Customer Reviews

The Option Advisor: Wealth-Building Techniques Using Equity & Index Options (A Marketplace Book)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

In this weeks issue of Forbes Bernie and by default his theory is ranked 60 out of 65 for his trading and newsletter Option Advisor.

Over the course of ten years ranked as a high risk trader you would have lost 10% of your money following Bernie's ideas. In fact he got the lowest grade of D.

The book follows the same vein. Nothing new and simple trying to make more money from people that believe he knows something.

Give the book, Bernie and his company a miss.

Forbes says so. My experience is the same. Beware his telemarkers too.

I bought this book from Bernie's sales force. He has a high powered telephone telemarketing crew that look to sell you the world of promises and riches. Beware!

I bought a newsletter and lost money. I bought the book and found it wandering. This man has lost his way confused about whether he trades or sells his wares. If he is so good trading and market timing then why does he not manage money for a living?

The answer is simple can't trade then you sell your opinion and proclaim yourself a guru. Well I bought in as a sucker and am out a lot of money. I asked for a refund and am told it is non refundable. Convenient. I would give the book away but I don't want anyone to get caught like me. Firewood is an idea!

I have since found other books on the Amazon top 10 option bestseller list that hit the mark and taught me what I wanted to know.

Oh, Bernie above Wade. Well talk about scraping the barrel of comparisons.

This book surprised me because it was much better than I expected. It presents a very readable--the most readable I've seen--summary of the mechanics and strategies of option trading. Moreover, the book covers topics I've never seen covered before in a book on options, such as the benefits of using information from established sources on the Internet; and cites several academic studies without slipping into the stale writing style associated with academe. Still, there is reason for a reader to be skeptical of the effectiveness of the strategies discussed in the book. The reason for this is the long-term performance record of the author's newsletter, which like the book is entitled "The Option Advi$or." According to Mark Hulbert's ratings, which have been regarded in some circles as the most accurate standards for measuring the quality of investment newsletters, this newsletter's long-term record ranks near the bottom of all letters covered. Only Joseph Granville's "Market Letter," as far as I remember, has a worse ten-year record. That said, one has to wonder whether the strategies discussed in the book are going to be effective in the future. On one hand, past performance does not necessarily portend future results. On the other, however, Schaeffer's picks in the past, assuming they've been chosen according to the strategies discussed in the book, have been less than outstanding in the past. Careful readers should remember that if they want to use this book more than as a decent general reference guide.

The option Advisor is a decent book on options. It gives a good market view on options trading. However the Authors' monthly newsletter The Option Advisor, has a very bad track record. The Author offers a 3 month free trial to his newletter in the back of the book - be careful puting your money into these trades. One should track the recommendations over time, to see how they do before putting money into these trades.

I find it funny how many negative things I have been reading here and I have a few comments. First, this book is GREAT? In 4 months I made thousands of dollars by following Bernie's strategies. Second, he actually TEACHES how to do something with your money that isn't confusing, unlike many other money making strategy books. Third, he STRESSES over and over that you MUST CUT YOUR LOSSES when they hit 8% and let your winners run to overcome the deficit.
I wonder how many of these negative people that have posted angry messages here were too emotional and let their greed or fear get the better of them while making investment decisions attempting to follow Bernie's advice? I learned a long time ago that being negative and only talking about the problem and not a SOLUTION to the problem is NOT the way to live life.
Please read this book, and FOLLOW HIS RULES. It does actually work. And don't listen to Forbes, for crying out loud they have to hate anyone else that might actually compete with them and make them look bad. How many of you have made a dime off of what Forbes magazine taught you? I haven't. Read this book...it works, but ONLY if you work and FOLLOW THE RULES!

Only 50% of the book is about options. The other 50% concentrates on how to use technical analysis to find winning stocks. It is probably the best book for the beginner and intermediate trader. With the Technical analysis, it can be used for both stocks and options. It belongs on every trader's shelf. The reason it didn't get a "5 Star" is that he really doesn't go into closing a position if the trade is going the wrong way. I pretty much had to learn that on my own. I have read it cover-to-cover 3 times and certain chapters at least 6 times.

As tracked by Mark Hulbert, following Schaeffer's Options Advisor newsletter's advice would have resulted in a compounded annual loss of 4.7% per year over a period of time when the market GAINED 12.7% per year. While his newsletter has not lost money in recent years it has trailed the S&P 500 over 1-, 3-, 5-, 10-, and 15-year time periods.

Is that kind of advice worth paying for and worth spending your time to read? I think not.

The service is a sure way to loose money. I consider myself as a novice investor but I can do better on my own than following his advise. Talking to service rep is waste of your time and effort. The service rep will listen to you but do nothing.
The research company refuses to refund unused portion. What a nice TRAP. I wish I had read the reviews over here before I threw my hard earned money.

I shelled out money for the newsletter as well. I can't think of a faster way to lose money, than to use his advise! They're awful. Good general information, but he's no top picker!

I bought the book and found nothing of value except his analysis of put-call ratios.

I noted that Forbes in 2001 ranked his 2000 newsletter performance as being the worst with D rankings for performance

Poor Bernie.