Author Archives: admin

This Is As Good As It Gets

How do you feel about the following statements?

“The trade of advertising is now so near perfection that
it is not easy to propose any improvement.”

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

I think most of us would at least see some truth there. Advertising is very sophisticated now, even compared to 15 or 20 years ago. Surely we must be close to the limit of what can be done.

And the same could be said of invention and innovation. Over the past 100 years we’ve invented practically everything man ever dreamed of, and a great deal more besides. In recent years the computer and the digital revolution seem to have completed the picture. It certainly seems like there’s little of any consequence left to be invented.

If you find yourself nodding in agreement with any of the above, consider the following… The writer, Samuel Johnson, made the first statement, highlighting the perfection of the advertising business, in 1759 – over 250 years ago. The second statement, bemoaning the downfall of invention, was made by Charles Duell, US Patent Office Commissioner in 1899 – over 100 years ago. In fact, his disillusionment caused him to resign from his job. Still, I’m sure he didn’t miss much.

Here’s the point. Pick any time in history and you will find that people felt that previous generations had it easier, that the opportunities were better and more plentiful, that it was so much more simple to make your mark in the world. If only we could have been around then. We’d have really made a go of it! We have a word for this. We call it nostalgia. Fact is, when we look back at past opportunities we do so with the benefit of hindsight. When we’re assessing the current openings available to us we have to do so using foresight. And that’s considerably less reliable!

We can all look back a comparatively short time and say how much easier it would have been back then to prosper in computers, software, mobile phones or a host of other markets that were in their infancy at the time. And we may well be right. But the people getting out there and actually doing it at the time didn’t really know that for sure. It’s only hindsight that adds the certainty. Foresight created the profit.

Here in the 21st Century, you can be sure that the new opportunities available, and the avenues for improving existing opportunities, are at least as plentiful as at any time in history. They’re just not as obvious to you because you don’t have the benefit of hindsight to guide you.

Don’t fall into the nostalgia trap. In ten years’ time, these will be the “good old days” when ‘getting on’ was as easy as falling off a log. By then, of course, things won’t be nearly so easy, and opportunities won’t be nearly as plentiful. Except, of course, they will. Remember, becoming a success in whatever you want to do is as easy as it’s ever going to get. There’s absolutely no logical reason for looking back, or delaying making a start for a moment longer.

Kind Regards

John Harrison

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Just In…

Hello,

We have just received the email below from one of our customers. I thought you might be interested in what he has to say…

From: John C******* [john********@*****.com]
Sent: 09 August 2020 09:58
To: Admin
Subject: “The Hermes Strategy “

Dear Bill,

Well that was a result —- I certainly wasn’t expecting the system to pay for itself in 2 days with 66/1 shot Star of Emaraaty! I have backed 66/1 shots before, but I don’t think I would have picked this one!

Once again ——Thank You Very Much.

Kind Regards,

John

If you’d like full details on what he is talking about please Click Here

All The best

John

There Are Some Reasons To Be Cheerful

The two biggest uncertainties facing investors are when we will have an effective vaccine or treatment for Covid-19 and whether the economic recovery will be V-shaped or resemble some other increasingly contorted letter of the alphabet.

Although these questions are obviously related, they are not entirely the same. The world will not get back to normal until the coronavirus is no longer a major problem, either because we’ve solved it medically or because enough people have caught it and got over it.

But the scale of the economic shutdown that we’ve seen in the last few months is so great that unless activity snaps back as far as it can in the meantime, we risk a vicious cycle of business failures and rising unemployment that condemns us to many years of economic struggle even if vaccines, treatments or acquired immunity arrive relatively soon.

So while stockmarkets are justifiably taking the view that a year or two of lost profits has little impact on the long-term fundamental value of companies, they are still implicitly betting that the wider economy rebounds as much as possible. Anything that is not V-shaped at first means greater medium-term risks, not just a slower recovery.

