Comments on: Bottom Line Secrets Magazine, a Scam?

By: Margaret McCarthy

Margaret McCarthy — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:10:20 +0000

I’ve been reading Bottom Line for many years. They not only give tips on financial matters. There’s valuable information on health issues, consumer products, travel and leisure and how-to projects. Of course with any source following up on a suggestions is always wise. Bottom Line do I get a discount for this rave review ! A loyal subscriber for ever.

By: Jeff Ingram

Jeff Ingram — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:51:24 +0000

My grandmother has been reading this magazine, then comes preaching to me about what she has read. I consider myself to be very open to thoughts and ideas but for the most part, this magazine seems to be based on fear.
I dont think its all bad or that it doesnt have good points but alot of articles seem to be nonsense. Prolong the use of your car by cleaning the gas system?… come on, really. Ive never heard of that in my life and Ive worked around cars alot. Not that gas systems can get dirty, but there are so many other things that seem to wear out before that. And also how bad asprin is?
I dont agree in taking medication regularly (unless perscribed) but what is that supposed to accomplish?
They seem to use scare tactics to hook their clients – focusing on the older generations… buncha dirtbags if you ask me.

By: Jim Headley

Jim Headley — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:09:07 +0000

I have subscribed to Bottom Line for years and don’t take it very seriously. It’s issues contain some interesting tid bits, but I wouldn’t trust my finances, health, etc to anything I read in there. Bottom Line is not the only publication using the bill collector ploy. There is a prominent car magazine that does the same thing. Just let your subscription expire, and they keep sending the mags to you with bills, etc.followed by the collection agency. Impossible to stop. Found it easier just to pay the $20 for another year’s subscription. They’re all a bunch of thieves. There ought to be a law requiring magazines to reference your expiration date when soliciting renewals. How many people blindly renew when they get the renewal notices and wind up with 5 year+ subscription expirations?

By: Jackie Suzanne

Jackie Suzanne — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:52:15 +0000

Bottom Line Secrets is a mail order scam, pure and simple. They use automatic re-ordering of publications even if you send certified mail to them to stop sending the publications. I’m not questioning the content, although it’s very brief on any facts, loaded with unsubstantiated opinion, and is definitely not worth paying the price they are asking. Of course, they know this which is why they AUTOMATICALLY send (and bill) you their stuff. If you try to cancel is when you find the scam in their operations. You can’t stop delivery even if you state it in writing 7 times… I did! The last two were sent certified mail, return receipt requested, but they just kept coming. And, if you get fed up and decide not to pay them for things you didn’t order they’ll send you to a collection agency, like they did me. It took 22 months for me to end this madness. It only stopped when I got an attorney involved and although it cost me money it was the best money I ever spent to stop this scam.

The Bottom Line about Bottom Line? It’s a scam, pure and simple. If you buy from them you are the idiot and they are willing to prove it to you.

By: BARRY ZIEGLER

BARRY ZIEGLER — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:06:57 +0000

I’ve been reading Bottom Line for several years. Some articles are unbiased. Others clearly exhibit the writer’s bias. Many articles are factual, many others are only factual within a narrow bandwidth. Almost all the articles are between “interesting” and “very interesting”. Very few are out and out wrong.

Before taking any action on any suggestion, do your own research and analysis. And one last thing: When Bottom Line suggest a worthy web site, it is usually pretty lame. Made me wonder if they were being paid to make those suggestions.

By: monkeyfurball

monkeyfurball — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:06:38 +0000

I guess I see it from a different angle. I am a subscriber to the magazine and have been for a few years. There are many good articles in every issue, so the magazine isn’t so scammy as this reporter suggests. My net worth exceeds several million dollars and though I’m not perfect at sniffing out bad deals, this magazine really isn’t a bad deal for the inexpensive subscription price. If the mag gives you a suggestion, you do your homework and decide if its good, bad or neutral advice. Its just like anything else in life, but at least they gave you an idea to work with.

By: David

David — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:14:36 +0000

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.

By: Nick M

Nick M — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:36:06 +0000

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.

By: corporate business credit card

corporate business credit card — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:07:47 +0000

great site. I’ve honestly fancied it!

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:20:16 +0000

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.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:11:29 +0000

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.

By: A Kenan

A Kenan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:30:45 +0000

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.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:05:20 +0000

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.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:28:24 +0000

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.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:46:24 +0000

I found it useful in that it brought up things that thoughts and ideas to check into further.

By: Carmen

Carmen — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:46:20 +0000

Thanks everyone for your input. Glad I read them…I won’t send in for a copy.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:02:42 +0000

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!

By: Walt

Walt — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:38:35 +0000

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!

By: Dan Wright

Dan Wright — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:09:56 +0000

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

By: Allen Taylor

Allen Taylor — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:34:57 +0000

Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.

Allen Taylor