First, a big thanks to the 40+ people who have volunteered to pay for access to one or both of our Collective2 portfolios in order to help us get this new feature off the ground. These “volunteers” will soon be invited to our first live web-based conference where we’ll discuss our current portfolio allocation strategies as well as answer any questions about the portfolios, individual companies or any other relevant investment topic. Volunteers should expect to receive an email shortly asking about a preferred time for these conferences.
Please Note: If you have already signed up to one or both of our Collective2 accounts but requested free access then at this point you will not be invited to participate in these web conferences — we are purposefully trying to keep these live meetings small and exclusive for now so that we can fine tune our approach. That said, our list of “volunteers” is still on the smallish side and so there is still some space to sign up for the Collective2 accounts (or to request a switch from free to paying status). The “special” deal for Founding Members is that we have created a graduated rate structure of $25 per portfolio for the first quarter, $15 for the second quarter, $5 for the third quarter and $0 therefore (as already mentioned you can also opt to get the portfolios for free right off the bat but then you don’t get to participate in the web conferences for now). Please also note that we will reduce the quarterly cost to just $5 per portfolio as long as we are not able to beat the performance benchmark for that portfolio — this was the case for Q1’2011 and therefore Collective2 subscribers pay just $5 when renewing during the current quarter (if you sign up now, your first billing period will be in 30 days and so if we again don’t beat the benchmark during the second quarter than your initial billing will be $5 instead of $25).
Here are the links to our Collective2 portfolios where you can sign up:
Please recognize that Collective2 is a completely separate entity from Metal Augmentor and we have no business relationship with them other than using their service to provide a real-time tracking tool to illustrate portfolio allocation and trading strategies. This is why you need to provide separate login and billing information when signing up for Collective2.
For all Founding Members out there who enjoy a free lunch as much as we do, and who are not interested in the live web conferences or other benefits we have planned for the gracious “volunteers”, you are still very welcome to sign up for one or both of our Collective2 portfolios and simply send us an email requesting free access. We’ll then adjust your quarterly billing rate down to $0 and it will remain that way forever. Meanwhile, regular subscribers of Metal Augmentor (we are gearing up to start accepting them this summer) will be paying $25 per quarter for each portfolio — we hope that more Founding Members will take advantage of this special benefit in the future.
For those who have decided to become “volunteers” already, we would like to convey our appreciation once again for your assistance. Please look for an email soon regarding the scheduling of the first web conference — this will be the first of many more “thank you’s” to come. In the meantime, you can visit the following link to review several instructional videos for Webex, the web conference system that we will be using initially: http://www.webex.com/howto/index.html. It would help in particular if potential attendees familiarize themselves with the “Attend a meeting” and “Connect to meeting audio” videos (a total of about 2 minutes long). We expect the first meeting to run about an hour depending on the number of participants and questions we receive. Going forward we’ll plan to host at least one if not several web conferences every month (some will cover special situations such as critical company news). Another idea we would like to pursue is setting up company presentations and/or Q&A sessions for Founding Members to find out more about companies in the portfolio.
From what we’ve seen so far, we’re confident that WebEx is going to be a powerful tool for communicating ideas with Founding Members and so we’re excited to soon host our first conference. For those unable to attend the meetings live, we will have an archive of the calls in a video library. Unfortunately, the one negative aspect of the live conferences at this time is that we will be unable to provide a toll-free number, but if you cannot call long distance you still have the option to participate using your computer’s speakers and microphone over the Internet. We apologize in advance for the learning curve that we’ll all have to climb before these live conferences go off without a hitch but the end result should be worth it — a new, direct method to communicate with our Founding Members that few if any other investment research services or newsletters can claim to provide.
Hi Guys
I’m one of those who volunteered to pay up for the Collective2 site but I can’t remember letting you know that.
Thanks,
Jim
I think I qualify for the special web conference as I volunteered to pay for the collective2 myself. Do you automatically cross reference or did I have to let you know when I signed up , Thanks
I am somewhat confused by the paying status rate for the 2 portfolio’s. Does your statement ” $25 per portfolio for the first quarter, $15 for the second quarter, $5 for the third quarter and $0 ” mean that if I pay $ 45.00 per portfolio, or $ 90.00 total, that I am a paid member period, with no further costs ? Or is there an ongoing quarterly cost ? Sorry for what might be a stupid question. Thanks
I’m looking forward to the web conference roll out. This looks like a great addition (adding some spice) that will benefit MA subscribers.
In particular, as the conference plans to cover special situations such as critical company news. In this regard, when company news breaks… without expert analysis, an investor (interested or invested) in the company may misinterpret the information released. As a result, trading errors/regrets may follow.
Volatility in our preferred sectors is robust, thus providing opportunities for trading the quick moves in PM stocks that we follow. Some companies being actively traded, while others are considered longer-term core holdings
This added conference service will help MA subscribers focus their investment and trading decisions at this highly critical time.
I’m all for fewer stocks to ponder, with improved insight on those that are deemed to be most appealing.