Motivational Quote Of The Day

“You do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.”

Diana Ross

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“Being wealthy when no one else is, is like being the only one at the party with a drink.”

Tim Allen

Hence watching the short-term economic data is a lot more important now than it would usually be. That doesn’t mean fretting over GDP numbers. First, these don’t arrive in time to be useful. The Office for National Statistics will release its UK GDP estimate for April to June on 12 August – more than one month after the end of the quarter. Second, we already know what it will show, a gigantic recession.

The actual magnitude is irrelevant. What matters is what’s going on right now, that means looking at more timely leading economic indicators. So far, these look modestly encouraging. UK retail sales were nearly back to pre-lockdown levels in June. Restaurant and pub trade seemed to be at around 70% of the preCovid-19 level by mid-July, which is a reasonable start given that the government has spent months trying to terrify people into staying in their homes.

New car sales were weak in June, but it seems buyers may have held back in the hope of a government incentive scheme. The picture appears broadly similar elsewhere: the OECD composite leading indicators show activity starting to bounce back globally in June. Unemployment remains very high and job vacancies low, but hiring and firing always lags the cycle. In short, uncertainty is high, but if you’re an optimist, a V certainly looks possible.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT DAY !

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Just In…

Hello,

We have just received the email below from one of our customers. I thought you might be interested in what he has to say…

From: John C******* [john********@*****.com]
Sent: 09 August 2020 09:58
To: Admin
Subject: “The Hermes Strategy “

Dear Bill,

Once again ——Thank You Very Much.

Kind Regards,

John

If you’d like full details on what he is talking about pleaseClick Here

All The best

John

It’s Later Than You Think

You may not realise it yet, but the weeks, months and years will very soon start whizzing by at a rate you find hard to comprehend. If you’ve got things you want to do (and who of us hasn’t?) it’s never too early to get started.

You may not recognise the name Lenny McLean. In the 1970s and early 1980s he was ‘king’ of the unlicensed boxing ring. When he wasn’t fighting men in the ring he was fighting them outside it as a bare-knuckle fighter, minder, debt collector and doorman – the sort of character for whom the word ‘colourful’ was invented!

In his later years McLean moved into TV and films in small supporting roles, and his last appearance was in the hit film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I say last appearance, because while making the film he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died soon after.

Now, up until being issued with a ‘death sentence’, McLean had always relied on his physical attributes and presence to make a living. He realised that this avenue was no longer open to him, and not only that, but decades of hitting and being hit had done little to benefit him financially. In short, he was effectively broke, and he knew that when he died his wife would have nothing.

It dawned on McLean that the value in what he’d been doing for the last 30-odd years was not in the work he’d done, but in the story he could tell. And so he decided to write his autobiography. It was entitled The Guv’nor – McLean’s nickname in the boxing ring. When the book was published, it was an immediate hit and remained firmly placed in the Top Ten Bestsellers list for at least two years.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the autobiography ultimately earned far more than McLean made from his other activities throughout his entire career.

Sadly, he isn’t around to benefit – and that’s the point. This book could have been written at any time and McLean would have been able to enjoy the benefits, but it took something catastrophic to shift him out of his comfort zone and into a new, better and more lucrative course of action. In reality, most of us are like this.

We have ambitions, we think there’s probably a better way, we suspect there’s more out there for us, but our current life isn’t so bad. And so inertia gets in the way and stops us from taking the actions necessary to move on.

Yes, we want more but before we get it we have to do something. We have to take action. And that’s the difficult bit. That’s why we wait – to be made redundant… for an ailing business to finally collapse… for a milestone birthday… for New Year’s Eve… to become ill or disabled… whatever – before finally doing something positive.

If we’re fortunate and it’s not too late, everything works out well, our new path is successful and we go from strength to strength. But why wait to be forced into a corner, or for some false and meaningless future date before doing it? After all, we can never get that wasted time back – the time between being able to do it and actually doing so.

