# Trident Confidential Newsletter



## babka (2 July 2009)

I have read recently quite an interesting article written by Lance Spicer. He is involved with Trident Confidential Newsletter and is obviously very successful in advising his clients what and when to buy stocks. Would anybody be subscribed to his newsletter, and care to share either bad or good experiences?
Any answer will be much appreciated.


----------



## Temjin (2 July 2009)

I don't have any specific recommendations on his newsletter, but I do have a general positive attitude toward his books and especially on the "LEGAL" tax minimisation and offshore banking/business structure topics. It's good in a way that it tends to summarise the information for you without having you to do tons of research. Of course, you would still need an accountant to help you out on these stuff, but most accountants wouldn't have the knowledge to apply those strategies. 

http://www.tridentpress.com.au/ is really one of the few, if not only one, LOCAL company that deals with such unconvention stuff. 

Yes, I read one of his Tax solution ebook (an older version) and some of the advices he gave in there are quite legit, though may not necessary be practical to everyone. (for obvious reasons) 

His "secret" high yield investments are most likely managed futures and hedge funds. The same goes from the investments recommended by John Mauldin which I just referred to in another recent post. 

So for his newsletters, no comment so far. But personally, I wouldn't follow them since I would be trading my own instead.


----------



## bandicoot76 (2 July 2009)

for what its worth i highly reccomend trident confidential, i made my $700 initial subscription back in the first week by investing in stocks lance had 'sniffed out'. in laymens terms lance is not an investment advisor and is totally upfront about it.
 he doesnt reccomend anyone buy anything, all he does is show you what and where HE is investing HIS OWN MONEY and its up to you whether you do the same or not. i like the fact he puts his money where his mouth is and his high rate of return speaks for itself. 
his weekly newsletter is emailed out to subscribers every monday and you also get flash alerts emailed to you if something 'urgent' pops up through the trading week. re-reading his archives gives you an insight into how 'spot-on' his understanding of the financial system is... not 100% correct but pretty close to it! basically it boils down to he does all the research and for your subsription fee you get access to it.
i guess i sounds like a walking 'trident' ad but i'm totally sold as hes made me a heeap of cash.... i'll be re-subscibing for sure!

p.s i am in no way affiliated with lance spicer nor trident confidential outside of subscibing to the newsletter.


----------



## babka (3 July 2009)

Tenjin and Bandicoot, thanks a lot for your feedback. I have learnt something again. It is much appreciated.


----------



## nalima (30 August 2009)

Are there anybody else subscribing to Trident Confidential Newsletter and are you happy with the recommendations? Which brokers are using, because I believe US stocks are also recommended.


----------



## poby (21 October 2009)

Looks really good so I tried to sign up for a 12 month subscription for the advertised price of $799 but the checkout process added $8 for handling charges which has caused me to rethink.  It strikes me as very dishonest to state one price on the site and then when you go to pay it adds extra charges.  Especially as all the content is delivered online, what exactly is this "handling" charge for?  If the total cost is $807  then thats the price they should state on the site.  This sort of chicanery is a red flag.


----------



## joslad (21 October 2009)

poby said:


> If the total cost is $807  then thats the price they should state on the site.




I couldn't agree more.  To be honest I would cancel any plan on buying the newsletter.  This certainly appears to be a not so subtle method of fleecing the buyer for a few more dollars!

It may be only a small amount.  But I have principles and don't like someone trying to rip me off or taking me for a fool.

I would make a point of letting him know why he lost a subscriber too!


----------



## bandicoot76 (23 October 2009)

chucking a hissy fit over an $8 handling charge is like cutting off your nose to spite your face to me, i happily re-subscribe to my trident subscription and wouldnt care if there was a $25 handling charge! i made the initial subscription price back in the first week and am running at a 40% portfolio return (trident is running at around 104% return but i only invest in AUS stocks and dont invest in overseas markets where trident makes alot of profit/growth/returns. i probly should follow tridents overseas stocks too but i was burned on some US stock and havnt been game to return yet... anyhow to squabble over an $8 charge is rediculous considering the advice and research trident gives you access too... each to their own though i guess


----------



## poby (24 October 2009)

I think you're rather missing the point.  It's not the amount that concerned me but that the advertised price wasn't correct.

Anyway they have listened and dumped the handling charge and I'm a happy new member now looking forward hopefully to good things.


----------



## Kash Kosmo (24 October 2009)

How does this differ from The Chartist newsletter 

KK


----------



## kenshinfan1 (12 January 2010)

Hi Temjin do you still have a copy of the ebook? how old and in your opinion does it apply today?


----------



## emeraldtrans (18 February 2010)

I have been a subscriber for a year now. The only thing I don't like about Lance is that he tells you a price he pays for it and somehow magically buys it higher or lower than what he says and says he adjusted his price for changes in the market. What bs! He always covers his **** in his newsletters and then goes aggressive or defensive no matter what he says and justifies his actions by showing mix signals in his newsletters. 

