Located right on the Tomebamba River in a great neighborhood only minutes from shopping and downtown, this unit features 2 Master Suites and a guest bedroom with its own bath plus a powder room. It is easily one of the nicest properties in Cuenca with lots of upgrades.

You enter the main living area through a glass enclosed greenhouse. The floor plan is open and spacious. Access to the over 1000 sq ft of outdoor patios is available from multiple points throughout.

The kitchen is finished with a unique Spanish marble seen above and is looking directly at a wrap around terrace…

… with fantastic views of the Andes.

The lower floor is accessed by a graceful winding staircase made of local hardwood.

There is also a roof top terrace shared by the residents.

As well as another terrace right above the penthouse which, due to its access, is almost a private area for the lucky owners of this unit with gorgeous views of the Cajas National Park.

There is 2300 sq feet of living area and 1000 sq ft of terraces with an asking price of $250,000.

For details, contact Stephen Milden at stephen@stephenmilden.com

Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Last modified on 2012-01-21 20:06:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Cuenca real estate offers excellent quality and value for expats visiting Ecuador. Here is a shot of downtown Cuenca.

Downtown Cuenca.

Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Feb. 16-17-18, 2012

March 15-16-17

April 23-24-25

May 15 – 16 morning: Cuenca Indoctrination Seminar  (NEW)

May 17-18-19

June 14-15-16

July  16-17-18

September 6-7-8

October 13-14-15

November 11-12-13

December 10-11-12

Enroll here. Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $749

These tours do not sell Ecuador real estate and the tour conductors do not participate in real estate commissions. The mission statement of the tours is to provide an objective view of the Ecuador real estate market with no hidden agendas.

Cuenca is a colonial Spanish tile roofed colonial city that sits in a broad valley surrounded by lush green mountains.

Cuenca is perhaps Ecuador’s most beautiful city… one of the favorite choices of expats.  The four  photos below from skyscraperlife.com shows why.

One’s impression of Cuenca when viewed from afar is orderly and clean and beautiful colonial rooftops!

Up close… one feels stately and…

colonial.

You see a very wide variety of real estate on the Cuenca real estate tour.

Here are some examples of why Cuenca is such a popular place.

New Cuenca Townhouse in Misicata area.

The home is bordered by the Yanuncay River so enjoys the microclimate created by the river and is a short distance to downtown.

The townhouse has three nice size bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms, 1550 sq. ft.

The price is $76,000.

Cuenca Penthouse for Sale

This Cuenca penthouse for sale is only one block from the Yanuncay River and minutes from downtown. It offers 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in 1205 sq ft.

Hardwood floors throughout.

A modern open kitchen with granite counter tops and ceramic tile.

A laundry room with a view.

Speaking of views… here is the scenery from this Cuenca penthouse.

The price is $75,000 which includes two parking spaces.

New condo downtown Cuenca

This new condo is close to completion and is only minutes from downtown Cuenca in the very desirable Puertas del Sol area which is quite close to the Tomebamba River.

There are 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in 1215 sq ft and 1 parking area.

There are also two terraces.

The price is $90,000 with a 30% down payment. See details here.

New Cuenca Town House for sale.

This is under construction and is almost finished.

It is located in Puertas del Sol only a couple of blocks from the Tomebamba River. Puertas del Sol is preferred by locals and expats because it is within walking distance of downtown, is very quiet, safe, close to grocery stores, a farmer’s market, banks and a mall.

Price $140.000.

10 minutes from downtown Cuenca is a 4089 square foot home sitting on 1.7 acres.

The yard has been beautifully landscaped.

This house is loaded with options including, 2 living rooms, 2 dining rooms, 4 baths, 3 walk-in closets, a caretaker’s cottage, outdoor barbeque and picnic area and a greenhouse. The owner’s are relocating to Quito and are willing to provide some financing. Asking price is $230,000.

See this house on the next Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Cuenca is easily Ecuador’s (and perhaps all of South America’s) most beautiful city with a distinctly European look and feel. In a previous article I reported that MSN has named Cuenca the best retirement city in the world.