I think, the writer, Mark Twain, summed it up perfectly when he said: “Twenty years from now, you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover.”

It’s a great quote, and so true. Speak to most people in the later years of their lives and you will rarely hear talk of things that they wish they hadn’t done; but plenty of talk about opportunities which have now passed, and which should have been seized upon at the time.

Three of the saddest words to start any sentence are: “If only I’d… ” How many times have you heard them? You really don’t want to be the one using them in twenty years’ time.

Can you imagine anyone lying on his or her deathbed, with a saddened look in their eyes, and saying: “I wish I’d spent a bit more time in that dead-end job”? Neither can I. But the truth is that millions lie there wishing that they’d chased their dream; that they’d taken that chance…

Don’t be one of them

Kind Regards

John Harrison

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

I hope you’re keeping safe and well.

This offer is limited, so we are only make it available to our most valued Streetwise customers at the moment.

Back in the autumn, we alerted a few of our customers to a course, created by a guy making what seemed at the time to be an outrageous prediction.

He predicted the world would soon be gripped by a unprecedented crisis which would create a huge financial opportunity. Crazy eh?

Anyway the course revolved around a strategy which would enable anyone to make £2,803 a month to ‘tick over’ in normal times, but would then transform into a massive fortune maker once the implications of the predicted crisis hit.

Not many people (including me!) believed the prediction, but £2,800 a month is certainly worth having and a number of our customers got on the bandwagon and started doing well with it…and then the crisis came…sooner than anyone thought.

The big opportunity he planned for is about to hit, and I want as many of our customers as possible to benefit…but there’s a hitch.

For reasons explained when you take a look at the details here, I can only help NINE people at the moment. But those nine people are going to get something nobody else has been able to get up until today…

The full programme in one package and at a huge discount!

For full details take a look here.

www.streetwisenews.com/CFTFC

Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison
Streetwise Publications

P.S. Everything comes fully guaranteed and makes truly fascinating reading.

www.streetwisenews.com/CFTFC

Pets Are A Rather Pricey Proposition These Days

The covid crisis has led to a boom in pet sales, with lockdown prompting many of us to decide that we could do with one to keep us company. Pets4Homes, the free pet classified advertisements site, rehomed 2,000 pets per day during lockdown.

If you got a pet the chances are you paid a lot for it. With demand fast outstripping supply, prices have rocketed, with the average cost of a puppy doubling to £1,400. Cocker spaniels saw the biggest price rise. A puppy would have set you back by an average £2,109 in June, triple the cost 12 months earlier.

The price of cats also shot up by almost a third during lockdown. People were parting with almost £400 on average for a kitten. If you are inclined to get a pet, be careful. In March and April 669 people lost £282,686 to pet cons, according to Action Fraud. Scammers post advertisements online despite not having any animals to sell. They ask for a deposit, then more money for insurance, vaccinations and delivery, but the pet never appears.

Always identify a Kennel Club Assured Breeder, or find a breeder through a personal recommendation. Ensure you see a puppy, even if it’s over a video call, and ask to see vital paperwork, such as a puppy contract. Before you get a pet, consider how much it can cost you over its lifetime. Food, vets’ bills and other costs add up to an average of £4,500 for a small dog, rising to £13,000 for a large breed.

The average cat will cost its owner around £12,000. The next question is pet insurance. It is a booming industry, with 3.6 million policies. “Given the high costs of veterinary care, a growing number of pet owners are… paying a steady monthly premium for peace of mind. Claims have nearly doubled to £815m in the past six years.

The average pet insurance claim is £793. Before you sign up, note that the average premium for a dog over the age of five is £381 a year. If you have a dog that lives for 15 years, it would cost £4,975 to insure it. If you have savings to cover vets’ bills in the early years, then another option is to self-insure. Rather than pay an insurer you put the equivalent premium into a savings account.