A Personal Note From The Editor

I began publishing the Financial Trend Forecaster newsletter in 1995 upon the death of James Moore the creator of the Moore Inflation Predictor.  I  have  continuously published the Moore Inflation Predictor^© every month since. 

The Financial Trend Forecaster specializes in predicting trends and profit opportunities resulting from trends in Inflation, the Stock Market, Gold and Bonds. In January of 2003 we created InflationData.com to specialize in all forms of information about the nature of Inflation

Personal Financial Background

I began investing in the stock market at the age of 15 after  earnestly reading  my grandfather's financial newsletters. He subscribed to several "Hard Money" newsletters of the time so I was steeped in an admiration for Gold, and an aversion for "Public Debt". My grandfather was an old German who had lived through the hyperinflation days and was a firm believer in a strong currency, Gold and Swiss Banks.

By the time I graduated from High School, I had invested my college money in South African gold stocks (long before South Africa became prominent in the popular press and investing there became "politically incorrect"). These stocks paid off handsomely over the next four years and the dividends earned returned many times the original principal invested. So the dividends paid for a good education at a private engineering college in New York. By the time I graduated with a Major in Management and a Minor in Engineering the value of my stock and my hard money education had grown greatly. 

One Christmas while still in College,  I made my first foray into option trading.  I sold some covered call options against some Canadian gold stocks I owned (in addition to the South Africans) because I firmly believed the price of Gold  was temporarily headed down. I successfully  picked up a few hundred dollars for Christmas presents that year and was able to keep my stocks intact.

Over the many years since, I have had many other successes and a few failures too, but I have always tried to learn from my mistakes.  Anyone who claims to never have had a loss is either a liar or has never made a trade. The key to investing is to know your investment, maximize your gains, limit your risk and keep your losses small.

  The day of the crash of 1987 I made several thousand dollars shorting the market, but my most spectacular success to date has been in the currency arena. I felt that the Yen had peaked against the dollar and was about to fall off a cliff.  I "splurged" and bought about $400 worth of put options on the Yen and put them away. 

I didn't watch the market too closely because sometimes it makes you too jumpy and you "leave too much profit on the table". In general I knew the Yen was heading down but didn't follow the day to day fluctuations. I only had $400 to lose so I just let it ride.   

As the options neared expiration I checked on their price and my meager $400 investment was up a whopping 1500% or now worth $6000.  At first I thought there must be a misprint in the paper. But after a bit of checking I realized it was correct so I entered a sell order. The day I sold was the exact top of the market and somehow I received more than the highest quote in the paper.  According to the "Wall Street Journal" I should have received a maximum of $7200 and instead my account was credited almost $10,000!

So in three months, I had made 2,500% and turned $400 into $10,000!!! These options were extremely far  "in the money" and therefore were extremely thinly traded. I assume someone wanted to close out a position very badly and I probably couldn't have done the same thing on a large number of contracts.

Another time, in 1991, the Moore Inflation Predictor^© was predicting a major drop in inflation, so I decided to invest heavily in bonds. Rather than take a conservative approach and invest in a bond fund (which eventually made about 24%) I found an individual bond (Unisys) trading at a steep discount to Par. The computer industry was currently "out of favor" and Unisys was not doing well financially, but the company could easily cover the small bond issue out of petty cash.  The bond had a short maturity, so it really was a very low risk trade. By the end of the year however, Unisys was back in favor, the bonds were at par and interest rates had fallen like a rock. So instead of making 24% I had made close to 40% on my money. 

Since then I have seen extremely hot markets and market crashes. In 1997 I began looking for a top in the market and told my subscribers that the market was taking on the proportions of a mania. And although the market continued upward for another year and a half the resulting crash is now history. My philosophy is to let someone else have the first 10% and the last 10% of any given rise and I will take my 80% out of the middle.

I have now been actively studying the market for over 35 years. I have read hundreds of investment newsletters and scores of books. Over the years I have traded Stocks (foreign and domestic), Bonds, Mutual Funds, Currencies, Options, and Metals. In addition I have been licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers to sell Securities and Mutual Funds. (I received a 92% and a 98% score on my first try on two exams that many professionals require two or three tries just to pass.) 

I gave up my Securities License because I did not like what I saw in the Securities Industry.  This was in early 1987 and the industry wanted dealers to get their customers to Buy, Buy, Buy! The market was HOT! I felt it was TOO HOT and customers should be selling and taking their profit, but the industry wouldn't let me say that, so I quit.  

I have spent the last few years as a licensed Microsoft Professional learning the skills necessary to computerize my investment models and developing web publishing skills. All the while I have been  installing computer networks around the world in exotic places like Ecuador, Thailand, Germany, Kenya, Ivory Coast, S. Korea, Guatemala, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Brazil  and London. All this traveling has given me a broad perspective on the world.  Throughout this time I have continued to hone my investment skills and publish Inflation and Investment trend information at Financial Trend Forecaster. Beginning with 2003 inflation rate data, we are expanding our services to include Inflationdata.com and YourFamilyFinances.com

Hope you find our information helpful.

Sincerely,
Tim McMahon, Editor
Financial Trend Forecaster

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Editor: Timothy McMahon

Address: 7283 Yahley Mill Road
Richmond, VA 23231

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