I am in both US & Aussie market. I don't really believe he puts his money in the market as he cannot time his trades that perfectly every week. He basically looks back on the week and says he trade the best price. He also lacks technically trading ability. Their is no chart analysis which is fine as he is a value trader but sometimes he times his trades terribly and you are stuck with significant stop losses. 

He writes that he is the highest performing newsletter averaging 90% a year but I don't really believe it as he has never been audited and Hulbert Financial (the largest stock newsletter review company in the world) don't have him in their newsletter reviews so he should not make such wild claims. 

Despite all this I still think it is an excellent newsletter as it is very informative and he does have excellent analysis of companies but expect to make 25 to 40% return a year if you are lucky and have some trading ability. 

Also don't follow his Hidden Gems. You will only lose money or at best break even. You need to be very patient with these at least a year before any movement. Too risky and more of a speculative trade.

Hope this helps.


----------



## moXJO (18 February 2010)

emeraldtrans said:


> I have been a subscriber for a year now. The only thing I don't like about Lance is that he tells you a price he pays for it and somehow magically buys it higher or lower than what he says and says he adjusted his price for changes in the market. What bs! He always covers his **** in his newsletters and then goes aggressive or defensive no matter what he says and justifies his actions by showing mix signals in his newsletters.
> 
> I am in both US & Aussie market. I don't really believe he puts his money in the market as he cannot time his trades that perfectly every week. He basically looks back on the week and says he trade the best price. He also lacks technically trading ability. Their is no chart analysis which is fine as he is a value trader but sometimes he times his trades terribly and you are stuck with significant stop losses.




I agree, his numbers don't stack up. The latest edition has him whining that he does not have the time to provide how he comes to his %returns (after his subscribers have been questioning his weekly return calculations). He has bad timing when it’s obvious that there is a correction going on. And I think he is having trouble in the current market.

*But in saying that*, he does manage to pick a few stocks that pay off. And I have only seen the newsletter for a short time.


----------



## emeraldtrans (1 March 2010)

Do not use Lance's recommended stockbroker Kinetic Securities as they rip you off per trade. That is Australian stocks $30 a trade and US stock $15 at trade. Go directly to Interactive Brokers US website and you can trade stocks with an Australian account at $6 an Australian trade and $1 a Us trade. Lance conveniently does not tell you that he gets commission from every one of your trades through Kinetic. Lance has good stock recommendations but he is a little seedy when it comes to how he trades and how he does business. If things seem confusing from his information or seems a little too easy or not clear then trust your instincts. I still recommend his subscription but try to read between the lines what he says and don't just follow him. Use as many top sources as you can.


----------



## mamaal1965 (14 April 2010)

moXJO said:


> I agree, his numbers don't stack up. The latest edition has him whining that he does not have the time to provide how he comes to his %returns (after his subscribers have been questioning his weekly return calculations). He has bad timing when it’s obvious that there is a correction going on. And I think he is having trouble in the current market.
> 
> *But in saying that*, he does manage to pick a few stocks that pay off. And I have only seen the newsletter for a short time.




According to my records his returns don't stack up.
Todays (14-04-10) newsletter, reflects a 'Total Portfolio Return for 2010' of +24.43%. My calculations don't come anywhere close to that, buy hey, I might be wrong?!!

In the TC weekly newsletter he quotes the following:-

*Performance - How Our Returns are Calculated*
_Our returns are calculated based on an evenly weighted portfolio (the same amount of money in each stock)weekly.
We simply work out the amount the portfolio has changed, either up or down, in a week by using simple "raw returns" (no annualised amounts, as some newsletters do).

The % it has changed is the weekly return. This return is then accumulated over the year to give an annual return. This is the simplest and easiest way for most people to understand returns. For example, invest $10,000 at the start of the year in our portfolio and we claim a return of 97%, then you will have a portfolio worth $19,700 by the end of the year if you invest in each of our stocks at the prices we tell you to. That's how we calculate our returns.

Our returns do not include brokerage fees, nor do they include dividends.
Our return calculations are in accordance with ASIC, IFSA and AIPS Guidelines._

Now, his response to subscribers (17Feb10) questioning his weekly return calculations was (in part) as follows:-

_The reality is, there is information that you don't have, to do my calculated returns, such as the exact dates I buy and sell things, as you need these dates to properly calculate returns. Also, very few people understand how to calculate portfolio returns based on daily balances and how to calculate a portfolio return  with daily changing numbers of evenly weighted stocks without carrying a "cash balance"_ 

As you can see, on the one hand he says the calculations are kept simple and on the other he is only one of a select few capable of performing these calculations.

