From: nicklaus@lonetree.lonetree.physics.wisc.edu (Dennis J. Nicklaus)
Newsgroups: misc.invest
Subject: Re: Charles J. Givens
Date: 22 Jul 92 18:39:10 GMT
Organization: Univ. Wisconsin High Energy Physics


 georgec@eng.umd.edu (George B. Clark) writes:

>A friend of mine with a lot of money and no common sense recently
>paid $1000 for a Charles Givens home-study course in investing and

>In particular, I believe my friend has a 30-day trial period in
>which he can cancel. My opinion is that he should cancel. What
>do you think?

I just got done reading this thread in reverse order, including
the responses from the pro- and anti- Givens people.

To me it sounds like there might be 2 reasons to keep the course:
1) Your friend really has no common sense and can't go to a library
to find out things like:
	a) invest in his 401K program
	b) People don't  always have to pay the full sticker price on new cars
	c) Save a little each month for a long time
	d) Use no-load mutual funds
	e) Think about where you can save on insurance costs.
2) They really want to get into starting their own business
and set up their own S corporations (whatever that is, I don't care).

If they're just a casual investor wondering how to save a few more
$100's each year, then they have to decide if test #1 applies.
And $898-$1000 is still a pretty big price to pay for that stupidity.

By the way, the Givens Guarranty posted by someone here sounded to me
like it would make it VERY difficult to collect off that guarrantee.
"What, you didn't save $1000 last year?  Well, let's see ... the guarantee
says we have the option to advise you on how to do it before
we pay you back.  How about if we just put this $80/month extra
into your $401k plan at work.  What's that?  That's for little Janey's
orthodontist bill, you say?  Well, she'll just have to wait a while longer
to get straight teeth."   It's a pretty carefully worded guarranty (and aren't
they all).

And now for more personal opinions.

Yes I'd like to be richer, but that's not what my whole life is about.
No I don't want to schedule interviews or business during on a vacation
so {\em part} of the trip is tax deductible.  (And no I don't want
to waste my vacation time listening to some stupid time share presentation
just so I can get a free meal somewhere either).

I really don't have any hobbies/interests which would merit filling out
the paperwork to set up an Scorporation, let alone one which
I could HONESTLY say I was in business to make a profit for, long term.
Maybe someday I'll want to start consulting and be self-employed.  If
that time ever comes, I'd look into some type of advice, maybe even
from Givens.  Maybe that applies to your friend.

Btw:
People often bring up  this "I saved $798 on my insurance in one hour
type statement."  Hell, If I saved that much on my auto insurance,
the insurance company would be paying ME $500/year.
I looked into not getting (not dropping after I'd been paying for it
already) the un/under insured coverage a long time ago and it
would have saved me about $10/year, I think.  BFD.
I'm not saying that (and other similar advice tidbits) aren't good ideas.
I just think $898 is a lot of money is a lot to pay for knowledge
I picked up for free or figured out for myself.

flamethrower off!
Dennis
Newsgroups: misc.invest