Cuenca is both modern and classic in its architecture. This is an aristocratic town with hard workers and a solid middle class. The downtown area is remarkably clean and is built around a central park bordered by a huge golden cathedral with brilliant ceramic domes. There is a sense of order in the narrow cobblestone streets which for the most part run on a grid. The markets are filled with color and exotic design, and there is no sense of crime or poverty found here.

Tall Willows and Eucalyptus are abundant along the river banks of the four rivers running through its center where you’ll see locals washing their colorful clothes. Red tiles on white stucco sparkling in the brilliant sun are the predominate vista.

Cuenca has perhaps the largest North American population in Ecuador though it is a much smaller city (350,000) than Quito or Guayaquil which have many millions of people. It’s large enough to offer almost all goods and services one could want without the hustle and bustle of a big city.

Further on you can find plantations with entrances lined with sugar cane, bananas, mango, papaya, mango, naranjilla, babaco, orange, lemon, lime, yucca, coffee plants, bread fruit, guavas, achote, grapefruit, coconuts and all the vegetables you could eat. Also abundant are avocado, bamboo, corn, potatoes and tomatoes.

These veritable gardens led to rustic old farm houses graced by birds of every type, humming birds, toucan, choco, bromeliad fly catchers, tanagers, finches and animals include agouti, tapir, fox and deer.

You can find land with horses, cows, pigs, numerous dogs, chickens and even llamas which are indigenous.

Here is a country property you’ll see during the Cuenca Real Estate tours in the Paute Valley.

Paute Valley

About 35-40 minutes from downtown Cuenca there is a quaint town called Paute.

Paute is known as a garden spot and is where we purchase most of our plants and flowers.

In a valley about 10 minutes before reaching the town is a very special community and resort called Uzhupud.

Uzhupud means “Hot Chili Pepper Valley”. This name gracefully combines two native languages: Uzhu which in Quichua means hot chili pepper, and Pud which in Cañari means plain, flat, and wide place.

Since around the end of colonial times, the Hacienda Uzhupud belonged to the Muñoz-Cárdenas family, grandparents of Francisco Febres Cordero y Muñoz (1854-1910). He spent his childhood and young adulthood at this place. As time went by, in 1984, during the papacy of Pope Juan Pablo II, he became the Santo Hermano Miguel of the Catholic Church. In 1870 his relatives Vintimilla-Muñoz bought Uzhupud from the Muñoz-Cárdenas family. As you can see this property has a long and colorful history.

Over time some of the land was sold off, but the original hacienda has been preserved and is now one of the best resorts in the area featuring amenities like horseback riding, a swimming pool, high cuisine, open air dining areas, lush gardens and more.

Hostalria Uzhupud

Naturally locals were attracted to the area and the resort. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s homes were built by wealthy people from the surrounding areas and it became one of the best kept real estate secrets.

Today the secret has been broken and 5 homes are being released to the market in a gated community with Spanish architecture. Each home has absolutely gorgeous views of the mountains and the Paute River that flows all the way to the Amazon River. Each home features high ceilings, open areas, large bedrooms and baths, outdoor patios and more. The development will have a common swimming pool only for the 5 homes; BBQ and picnic area and a community fruit and vegetable garden.

House #1 and #2 are 1,507 square feet and are $135,000.

House #3 is 1,076 Square feet and is $145,000.

House #4 and #5 are 1,215 square feet and are $155,000.

All in all Cuenca, and the area immediately surrounding it, has a great deal to offer no matter what your preferences. Whether you want to live in an apartment, a home or buy land and build your own – it’s all possible at prices that are a throw back to times past.

Speaking of prices that are from times gone by, our friends and representatives in Cuenca, Stephen Milden and Leanna Palermo, reported today that they went to a local co-op and bought 12 bags of organic fruits and vegetables for only $20.91! If they had purchased the same items in the US it would have cost them close to $200.00 and everything was locally grown. They will be delighted to be your hosts and show you their adopted home during the tour.

Not only will you have an opportunity to see a cross section of available land, homes and apartments, you will be able to experience the local culture by way of fantastic restaurants, galleries, artisan shops and a walking tour along cobblestone streets that will take your breath away.

Cuenca is one of Ecuador’s most popular towns and we are pleased to be able to advertise these Cuenca Ecuador real estate tours.