Now, his latest drive to encourage more subscribers is :-
_'We guarantee to show you how to double the market return from April 2010 to April 2011 or your subscription is free until we do. The benchmark index is the ASX All Ordinaries and we guarantee to beat whatever the market does by 100%_'

If he is not prepared to show members how his returns are calculated (as he hasn't the time and we are too dumb to understand) I believe things could get interesting come April 2011?!!! 

With regards the  'buy' and 'sell' prices I have noticed he manages to obtain "favourable" prices on a regular basis. (I won't go into any detail here).
If he posted the actual buy or sell prices on the TC website on a daily basis (rather than weekly), I believe there would be more transparency. Oh, sorry, I forgot, he doesn't have any time for that....!!!!

TC is not obliged to provide any of the above info if it doesn't want to however, TC chooses to boast high returns to entice new subscribers and as such, I believe it has to be accountable and 100% transparent.

By the way, I've done very well investing over this "GFC" period using the TC Newsletter and other resources, so it's not 'sour grapes'.

Would be interested to hear from other TC members out there?

Was going to recommend TC start an on-line stock forum (within the TC members website, for obvious reasons) but didn't want to get my head chewed off !!!!

Happy Investing.


----------



## titl4 (15 April 2010)

mamaal1965 said:


> According to my records his returns don't stack up.
> ...........
> 
> Would be interested to hear from other TC members out there?
> ................




I've only been a subscriber a few months but I'm very happy with his research so far - particularly US stocks.  I mostly wait for a 'technical' buy signal on his recommendations so I'm not usually buying at the same time as his portfolio.  However when I do buy at the same time my prices are comparable - as often lower as higher.


----------



## Joe Blow (23 July 2010)

This thread is now being closed and and from this point forward we will not be allowing any further discussion of this product.

Sadly, this morning an individual using an email directly associated with this newsletter registered at ASF and posted in this thread posing as a satisfied customer. This sort of dishonest and deliberately deceptive behaviour is not tolerated here at ASF and the account in question has now been permanently suspended.


----------



## wat17 (13 October 2014)

*FYI Trident Confidentail*

Folks,

Been doing some research on this and two of my co workers swear by him. One in his 60s says he wish he had followed him earlier, and he has tried a number of these stock picker newsletters. Seems to have mixed reviews on this forum and others.

I am signing up this week as there is a special offer until Sunday for $399 subscription. Thought I would throw it out there for everyone else. If you interested PM me and I will give you the details. I emailed them to find out when it expires and they said this Sunday.

Cheers


----------



## Joe Blow (13 October 2014)

I'm going to open this thread again for the moment.

However, I think that the public needs to be reminded that an individual directly associated with the Trident Confidential newsletter registered and posted in this thread posing as a satisfied customer. As far as I'm concerned that is about as dishonest as it gets.

The ethics and credibility of a company that employs those kind of deliberately deceitful marketing tactics needs to be seriously questioned.


----------



## wat17 (16 October 2014)

Hmmm that sounds a bit dodgey. Anyway my two work colleagues swear by it, so will give it a shot anyway. Might as well while it is a bit cheaper. For anyone else who is interested, deal expires on Sunday. Cheers


----------



## Lemmywincks (16 October 2014)

wat17 said:


> Hmmm that sounds a bit dodgey. Anyway my two work colleagues swear by it, so will give it a shot anyway. Might as well while it is a bit cheaper. For anyone else who is interested, deal expires on Sunday. Cheers





The term is whisper/conversation marketing isn't it? You marketing folk never learn. The problem with your plan is Google and its ranking system. You see, when you type your businesses name into Google, you are going to see this thread. The more comments and views the higher the page will be on googles ranking system.

So pat yourself on the back for your brilliance at marketing by letting everyone know you are a complete con.


----------



## Porper (16 October 2014)

wat17 said:


> Hmmm that sounds a bit dodgey. Anyway my two work colleagues swear by it, so will give it a shot anyway. Might as well while it is a bit cheaper.




Some people just won't listen. You know now that they had an employee posting as a satisfied customer and you are still going to join? Unbelievable.


----------



## pppp (2 September 2016)

Trident Confidential Newsletter is a scam.
It is a front for chanelling their customers into Halifax Investments to trade their shares.
Halifax Investments have the shonkiest trading platform out there at the moment and are always blaming Saxo for its woeful performance. Trident Confidential obviously receives kickbacks for pushing new clients their way. Trident is an advertising newsletter dressed up with speculation to look like financial advice.


----------



## mjim (5 September 2016)

pppp said:


> Trident Confidential Newsletter is a scam.
> It is a front for chanelling their customers into Halifax Investments to trade their shares.
> Halifax Investments have the shonkiest trading platform out there at the moment and are always blaming Saxo for its woeful performance. Trident Confidential obviously receives kickbacks for pushing new clients their way. Trident is an advertising newsletter dressed up with speculation to look like financial advice.




