I recently received a sample issue of the Bottom Line Personal magazine. The tag line states: “Bottom Line makes you Healthier, Wealthier, Wiser… Happier too.”
With headlines touting such things as the “Millionaire’s secret to retiring richer faster”, my scam alarm was ringing loudly.
Secret # 1. How to Make More Money Than 90% of Investors – Even if You’re Lousy at Picking Stocks.
They give some silly example of an investor who lost 80% of his nest egg in the tech bubble bust of 2000. He then turned his remaining $33,000 into $7 million over the next 15 months.
Wow! Sounds great. How’d he do it?
By eliminating his loses, of course. We’d all be millionaires if we never lost money in the stock market, right?
Their example goes on to state that:
If you invest $5,000, and lose 20%, you’re down to $4,000 ($1,000 is 20% of $5,000).
Fair enough.
But for you to recover that loss you need to earn a 25$ return ($1,000 is 25% of $4,000).
OK, I’m with them so far.
The more you lose, the harder it is to get back. Recovery from a 50% loss requires a 100% gain, and recovery from a 75% loss requires a 300% gain.
Then how the hell did the investor profiled in the tech bubble example get back his 80% loss just from avoiding further losses?
The answer is he didn’t, it’s a load of bunk.
But the underlying methodology is sound: limit your losses in the stock market by using stop-loss orders.
Secret # 2. Make Your Grandchild a TAX-FREE Millionaire!
The claim:
“If your teenage child or grandchild is gainfully employed, he can contribute up to $4,000 a year to a Roth IRA. If the child puts $4,000 a year away between the ages of 16 and 21 and the Roth IRA earns 10% per year, the child will have $2,045,042 at the age of 65.”
Sounds great on the surface. But what’s the catch?
Inflation.
After those 49 years piling up in the Roth IRA, that $2,045,042 would be worth only $1,391,185 in today’s dollars, assuming a relatively benign 3% inflation rate. That and it took 49 years to get there, so while the headline makes it seem like it’s getting rich quick, it’s anything but.
Does this make it a scam, or mean it’s not worth doing? No, of course not. It’s the point of an IRA or 401(k) in the first place. It’s also the basis of David Bach’s Automatic Millionaire. Just don’t confuse automatic with instant.
Secret # 3. How to Pay Off Your 30-Year Mortgage in Just 23 Years.
No secret here – it’s called a Biweekly mortgage payment. The only catch is to make sure your lender doesn’t charge a fee for the program or any pre-payment penalties.
Secret #4. Lower Your Tax Bracket.
The claim:
In one easy step, lower your rate to as low as 15%!
This one is so vague I can’t be sure what the “secret” is they’re selling. It could be creating your own business as some form of tax shelter. Maybe it’s legal, maybe it’s not. There are legal ways of doing this. For example, you could invest in tax-free municipal bonds or max out your pre-tax retirement accounts to lower your taxable income.
Secret #5. How to Boost Your Tax Refund.
The claim:
You can boost your tax refund even if you take the standard deduction!
Yeah, I can over-pay the government every pay period by claiming 0 dependants. Whoopdy-do! No thanks, I’d rather owe the government $10 at the end of the year. Then I know I’m keeping most of my money.
So are these really scams?
I think scam is probably too harsh a word. I haven’t actually seen a full issue, but this “free copy” mailer certainly makes it seem like they are trying to make a buck (or take a few of yours) selling information that’s relatively easy to find on the Internet or through other sources. In short, there’s nothing secret about any of it.
Still, it just looks “scammy.” It feels like something targeting gullible retirees. In fact, looking at reader testimonial page shows 6 people – all over the age of 60.
Bottom line on the Bottom Line Magazine: Read some personal finance magazines or blogs and save your money.
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
Hello,
As a reasonabley intelligent person it is obvious that this whole scam is simply a play on the current trends and beliefs in our culture. As a psychologist during the 80′s it was easy to see that new age move to the
“Mystic” was replacing science and common sense
with cult thinking. The sale of Green, meatless, free range, crystel, pyramid,magnet,
psuedo mystical, collective unconscious ideas
of the 20th century offered a fragmented sense of faith that so many of our culture found so missing. Add a few cultural icons and the sale
of beliefs quickly became a multibillion dollar industry.
(as an aside, I have been working on the importance of form in our existence, both as we project it, recieve it, and most importantly
believe it, for over thirty years and anyone who seriously approaches these issues quickly realizes the many levels at which these phenomena operate. Linguistic, perceptual, cognitive, and spatial are but a few of the metalevels interacting in the soup of existance. However, since half of the people are below average, and knowledge(whatever that is)doubles as a geometric funtion at rates that are beyond understanding (let alone forming belief systems regarding the drops of this raging river which don’t really exist outside of context) there is a huge market for
“the truth”. And sadly folks that’s what all this is about…marketing. Just getting you to read “supposed truth” makes you a potential mark on many levels. So trying to judge these
“ideas” on merit is to miss the point. Let me demonstrate.
When you read any of these “webbed notions”(a concept that must be understood) your information is transmitted across countless related strands. This sets in motion
thousands of events which involve the actual selling and tansmiting of information about you that you have never even concidered.
Well, I have company coming and this stuff just gets more and more complex, so I’ll give you a concrete example. I happened to see Oprah
being associated with Acai berries and diet. Oprah, is without question the new wave queen of everything from literiture to countless products, dieting being the most obvious. Now I mean no disrespect to an obvious Icon but truthfully, if I witness her having one more public “break-through” I’ll freak. Bibliotherapy has never even stood up to placebo folks. SORRY!! Don’t throw fruit or vegtables..give them to the food bank. At any rate, this one weak moment when I concidered that there might be an easy way to shed the holiday roll….led me here tonight. Because as I said there are webs of sales forces and just by looking at this article and concidering a free sample (which I imediately canceled) brought to my door…you guessed it..
a nice big fat BOTTOMLINE BOOK. I didn’t ask for it.. in fact I never heard of it. I’m still cancelling it..in fact that’s why I’m here. The Acai people had to sign me off four seperate lists which were sending products my way. ANd guess what..I got the berries…and the book…after 7 phone calls and there is more on the way.
