I do like the show, but . . . .

[billogoods]

In Cramer's "Real Money" (don't be impressed by the idea I have read it, sort of, as I buy and read a ton of financial and investment books, probably like a lot of you guys) he says right from the get go that he's providing "the trading and investing secrets that enabled [him] to retire at an early age . . . ."

Well, I would like to ask Mr. Cramer what percentage of the "fortune" he has earned, enabling him to retire wealthy, has been from these techniques or secrets and what percentage has been from "thestreet.com," his, at least, two books, TV appearances, and investment advisory fees and commissions. I don't know.

I will say the show is very entertaining and, as others have observed, based on an articulated startegy about each stock and a general observation about market direction. As stated in another forum, I have a "CMM" portfolio and intend to take up some of his recomendations which I'll track until I crash and burn or am able to chuck my law practice and invest full time.

[carol4430]

Dave, I would like to hear at the end of your two weeks trial what you actually thought of the newsletter. My question to anyone who subscribes to it.....will this newsletter advise you of stocks he is going to suggest on his show before it appears. The <TEX> stock went up $3 the day that he was mentioning it and I assume it will go up more on Monday. So my thought is......was this stock mentioned in his newsletter on Friday and therefore drove the price up at that time.
I do not have before the bell service and it seems to me if you are going to make any money at this you need that edge of knowing what he is going to suggest that evening before the market closes or be able to do before the bell trading.
Has anyone subscribed to his newsletter and found the $399 to be pocket change in comparison to what you have eventually made from its tips?

[NCDave]

Carol, so far my opinion of the newsletter is somewhat mixed. There is good info on it, but is mostly opinions of various street watchers (which is still better than what I had before...one broker and the regular news outlets). The Before the Bell service hits my computer well after the bell, but I don't recall any of the hot stocks he mentions showing up in that particular newsletter. The Action Alerts are a little more positive. I have seen some stocks show up on the Action Alerts prior to him mentioning them on the show that night, but it doesn't happen too often. Kind of interesting how there is a flurry of after-hours trading on the stocks he mentions, and they usually pick up a good 10% before we get the chance to buy the next day. When that happens, I usually look at the company and decide if it's worth taking the chance they will come back down in a few days, or if they will continue to run up.

In any event, I'm going to keep them this year, and evaluate the two services towards the end of the period and decide whether to keep them an additional year or not.

The $500+ has already been recouped several times over in just the last few weeks.

[carol4430]

Thanks for the reply. I am going to watch just the program for a while and see how my portfolio does.....so far I can't complain it is up and the stocks that I have bought on his recommendation that have gone down he is still mentioning on his show and recommending them so I have hopes they will turn around. I don't want to chase a stock cause I know for sure as soon as I buy it it will head south. LOL would love to hear from you as you proceed with his newsletter recommendations.

[Eric B]

carol4430,

On the show Jim mentioned that TEX was up $3 because they announced a conference call to talk about restated earnings. Some of the hop might have been because of Jim mentioning it, but he knew it was up $3 at the time the show was recorded.

HTH,
-eric

[David]

TEX isn't the only recommendation that this has happened to.

It's almost scary some nights (the night he was promoting cell phone tower stocks as just one ex.) and watching their tickers go by on the NASDAQ in after hours trading up nearly 10%.

The question I also have: is it his recommendation causing the move? And how are traders getting the info b4 he announces it on the show from 6-7 ET?

Just watching these jumps, and bc I like his rationale behind most of his rec., I'd subscribe to some service to get these alerts or whatever they are called before the show airs.

I may be caught up in his enthusiasm, but I've been on a buying spree since becoming addicted to his show. I'm up though so can't be all bad. Market is up in general also.

Dave in NY, sometimes FL

[Thierry Martin]

They tape the show around 4:00 and callers are on conference call while waiting their turn - they are supposed to have agreed to not discuss or trade based on what they hear Cramer talk about, but I guess sometimes people can't control themselves when it comes to making easy money.

[Yaya]

I just bought his book and I like that he says to do your own HOMEWORK OR SPADEWORK! He admits he can be wrong and his advice may come too late for us. I like that he doesn't seem to want the responsibility of handling our investments nor should he have to. I'm still not sure how valuable his advice is because I am new to investing. Also, I found an investing site that seems to say the same things he says (so far) and explains it better. However, I haven't read anyone else promoting speculation and I really like that idea. I guess I'm a risk taker. Peeps don't want to admit it but investing is like gambling. Since I'm not good at Texas holdem'...yet, I 'll do this

[Jay Framson]

I noticed last night that on some of the stocks he was recommending, he was recommending that people go out and buy it in after-hours trading with a limit order in case the stock has already gone up. I hadn't noticed this before, although I have heard him mention buying with limit orders and wondered what that meant. So I guess he is aware that prices go up after he mentions them and it seems that to take advantage of his recommendations you either have trade right away after hours, or wait for a pullback in the stock. Since his show isn't seen until 6 p.m. on the west coast, which is I believe too late for after hours trading, this aspect of the show would seem to have limited value for those of us out here.

[deepinwonder]

At our online brokerage, you can only use limit orders after hours. I don't think it matters where you live, the after hours trades are open for everyone at the same time. Six o'clock in NY is 3 o'clock in CA, so adjust accordingly.

You can hear some of what Cramer is going to talk about if you go to thestreet and click on his radio show, it airs on that website at 4 pm and he often repeats himself on tv, later that evening.

I got a free trial to some of those newsletters from thestreet.com and canceled before I got charged those exhorbitant amounts. I like Cramer and a couple of other writers, but some of them steered me in the wrong direction a few too many times, so I got rid of all of it, including the free stuff, from my mail box. I don't want them in my headspace.

They are also charging too much to access too many different areas and are not using a good marketing strategy to reach their audience, so their stock is in THE TANK and they are losing money. I doubt Cramer is making much, if any, on it.