With gold trading above $1500, It’s difficult to believe the lack of investor interest in some of the better up and coming producers…. some of which will be making serious money. Once they’ve recouped their startup costs = profits on the way! In fact, some companies have already reported solid profits in Q211.
Recently we’ve seen a lot of excellent companies thrown under the bus. Good values abound! Thus it’s time to focus our buying choices… using our skills for portfolio adjustment/management during this summer sale.
Thanks MA, for keeping the service evolution (with a coming new website too) moving forward.
Can you record the conference so the rest of us can hear it on a delayed basis?
I don’t get it. Are these conferences something new or something that has gone on for a while. Where do I find the schedule? Are there any archives that I can look at to see whether I will benefit?
Douglas M Dillon
@Jim Tushingham
Yes you are a paying volunteer. If anyone wishes to volunteer they don’t need to let us know, we’ll keep track of everything including adjusting your payment plan down to $0 after 3 quarters. The only reason you would need to contact us is if you want your Collective2 subscription(s) costs reduced to $0 immediately. But in doing so you will not be invited to the web conferences.
@nipper
Yes we cross reference which means you’re good to go and will be receiving an email with more information on the web conference shortly.
@wfs989
Short answer: Yes. It’s a bit confusing, but this is being done for the benefit of Founding Members.
To review, Founding Members have the option of volunteering or getting a $0 rate right out of the gate (you need to contact us for this option). If you volunteer you’ll have access to our special web conferences and you’ll pay a graduated rate for 3 quarters, $25/$15/$5. It’s extra confusing because if we don’t beat our benchmarks the rate defaults to $5, such that the graduated rate might end up looking like this, $5/$5/$5 for some.
This only for the first 3 quarters of each Founding Members’ Collective2 subscription. So to be clear, the maximum any Founding Member volunteer would pay for each Collective2 system is $45 for the life of that subscription.
@GL
Thanks for the kind words GL. I’m not sure I agree about solid profits as almost everything I’m seeing is a pretty disappointing, but maybe next quarter will be the big one where there are no problems (I’m being sarcastic). Generally though some good companies are on sale.
@Howard
We plan to record the conference, but only those who volunteered for one or both of the Collective2 accounts will have access at least initially. We may archive these later at some point, but they would probably lose much of their relevance by then. The idea of course is that we want to encourage everyone to sign up to Collective2 and if you’re willing to pitch in a little to help us cover our costs (yes, there are costs associated with Collective2 for us) then we’ll give you the benefit of participating in these exclusive calls.
@Douglas M Dillon
Yes these are new, hence the statement “first live web-based conference”. We don’t have a schedule yet because we want to get some feedback about when works best from those who are eligible to participate.
I’ve removed your contact information from your comment.
how were founding members notified?
is there a main place for info on all this?
thanks
@louie
I’m not sure what you’re asking. As stated above if you joined Metal Augmentor prior to April 2011 then you are a Founding Member (i.e. all current members, since subscriptions have been closed since early 2011).
To my knowledge you are not signed up to either of the Collective2 portfolios so if you were expecting to be notified about the Web Conference then you would first need to subscribe to one or both of the C2 portfolios. On that subject, an email was just sent a few minutes ago to all volunteers asking them what time works best for the call. If you believe you qualify as a volunteer and did not receive the email please let us know.
After looking forward so much to the web conference… I missed it!
Was expecting some kind of email to let me know when… missed the notice above and blew it.
Oh well, maybe I was not supposed to participate anyway…. since my views are not always in step.
@GLI believe Tom and Dave are making a recording available to all subscribers soon. I think you’ll be happy that the content was all about the current/future outlook on MA’s Collective2 equity positions.
Looking forward to recording and the next conference.
@GL
There will be more, don’t worry. You should have received an invitation email that went to your xxxx@mailbag.com address about a day in advance of the web conference. Today you should have received an email with instructions on how to watch a recording of the conference. If you didn’t receive either of these there’s a problem with your email address.
We would of course be happy to see you participating in the call next time.
@forwill
For now at least the recording is only being made available to Collective2 volunteers.
@ibem52
See above. If you have any questions about subscribing to either of the Collective2 accounts let us know.
@zurbo
I wasn’t able to hear the audio, may I know how can I get the recording?
@Giuseppe
See prior response to GL. You should have received an email from us at your xxxxx76@gmail with instructions on how to listen to the recording.
@Giuseppe
We have fixed the audio so you’ll be able to hear it through your computer next time.
Downloaded the software and listened to the web conference – as a newcomer and novice – it was beneficial to “meet” Tom/Zurbo a little and get an overview on the current portfolio – I took a few notes and while very basic, it was helpful to get some of MA’s perspective and experience on the different companies. Now as a Niogold shareholder would have liked to hear a little more detail on this strong buy/now buy recommendation. I think overall a fine first start – look forward to seeing more input from others and look forward as well to next web conference.
Listened to the conference replay since I too missed the live event. Excellent job guys, enjoyed the verbal comments you gave on the approx. 30 companies and liked the powerpoint type page for each company, summarizing the issues or their near term goals.
For those of us with some cash to invest, I’m going to nibble and buy some of the more conservative (safer) plays based on your updates/comments here. Thanks