So when I see folks talking about beating the market through Bottomline “knowledge” I swear it misses the point. In fact, the market is rigged. The folks which set the standard sell the info and that’s the name of that tune…company’s here.later
Please forgive my spelling ‘night
Well written and appreciated critical look at The Bottom Line’s claims. Thanks for doing that, BUT, I must say that it’s too bad you aren’t a “bottom line” reader who knows the magazine better.
It’s a really charming, entertain, and VERY consumer oriented publication with many true gems sprinkled amid highly interesting stories.
These days your criticism that “all of this could be found on the net” would apply to just about ANY publication on ANY topic.
What you pay for with the bottom line is it’s editor’s wonderful taste and take, just like any magazine. And theirs is top notch I must say!
Walt,
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Bottom Line Mag was a decent publication. I’ve seen way too many great magazines send out these horribly scammy mailers… it makes me wonder why they’re using that marketing firm. Either way, the “sample issue” was definitely ringing the scam alarm…
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
Thanks everyone for your input. Glad I read them…I won’t send in for a copy.
I found it useful in that it brought up things that thoughts and ideas to check into further.
I agree with Steve, definately brought things to your attention in a busy life that sometimes we may ignore or leave on the back burner. Yes, you can find the information all over the internet but having the links, “hmm’s i never thought of that’s” and other highlighted awareness are great. Surely, you don’t believe everything you read on the internet either before researching.
I’m with Walt. I subscribe to several Bottom Line Publications. Have for years. Love them all and refer back to them over and over. The information can be cutting edge and the excerpts are from renowned and respected individuals, e.g. Dr. Weil, Bernie Siegel, Steve Covey, etc. There are times when the information can be outdated, and this is true in any publication. Cut and paste research etc., I see the same information regurgitated on different websitess, verbatim -where the heck is plagiarsm protection? However, I digress. Bottom line is, no pun intended, the bottom line is after reading an article and further due diligence on a recommended stock market “tip,” I purchased said fund. That fund now has a $10,000.00 minimum investment, (I am fortunately grandfatherd in). The fund manager is not only manager of the year, he was named manager of the DECADE. Over ten years ago I was also fortunate to heed the advise and bought into another fund that has been closed to new investors for at least the last ten years. I have Bottom Line to thank. Bottom Line Personal has a variety of information including new gadgets and my favorite, a pet section. Can’t forget our furry friends. Yes, they bait you, give “soundbites” to tease you to what else? Purchase their product. Duh! You can forgo the magazine and get the Book, but I prefer the little pmagazinettes (no advertising!), as they are easy to take anywhere. I agree with the poster though, I hate “scammy” come ons and they could do a better job of marketing as Joe said.
I dont know what issue you had , yet I have been a reader of Bottom Line for years and I certainly do not take them to be a scam , they use a form of marketing that could seem tacky or suspect ,and the graphics give it that junk mail look , yet it is highly informative, I critique magazines/newsletters on a regular basis for my personal use and I have acquired a lot of great useful info from Bottom Line.
BOTTOM LINE PERSONAL IS NOT A SCAM. I HAVE BEEN SUBSCRIBING FOR 1-YEAR AND I AM RENEWING MY SUBSCRIPTION. SURE, SOME OF THE ARTICLES SEEM TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. HOWEVER, IT OPENS UP POTENTIAL AVENUES OF THOUGHT THAT I CAN RESEARCH LATER. I LIKE THE CONCISE FORMAT THE OF THE NEWSLETTER. I AM FAIRLY KNOWLEDGABLE IN THE FINANCIAL AREA, BUT I LEARN SOMETHING NEW WITH EVERY ISSUE.
Strange so much angst about Bottom Line. It’s a small, helpful newsletter. Someone sends me it as a gift each year. Sometimes I read it, sometimes I don’t. If you’re prone to dive in and follow every bit of financial advice or health advice verbatim, I’d contend the problem isn’t the article. Frankly, this website is a lot cheesier than anything in Bottom line.
great site. I’ve honestly fancied it!
The magazine is actually not a scam. My step father who was financially savvy, subscribed to the magazine for years. I’ve subscribed to it for about 2 or 3 years now and just renewed my subscription. You can probably find the information elsewhere if you do read lots of blogs, but it is is a nice format and you get other people to do the searching for you for under $50 a year. I think that’s pretty reasonable for the amount of time you’ll save.
As for the content, its mostly financial advice, but there is other advice in there as well – health, relationships, etc. that come from recent research and events, such as how the health care laws will affect you, changes in travel security laws, etc. There’s an article here on maintaining your driveway, for example.
Yeah, they do send ads which are of the overblown teaser-type, hyped up marketing that looks potentially scammy. I never would have signed up if I hadn’t already read a bunch of issues that my stepfather had accumulated over the years.
Another thing is that they send you for free on occasion, a Bottom Line Health little magazine that you can subscribe to. I don’t, but I do read the free ones. BTW, here’s their web site so you can look yourself: https://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/index.html.
I also have been getting the Bottom Line for a few years. Most of the articles are actually pretty helpful. The scams usually involve lots of ads so the mag owners can get rich. This mag has no ads. People buy it because they like the content. Very simple.