is a site where you can watch real investors with real money, in real time. The site is based on bringing great traders to the table for you to monitor and track. Access can be free, but to get full exposure you will need to pay. Check out the site demo for a good run down of how things work.

The bottom line for VesTopia is simple, if they can get quality investors (investment Directors), then they will have subscribers to their content. Everything falls on the skill level of the traders themselves. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go check out what stocks Thomas Tan traded today…

This review will tell you about Bubs, his investment blog, and close with a contest he is hosting that you definitely need to check out.

About Bubs

Bubs was born and raised in Chicago. He graduated from Northern Ill. in 03 and started his first job as a bond trader spread trading 5 year cash futures against 10 year futures. The company went under after 6 months, but the job helped him find that he loved trading.

It was three years later in 2006 that Bubs decided he wanted to trade for a living and spent the back half of 06 honing his skills. Then in 2007 he made the move to full time trading; he hasn’t looked back since (read the full story here).

Blog Content

The content is very simple to follow and consistent, each day Bub’s shares his recap of how much he made or lost day trading and swing trading the stock market, along with the trades he made that day. What’s cool is that alongside his trade recaps Bubs shares his lessons and insight that he gains as he goes.

What makes Bub’s blog good is that any investor can benefit from reading it. It is interesting to see what Bub’s did exactly on his big up days, and what he learned on his big down days. A good day for Bubs is I say when he makes over $500, which you can find an example of here, and a bad day is naturally any day he ended up in the hole overall.

A Contest with a Cash Prize

Bub’s is giving away his last month’s adsense earnings away in a contest to see who can most closely guess the close of the Dow on Friday November 30th. Check out the post for more info, all guesses must be submitted by November 23rd.

All you need to do to enter is simply leave a guess as a post. Good luck beating me though, I think I have this close pin pointed.

Closing Notes

Bubs is a good trader and is making his living doing what he loves. His blog traderbubs.com is a great place to gain some insight and get a simple idea of what a full time day and swing trader does each day.

Make sure to consider subscribing to his feed, and also enter his free contest to see who can most closely guess the close of the Dow Jones market index. Remember entries must be in by this Friday, so enter now, and good luck .

Since CompuCram’s introduction in 1997, over 100,000 students have successfully used the product to pass their licensing exams. The site is powered by Hondros Learning – a leading provider of educational products and services for the Real Estate, Appraisal, Home Inspection, Financial Services, Insurance, and Mortgage Lending industries.

How it Works

The tests simulate the real live tests of the license you are working towards acquiring. They have a team of over 200 subject matter experts with an average of 23 years in their profession constantly updating the questions for accuracy. Once a student takes an exam they provide feedback that helps the CompuCram team then add more questions to match the actual test.

So basically you purchase the software which contains all the questions and answers, download it to your computer, then install and utilize the program as often as you see fit. The software is continually updated and for instance with the Series 7 exam software there are more than 1,000 questions. You can download a demo which is the software with just a handful of questions instead of the full 1,000+.

Cost and Guarantee

The Series 6 and Series 7 exam prep programs are $69 each and are good for a lifetime so you don’t have to renew.

Their guarantee is quite interesting to me, it states, “If you pass our practice exams, we guarantee you will pass the real thing.” Reading on though,

“If for some reason you do not pass the exam the CompuCram® was created for, call 1-877-812-3269 within 30 days of activation and we will return your original purchase price.

All we need is a copy of your failure notice and your CompuCram exam grades showing you scored above 80%.”

Why would you buy the software only 30 days before you go to take your test? I know I would be preparing months before the actual test. Also, I do not know how long it takes to get your actual results back. I believe you get them on the spot same day, but I may be wrong.

The Bottom Line

I think the CompuCram software looks pretty good. Sadly I was not given a copy of the full software to test out so I can’t vouch for it being in depth and its accuracy. The site lists a bunch of testimonials which may help you make your decision on whether or not to buy.

I personally have used software like this though before for a different exam and found it pretty worthwhile. These tests are not cheap, so if you make the purchase of $69 and you pass on your first shot well you just made out considering having to take it a second time would cost $xxx extra.

The two products I featured here were the Series 6 exam and the Series 7 exam prep programs, but there are several others available as well which you can check out at their site.