patrick.net

Yes. I think you run into SEC problems and potential civil liability since you are giving financial advice but are not a broker or certified financial planner. Not charging is counterproductive though, so I think this idea will be short lived. There is nothing wrong with saying you own a stock, or will be buying or selling a stock, it just gets dicey when you are recommending to people to do something.

It's how people with a vested interest get around conflict of interest by simply saying, they love a stock and are buying more of it, not saying, hey, I think this stock is right for you.

Patrick says

How about paid stock reviews as a business idea? I have the infrastructure for payments already set up.

So maybe I'll pick a stock and do some research, and then write up my impressions in a post that costs a dime.

Is there any legal hazard in selling my opinion on a stock? I know there are plenty of stock review newsletters, so it must be OK at some level.

You can write whatever you want outside of threats, libel/slanderous (I know one is verbal) comments or info that was intended to be private. Something like a homemade sex tape.

As long as taxes on income are paid, I don't see any problems with it. You can say whatever you want about stocks. It's a public entity. They have to do quarterly reports and annual reports anyway. Only place I'd tread lightly is talking about individuals within the company like CEO, CTO, etc. if you're going to monetize. If you say something that goes viral you will have a legal team on your ass.

I think it's actually fine to give my analysis and opinion of a stock as long as I make it clear they are my own opinions and "not investment advice".

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-legal-to-sell-stock-picks-or-stock-newsletter-if-you-are-not-licensed

Stock picking is not a regulated activity, and writing about stocks is also not a regulated activity. So if you are writing newspaper articles, or a newsletter, or appearing on TV, or publishing a website, or running a Facebook page where you are discussing stocks and giving your opinion on what will happen to them, you do not have to be licenced.

But providing investment advice is a regulated activity, and you need to be approved by your local regulator to do that. That is why you always see disclaimers along the lines of “There are opinions of the author and they do not consitute investment advice”.

The difference is that your opinion is general (“I think MSFT is undervalued”), and investment advice is specific to the client (“Your portfolio would work better towards your goal of retiring in 10 years if it included some MSFT”).

Of course, it all depends on where you are based. What I wrote is generally true in the US, UK and most of the EU.

Of course you can always say “the suggested donation is $1”, and hope that they actually pay something.

And, a disclaimer is “This is my opinion, not investment advice.”

Fun anecdote herewith:
A Mexican guy in La Paz took me to some diving spots, and I mentioned stocks to him.
He showed me all of his charts and whatnot, “Eliot Waves” “Fibonnaci” something, and he showed me on his laptop how he had started with $600 and had made another $800 in a few days; not bad money in Mexico.
I tried to read the screen and it had “paper trading” somewhere above the graphs.
He had never invested real money, he made nothing 😆

Since then he’s sending me messages about what the tea leaves tell him about the stocks which I mentioned to him that I want to dump, but not yet since I’m underwater.

clambo says

Since then he’s sending me messages about what the tea leaves tell him about the stocks which I mentioned to him that I want to dump, but not yet since I’m underwater.

You are the WORST type of friend. The asshole that tells them that they always make money, and never admit to losses.

This way, they can never help you improve and they cannot evaluate your advice, and worse yet, they listen to your advice.

Where's @Bitcoin now? He's been pushing bitcoin up everybody's ass for ages, and now it's down, he's GONE. It's NOW he should be urging people to purchase, if he believes in it.

We all make mistakes, but the worst type of person is the one that never fucking admits it.

I believe I made a prediction that once Bitcoin was down 65%, he'd be gone.

Well, it went down further than that.

They say that theoretically Bitcoin can only go to zero, but I say there ain't no law that says crypto can't go negative.

I haven't really been paying attention to Bitcoin.



This CEO lost close to a billion dollars of his company's money because of Bitcoin:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/michael-saylor-microstrategy-ceo-bitcoin-204325431.html

MicroStrategy (MSTR) announced on Tuesday its founder and CEO Michael Saylor will step down from the top job and take a new post as executive chairman, focused on the company's bitcoin strategy.

Phong Le, the company's president, will take over in the CEO role.

MicroStrategy reported quarterly results that were light of Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, with revenue coming at $122.1 million against expectations for $126 million. Losses in the quarter totaled $918.1 million, with $917.8 million attributable to the company's bitcoin holdings.

richwicks says

Where's @Bitcoin now? He's been pushing bitcoin up everybody's ass for ages, and now it's down, he's GONE. It's NOW he should be urging people to purchase, if he believes in it.