Gary

See the best Ecuador property for you.  Find the best real estate offers.  Know more of Ecuador.  Join a Cuenca real estate tour or join multi real estate tours throughout Ecuador.

Enroll here. Cuenca Real Estate Tour  $499 Couple $749

Gain discounts by enrolling in more than one tour.

Tour Fees include the tour, guides and all bus transportation to see the properties. Accommodations, food, air travel from tour to tour and air fare to Ecuador are not included.

See more on the Mid Ecuador Coastal real estate tour

See more on the Imbabura real estate tour

Ecuador real estate tours are the most efficient way to learn about Ecuador’s real estate market.

These tours help you the maximum number of properties in the shortest period of time.

These tours offer the following benefits:

You save time. When your time is limited, you cannot afford to wait or worse miss seeing properties because sellers are no show or you cannot find a location. We review the properties you will see in advance.  We schedule the most efficient way to travel…from each property to the next.  We double (and triple) check that the seller will be at the property!  We check again by cell phone even while we are on the tour.  This saves a lot of time as Ecuador sellers have a non show reputation.

Frequently, sellers get busy and forget to show up or arrive hours late.

Plus with our multi lingual tour guides…you do not get lost!

You Save Money! The real estate tours have taken thousands of delegates to see Ecuador real estate over the past decade. We know what prices are being asked for real estate throughout Ecuador and can help tour delegates avoud overpriced property.

You gain hotel discounts and savings on guide and taxi fares during the tour. This savings alone is often worth more than the cost of the tour.

Sellers know our reputation for bringing buyers to Ecuador and that we do not charge commission so they often give our tour delegates discounts which we help negotiate for you.

You Gain Safety. Our tour guides know which areas are to be avoided.  They know which restaurants would make you ill. Plus we maintain a list of English speaking Ecuador attorneys who have successfully helped many delegates buy real estate.

Morya Ecuador Discovery Tours S.A. and Jean Marie Butterlin provides this Ecuador Real Estate Tour.

Our son, Jake, sent Merri and me several books on citrus.

Gosh, they contain excellent information!  I have learned a lot.

For example did you know orange trees live over 100 years?

I am reading “Citrus – a History” by Pierre Laszlo, a chemist. I learned that the California orange industry grew from three trees planted by militant abolitionists who left the East and came to Calif.  Eliza Tibbets was the wife of one and asked the US Dept. of Agriculture for advice on trees that would grow in her front yard.  She was sent three seedlings of the Umbigo Bahai orange from Brazil.  One tree was trampled by the lady’s cow… oops.

The other two survived and as Lazslo the author put it: As the story goes, Eliza served her oranges at a housewarming party and they were an instant sensation. Here three trees were the foundation for citriculture in California.

One of these two trees still survives in downtown Riverside at the intersection of Magnolia and Arlington Avenues.

I searched Google and sure enough here it is!  What a piece of history!

Orange tree in Riverside.

The US orange industry is worth 9 billion a year and 90% of oranges come from Florida and Brazil.

Part of the data in these books such as “Citrus History” are recipes. One book even has a recipe for fried oranges.

A perfect example of the American way. Take something healthy and fry it!  Take paradise and turn it into a parking lot.

We’ll stick to our grilled grapefruit with cinnamon here.

Here is the first lesson about writing and publishing… be involved in what you love and start small. Eliza Tibbets started with three seedlings that grew into a billion dollar industry.  She was the Johnny Appleseed of citrus.

Take citrus as an example.  One can grow oranges… or sell them… or make them organic.

I am thinking about growing oranges in a bottle.

I picked up this idea after reading a Telegraph article that tells how to grow pears in a bottle (that is then filled with brandy). There is a great Youtube video that explains this ancient technique.

There is also a Romanian drink called ţuică, a type of Eastern European moonshine, prepared using traditional methods. A famous form of  ţuică  is “ţuica cu fruct.” This is a glass bottle of ţuică containing a whole fruit (usually an apple or a pear). It is obtained by hanging empty bottles on trees in spring or early summer and growing the fruit inside the bottle.

Fill the bottled orange  with what? The mind runs wild. Vodka sounds sensible but  booze is not my thing, but I can think of something healthy I am sure.

