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I believe I have enough experience to refute some of the complaints about the service

I’ve been a subscriber for less than one year to True Income, but I believe I have enough experience to refute some of the complaints about the service.
Most of us get plenty of advice on how to invest in stocks, but very little is written about more conservative strategies such as covered calls and bonds, both of which should be a component in everyone’s portfolio.
I understood Mike’s position on the recommended bonds to be that they would “generally” be held to maturity, so while my bond portfolio is up 17% so far this year in aggregate, the most important part is that I’m getting paid the dividends and will receive my investment back at the end of the bond’s term. Therefore, I feel I’m getting the exact return promised (as long as the company remains solvent). By holding to maturity, I pay little attention to the fluctuations in pricing; I use this service as a long term investment that I believe it was intended to be.
Bottom line: if your broker called and said if you give me $2900 today, in 2011 I’ll give you back $5000 and pay you a 12% yield to maturity, would you make the deal? Well that’s exactly what was recommended with Cott Beverages in True Income, and I’d be very happy to get more deals just like that.
Have I invested in every suggestion Mike has made? No, but I’ll bet when someone gives you that next great stock tip, you weigh the risk-reward before you put your own money at risk.
True Income is no different, and is an important component of my personal investing.

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01 November 2009

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I think Mike is an honest straight shooter.

I think Mike is an honest straight shooter. He is the only letter writer that ever answered one of my inquiries with a personal email response. The problem with Mike’s letter - like most of the others - is that it does not provide critcal numerical backup for it’s assertions. Mike explains clearly with summary data why he thinks that his rec is a reasonable value, but I usually cannot figure out how to verify how he came to his conclusions when I review the 10k,q’s on my own. My due diligence is extremely time consumeing and I don’t think I should have to do all this basic verification given the price of the service. I think Mike should clearly show how he got his numbers and then explain the key parameters that an investor should watch to know whether his assumptions are working out or not.

There other problem with Mike’s picks - you usually will not be able to find them at the prices he recommends because too many other subscribers jump before carefully looking - this is a perenial problem with all these letters. However I do give Mike credit for always having a limit price - but you won’t be able to get the current rec under this price.

I’ve reviewed all of Mike’s picks since inception. He gives you only 10 per year which is not enough for a diversified portfolio. He sold one (Realogy at a 25% loss before it went into bankruptcy. Two picks (Aleris and Tribune)are in bankruptcy and not paying current interest. The other picks are interest current and trading at various discounts/premiums to the original recommended prices.

I’m still in my 90 day trial window subscrption and I have only felt comfortable pulling the trigger on one rec (Cott).
It was a rec from a past issue that had dramatically dropped in price from the original date (It still is below that price.) But because it is such a simple company, I was able to verify Mike’s analysis and after seeing that the new CFO was buying shares, I figured upcoming news might be good. My broker (Fidelity) had to be hounded to dig up an offer - But so far so good.

As of this instant I don’t think I’ll keep the service as I have to do too much work myself monitoring my positions for the price I’m paying - Mike does send out occasional email updates, but once again he does not provide the data to backup his assertions. Also, I have not been able to buy the two latest recs at below the recommended prices. Fidelity can usually not even get me any offers on a day to day basis.

I think Mike is on the right track, but either the service needs to be drastically reduced in price or many more recs (3x)and detailed numerical analysis must be provided at the current price for my money.

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01 November 2009

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ALL his picks went down

Four stars for consistency…because let’s face it, ALL his picks went down in lockstep! now THAT’s consistency!

Customer service is great, and I like having an advisory that recommends high-yield debt…but Mike needs to come up with a few winners here.

I’ve successfully used the newsletter by reading his picks, waiting six months until they’ve gotten even cheaper, and THEN buying. That’s obviously not the way an advisory of this nature should work.

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01 November 2009

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Cancelled subscription

This is a relatively new service. Subscribed as a trial, bought three different bonds, one bankrupt (Tribune), others down 65%. Cancelled subscription and hope the bonds I bought can keep paying interest, but payoff is when they become due, if they can pay them off, and that is years away. It was the wrong time for buying those bonds, and he should’ve done better job of analyzing ability to payoff.

