June 2, 2012

Power Profiles: Pam and Tony Bowling

It is such a wonderful gift that so many people are willing to share their stories. Each story captures the unique journey, struggles and true grit of the person. It captures their thinking and circumstances that lead them to pursue their goals with a single mindedness, to an outside observer, seems to border on insanity.

What we can discern from these stories is the common trait these successful power profilers share - an intense desire to be independent both of time and money.

Below is part of the story shared by Pam and Tony Bowling:

"Market America has been an unbelievable dream-come-true for us. It truly has been, and continues to be, a modern-day miracle! When we were first introduced to the Market America business opportunity, we were experiencing serious trouble with our photography business. Tony was senior vice president of a publicly-traded company and Pam was a regional director for the same company. The business took an irreversible turn for the worse and we began desperately looking for other opportunities where we could work together. We could see the writing on the wall. The industry we were in failed to keep up with the changing times and many companies were going out of business, including ours. Since necessity requires decision, we had to find a better way if we expected to survive."

Click pam and tonybowling to read more of their story.

June 1, 2012

US Markets: Did You Sell in May?

The saying, sell in May and go away, rang true for 2012. If you did that, congratulations! you can relax.

Today is Friday, June 1st and the unemployment report for the month of May was UGLY. Only 69,000 jobs were created in May, raising the unemployment rate from 8.1% to 8.2%. The reasons for the markets melt down are not new. All of May, the markets world-wide have been under pressure because of Euro sovereign debts, China slowing and slowing growth in the US.

The unemployment report released this morning, exacerbated the already weak markets. The consensus estimate among pundits was for 150,000 jobs created. The actual number was even less than 0.5%

It will be a long summer for new college graduates looking for jobs. High school students looking to make some pocket money will be hard pressed to find jobs, as businesses are holding back hiring with market uncertainties.

There is talk the FED will intervene but after quantitative easing, QE1 (about 1 trillion freshly minted dollars injected into the financial marketplace),  and  QE2 (about 600 billion dollars printed) with little gain to show forth, it is doubtful but one never knows what the FED will do.

Below is the monthly chart of the S&P 500 index as of May 2012. With today's meltdown, the red moving average line will clearly indicate a sell for the market.

It will be a long hot summer. Will it?