This leads to the second lesson…. publishing can be a product or enhance a product.  If I figure out a health product based around oranges in a bottle for example… a book or report about this would certainly enhance the product and maybe even generate more income than the bottled product.

The book above “Citrus a History” by Allen Susser shows how a chef combines the love of cooking and citrus.

Susser had his career expanded with the James Beard Award in 1994 as Best New Chef in the Southeast.  Then he ran his Chef Allen’s Restaurant for 25 years before closing it to focus on writing, restaurant development, consulting, teaching and other culinary ventures. 

Susser has been using his writing  and publishing to expand branded concepts.

He also uses his growing business to the support of causes ranging from hunger relief to cancer to homelessness to culinary education.  Allen’s most-recent fundraising project is directing a coalition of international chefs to support disaster relief in Japan (chefshelpjapan.com).  His motto is  “They say you do well by doing good”.

This examples shows how one can focus on an interest and turn it into an income earner in many ways.

Just being a chef can develop a good income but when expanded though writing and publishing the money can become a lot!

Forbes.com recently published its list of the Top Ten Highest Earning Celebrity Chefs. The top billed chef was Rachel Ray, then Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsay.  Celebrity chefs have become some of the top earners in the celebrity world and they have all used writing and publishing to expand their brand.

Gordon Ramsay, in third place earnings, is a Scottish chef who grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.  He started to get exposed to several Michelin-starred chefs when he worked in Paris.  By 1998 he was able to open his own restaurant in Chelsea, and achieved several Michelin stars as well.

He earned $7.5 million last year and is continuously opening restaurants in England, Dubai, Japan, New York and Ireland.

Plus he is publishing more and more books including: Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy – Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F-Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection – Cooking for Friends  – Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food: More Than 100 Delicious, Super-Fast, and Easy Recipes – Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite: 125 Super-Fresh Recipes for a High-Energy Life – Kitchen Heaven  – A Chef for All Seasons – Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape: 100 Recipes Inspired by Asia. He has also tapped the Spanish market with books including  - Un chef para todo el ano   – Cocina del mundo   Los mejores menus de Ramsay and Los mejores menus de Ramsay.

Wolfgang Puck did better earning $16 million.  This Austrian-American learned cooking from his mother.  Some education!

Wolfgang Puck still wears his chef’s hat but isn’t cooking much. He is too busy visiting his many fine dining and casual dining spots.  His other ventures include 80 Wolfgang Puck Express operations, and kitchen and food merchandise, including cookbooks and canned foods–allowing him to get included in the list as one of the highest earning chef celebrities in the world today.

Rachel Ray was the top earner at $18 million.
  Rachael Ray is a chef, but also a TV  personality, businesswoman and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels and $40 a Day. Ray wrote cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept and launched a magazine.

Here is the third lesson. You can have the freedom to do what you love from any place you like, even operating from your porch if you wish.  Writing and publishing can once again promote your  product or be your product.

What do you love? Rare cars? You can make a fortune creating a business around them. Do you prefer fine art? Or do you love beautiful jewelry, coins, gems, real estate, furs, model railways, dolls, scientific equipment, war memorabilia, old and rare books, or whatever? Do you prefer social subjects rather than objects?

Are you concerned with the environment or humanitarian problems, with crimes, war or poverty? Would you like to help wipe these social problems out in the course of your writing and publishing?   Chef Allen Susser expands that motto “They say you do well by doing good”.

Are you a golfer? Do you love to travel? Why not make all kinds of money in a global business writing about some form of golf or golfing?

Would you like to help the world be a more spiritual place, help people get along better together? You can do something good for the world, increase your income and live wherever you please in the process!

Whatever your passion you can learn how to make a fortune by enhancing that business with publishing.   Regardless of your skills and position there is some approach that will work for you.

Take fishing, for example. Millions of people love fishing.

If you love cooking and fishing you can publish a fishing cook book.

Here are just a few of many ways that others have profitably matched this passion with profit. Two of my friends, John and Lou, grew up near me in the Oregon mountains. They were outdoor adventure types and moved to Canada, where they homesteaded 1,200 acres on a trout-filled lake in mid British Columbia. They built a fishing camp that attracts fisherman from around the world.  A book on the exploits of their guests would be wonderful in the adventure market AND would help promote their camp.