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01 November 2009

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seems like a long time between your messages to us

I subscribed in September,’08. I own bonds from Rite Aid, Freescale, Tribune, and Aleris. With Tribune, I speculated and bought bonds at an average of $60 each, knowing they were in Chapter 11——not a strategy that is recommended by True Income, but a potential windfall if Tribune pays up. I was blindsided by Aleris filing for Chapter 11, because I had a bunch of these bonds already. So, being the speculator I am, I more than doubled my position with Aleris at one-twelfth the price, and if Aleris pays out, I’ll be one super-happy investor.
My Freescale and Rite Aid bonds are doing just fine.
I do plan to renew—–hopefully I can get a good renewal deal.
I plan to combine some more bonds like maybe Cott, Freescale, and Rite Aid, and also do option plays with Advanced Income.
I don’t know how the future of these bonds will play out, but I feel that if the economy rebounds, so will the bonds.
If so, Mike Williams will be seen as a genius.
I have a suggestion for Mike. We know the market is volatile, but you might want to give us some more updates, even if the news is the same. It seems like a long time between your messages to us; and even though it might seem pointless to e-mail us more often—–say, once a week—-I think all of us subscribers would feel more connected. A simple message like, “Nothing has changed, but I want you to know that I am watching all of these companies closely.” would be comforting to those who own Tribune and Aleris, especially those who bought at a much higher price than I did.

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01 November 2009

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I asked for a refund and they did

Subscribed a few months back. Sounded great. . .locked in profits. . .companys already checked out by an expert. Bonds recomended were selling for 70 or 80 cents on the dollar. Now it’s more like 20 cents on the dollar. . .and one is one and a half cents on the dollar. Now bonds are much cheaper. The companys are at greater risk. Supposedly these co’s have enough assets to sell to pay the bond holders if they go bankrupt. I hope so. . .but when? After seeing the value of my investment quickly...

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01 November 2009

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market performance

market performance

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01 November 2009

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his picks did very poorly

I did subscribe to True Income. Since I had never bought Bonds before, I wanted to see how Mike William’s recommendations did for the first few months before jumping in. It was certainly educational. However, his picks did very poorly, so I asked for a refund and received it promptly (Hence good rating on Customer Service).

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01 November 2009

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I wouldn’t touch anything with Mike William’s name on it ever again.

I subscribed to this service in June, 2008. The promotion sounded promising and Mike Williams assured subscribers the junk bonds of the companies he recommended were stable and would be around to pay the interest and the face value of the bonds at maturity. I invested in 3 of his recommendations and purchased 10 of each. One company, the Chicago Tribune is in bankruptcy and has defaulted on a recent interest payment,its now selling for $4.75 another company, Aleris International is now worth 70 cents, the third, Rite-Aid is worth $15. I am sitting on over $19,000 in unrealized losses with little hope of seeing much, if any of that money. I wouldn’t touch anything with Mike William’s name on it ever again.

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01 November 2009

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it is for bond investors

Its time to buy Tribune Bonds. Yes they filed for BK. A billion plus in assets is not in the BK. Is the trib good for the $ at the end of the year?

Bought RA and continue to receive the biannual interest payments. Will RA pay off face value? Don’t know and won’t know until I think 2013.

Didn’t buy Goodyear, but wish I had. Up up and away!

I didn’t buy bonds because I wanted to trade on the open bond market. I bought because I wanted steady income. I’m getting it.

Mike Williams did warn that the only way to make money in these bonds is to HOLD until maturity. I am holding. I am collecting, and I ignore the bond market ups and downs because I have enough to worry about. But I think $1000. potential return for a $4.75 investment is worth looking at for maybe $500. worth of Trib bonds considering that the trib still has over a billion dollars worth of assets NOT in the BK.

True Income is not for bond traders, it is for bond investors. I don’t think this pub has been around long enough to judge the INVESTMENT advice simply because the first bond investment has not matured. That’s why the stars are missing in some categories. But I have to admit it is looking bad.

Yes, I did break my one year rule and bought some bonds. JK

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01 November 2009

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