So does the company / owner actually trade?  or all that is hypothetical? (meaning no risk to the Newsletter seller!)


----------



## Value Hunter (27 August 2017)

There is something very fishy about this group. How is that Trident managed funds (Trident Global Growth fund and Trident income fund) have gotten abysmal returns way less than the relevant indexes and yet their stock picking newsletters (run by the same person Lance Spicer) are apparently getting stellar returns at the same time? Now I understand the newsletter and funds don't have exactly the same portfolios but they run on a similar strategy and are managed by the same person so the astounding divergence in performance is puzzling to say the least. One necessarily wonders if the hypothetical returns posted for the newsletter are actually genuine.


----------



## systematic (27 August 2017)

Value Hunter said:


> One necessarily wonders if the hypothetical returns posted for the newsletter are actually genuine.




Oh...; I've discovered that all sorts of interesting things go on with the reported results of some of these educators / newsletter writers.  A year or two ago; I almost posted to the forum, to ask whether I was being unreasonable for being so incredulous about the suddenly changed results of one of these people that I had accidentally noticed (in this case, it was an Australian, fairly well-known author / educator / newsletter provider) only to find that he/she was was not the only one who engaged in the (IMO) bizarre practice of retro-fitting back-tested results! 
I could go on (I contacted this particular person, and they replied - with a lame but very friendly answer) and the bit that pee's me...is that I actually CARE that some people subscribe to these things.  And - these are the better ones!  Never mind the _actual _scammy ones...which also get people in.

*Secondly, the thing I've never understood is:
*
Why some of these people (and here I've NOT got any particular mob in mind) go to all the efforts of advertising / making websites / writing books...or whatever...why turn to tricks in reporting results? Why not just produce a newsletter that simply beats the market?  It's just not that hard to do! (Yes, for the discerning reader - I am being deliberately flippant...especially given my previously posted number one philosophy that humility is required to beat the market...but still.  I'm not immune from ego and behavioural bias!)  Anyway, that aside - the thing is, many people (my own small attempts on this forum included) have posted portfolios or trading diaries etc that handily beat the market.  That is, after all, one of the beauties of a forum like this...you can't go back and re-doctor the results!

So...if you're going to go to all the trouble of running a business about it...why on earth would you not produce something that beats the market, without any trickery?

Because I kinda like chatting with newer investors and those finding their feet etc..there is a part of me that wishes I'd finished the financial planning part of my degree that would have allowed me to post my own newsletter, in this overly-regulated country (that still doesn't protect people, anyway!).  At least (warning: ego-driven comment ahead) it would have actually beaten the market, in real-time, after costs, without any twisted, 'oh...we re-tweaked some parameters and re-ran the back tests(!)'

Sheesh! 

_rare rant over...sorry!_


----------



## systematic (27 August 2017)

Oh; and let me post a clarifying point:

I have no problem someone saying, 'I've found some better parameters for System XYZ and here are the newly back-tested results - we'll use those going forward'.

But I do have a problem when, (a) the person re-states the results of the above system and (b) does not provide on their site the 'real-time' results of a would-be trader (i.e. subscriber), without the benefit of a newly retrofitted set of parameters.

I now feel like I've hijacked the thread - as this is not referring to trident or whatever the topic of this thread was.  My 2 replies should probably be moved to a new thread that discusses the stated performance of stock market newsletters / educators etc.  I blame Value Hunter; for the post that got me all fired up, lol


----------



## Miner (27 August 2017)

pppp said:


> Trident Confidential Newsletter is a scam.
> It is a front for chanelling their customers into Halifax Investments to trade their shares.
> Halifax Investments have the shonkiest trading platform out there at the moment and are always blaming Saxo for its woeful performance. Trident Confidential obviously receives kickbacks for pushing new clients their way. Trident is an advertising newsletter dressed up with speculation to look like financial advice.



great PPPP
Could you or some one please throw light on Motley Group ? If they are same and a bit more sophisticated ?
What about Potter Publishing ? They seem to be unapologetic in giving recommendations and let the investors loose 40 to 45 percent. Of course investors are fools too.


----------



## Value Hunter (27 August 2017)

While we are on the topic of performance reporting, some listed investment companies seem to have very strange reporting standards for performance figures. For most LICs the "performance" figures they claim always seem to be higher than what common sense would dictate.

For example Platinum Asia Fund (ASX code: PAI) in its July monthly update declared its performance since inception in late Spetmeber 2015 was 15.5% (after fees and expenses). Yet the NTA was only $1.10 pre-tax and no dividends have yet been paid. The floating NTA was around $0.98 (listing expenses meant the NTA was below the floating share price of $1.00). So how does an increase from around 98 cents to around 110 cents (roughly a 12 to 12.5% increase) constitute a 15.5% return?

ASIC and the ASX really need to tighten up their definitions of how performance is calculated.


----------