What would admitting it to Patnet do? I was one of his biggest detractors on the topic. Bitcoin (crypto) is shit, we all know that. It will likely run up again. I think that will be the last time.

BTC will collapse at some point and that will take down all the others. It's a race to see who can market the "next best thing" and it will go away at some point. Some of the tech may have some value, but even that might be worthless. A techie high schooler could start a coin in two minutes.

I don't wish ill will on Bitcoin (the user here) and you're right about his pumping, but who cares? Everyone here has made a shit decision we have to own. We don't owe anyone an apology for it though. Fix the mess you made and move on. Hopefully he sold some and at least covered acquisition costs and was playing with house money.

WookieMan says

What would admitting it to Patnet do?

He doesn't have to admit anything.

The time to promote a security, of any time, is when it's cheap. When you promote it as expensive you're a shill.

WookieMan says

Bitcoin (crypto) is shit, we all know that. It will likely run up again. I think that will be the last time.

I doubt it, but I could be wrong. It's unworkable as a currency, and now a ton of people got burned on it.

If it was actually workable as a tradeable currency, yeah, it would recover.

WookieMan says

I don't wish ill will on Bitcoin (the user here) and you're right about his pumping, but who cares? Everyone here has made a shit decision we have to own.

I'm asking him to OWN it.

Not asking for an apology. I would appreciate some self review.

You know what, if Ukraine wins this war against Russia, I will eat crow. This is something I don't see coming, don't imagine possible.

15 years ago, I said the same thing about Iraq in a war - if Iraq turned out to be a democratic republic that experienced good development with a happy population, I would eat crow. I didn't eat crow then.

I don't "predict" what I want to see happen, I predict what I expect to happen. People have told me I'm overly cynical and dismal, but they've never pointed out "here, this is where you were wrong! Aren't you embarrassed by your negativity now?"

But I can only make predictions on the outcome of whatever my government does, that's easy to see. Much harder with finance, since that's an entirely false market. The way that works is every transaction of every person in the market is collected - every trade is known. With this, they can select the type of person they want to "win" - and of course, they always win.

Rishwicks, despite your insults I will reply.
I think you confused me with someone else, I would never buy Bitcoin.
I am not telling the guy to day trade in an imaginary account with imaginary money, it’s his idea.
My method of investing doesn’t lose money.
I’m underwater a few thousand dollars with BABA.
The majority of my money is in mutual funds.

He was telling me that my method of wealth building was wrong and I should learn from him how to read the charts.

I tell people I know how to get financially secure; some do something about it, many don’t .

Right, I think Rick is confused about which person was into Bitcoin.

Also, it's a very personal comment. Please don't do that.

clambo says

Rishwicks, despite your insults I will reply.

Richwicks - but that is how I'll be pronouncing it in about 2 hours I expect.. Bottoms up!

clambo says

I think you confused me with someone else, I would never buy Bitcoin.
I am not telling the guy to day trade in an imaginary account with imaginary money, it’s his idea.
My method of investing doesn’t lose money.
I’m underwater a few thousand dollars with BABA.
The majority of my money is in mutual funds.

He was telling me that my method of wealth building was wrong and I should learn from him how to read the charts.

I tell people I know how to get financially secure; some do something about it, many don’t .

I didn't mean to insult.

I'm expressing my frustration with people that only tell you about their awesome stock picks, and are totally silent about their awful ones. Let him know you're under, BIG DEAL. As long as you don't do this, you're not informing him.

I know a "big investor" in Bitcoin, not the guy here, he is entirely silent about it now although he promoted it for a bit, when he bought it, at $35,000. He won't mention it to me NOW that he's down, although he pushed me to get into it. Maybe he sold, maybe he didn't, but I don't know. I just know I was "crazy" not to get into it.

I won't tell you about my investments unless I tell you both when I buy, and when I sell. I remember somebody recommending Norwegian Cruise Lines, they DID buy at the bottom but it's close to there now. Right now, I think value investing might be in order, but I've not done it. I've not figured out what the government is doing to fuck us over yet.

Patrick says

Right, I think Rick is confused about which person was into Bitcoin.

Also, it's a very personal comment. Please don't do that.

I'm expressing my frustration in general about people who never mention "oh yeah, I'm down in that stock, haha".

Come on Patrick, you must know people like this, they only tell you about their successes and never their errors. I hate people that do that. It's a sort of gaslighting. These people are AWFUL for listening for financial advice, because they LIE about their success.