An entrepreneur I know from Montana had marketing skills so he published catalogs that sold fishing trips for fishing camps. He attended rod and gun exhibitions, met owners of these camps and arranged to sell their fishing trips to the US, Argentina and even in Russia to fisherman around the world.

Ralph Kylloe on the other hand loved fishing and photography so he created the book, “Fishing Camps”, which was published by Gibbs Smith publisher. This allowed Ralph to travel across the country enjoying fishing camps as he photographed and wrote.

Each of these people had different backgrounds and differed in age, situation and skills. Their common link, the love of fishing, led each to a business related to fishing. Each was able to blend a unique nature and set of skills to develop a global business that surrounded them with fun, like minded fishing souls.  Each was able to expand their business through publishing.

Also, imagine what a publishing business means to your world travel. Almost every trip you take can be tax deductible! You can honestly write off every trip that is related to your business. Every journey becomes a research oriented adventure and a tax deductible event.

As a writer and or publisher you’ll have one of the most respected and tax protected businesses in the country with many  benefits including reduced tax and legal protection.

As you travel to Ecuador or wherever… look for your passions. Then see ways you can become involved and expand that business through writing and publishing.

This is why we offer our course Self Fulfilled How to be a Writer and Publisher.  See details of this online course here

Gary

Save $299

Join us for our Writer’s Camp and we’ll send you Self Fulfilled free.

Writer’s Camp

Last modified on 2011-12-28 23:54:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Start a one year writing project. Attend our Writer’s Camp at the retreat center at our North Carolina farm in the Blue Ridge.   Start with our online course Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher FREE right away. (save this $299 value).

July 20-21-22 $799

Couple $999

May I introduce a touch of financial magic?  Magic gained from experience… but so important you’ll never worry about having enough money again…

Do you believe in fate?  Fortune?   Good luck?

If so, let me share a story about this message that has spanned 40 years from my past to this moment when it has reached you… here and now… so your finances nor your lifestyle will ever be the same.

This is a message that just about guarantees you a perfect way to always have more than enough money and will let you have important, highly meaningful, fun and fulfilling work… that, yes, is also profitable (perhaps magically so).

That’s a pretty bold claim so let me explain why I am confident enough to make it.

We all arrive through fate at unexpected crossroads.  This is good.  Life could get boring if we plodded along only one straight path.  Yet unexpected can be scary… especially when you start something new.

Fate created a crossroad for me 1972.   That was the year of the last, worse recession before the one we just suffered through.  Back then, I received the proverbial sledgehammer called the pink slip. This termination notice was bright pink because my boss went broke, the company I worked for was bust.  I was broke, without any job prospects and to make it a bit more interesting… I was stranded 12,000 miles from home…in Hong Kong…with no way to get back.

From Hong Kong , fate and 40 years brought me and this message… now to you.  What a thread!

I am not sure how long you have been reading our daily reports, but before I outline a way to assure your wealth let me share a bit more about my background and this 40 year thread.

Gary Scott is what most people call me.  I am in touch with over 30,000 readers a day and thankfully my five kids call me dad…instead of old man or jerk. My wife, Merri, calls me “darling” (I call her “my salvation”). All these blessings are in part because of that horrible experience in Hong Kong.

The crisis I had then, the worry and doubt turned me into sort of a workaholic recluse. I was broke, in debt…no college degree (lots of years of study but no degree), had three kids then and could not pay the rent. Talk about scared!

That pressure had some sort of peculiar effect that has lasted for life and made me an outstanding expert on survival and success during the toughest times.

For four decades I have worked to destroy unemployment and poverty for those who have enthusiasm, are willing to work and… who through fate happen to cross my path.

I am thankful that this process helped me find a secret about earning a living so long ago so I can help so many others suffering in the changing economy now. (Fate works in mysterious ways). Applying the secrets of survival  I learned during the tough 1970s has brought me millions…and much more.

Fortunately the secrets required very little money to start.   I was really broke.  Once I could not even find six cents to get into town for the mid levels tram for a job interview. So I had to walk in a suit for miles on a hot, humid Hong Kong day… into an office with ice cold air conditioning.  I’ll never forget trying not to wince when I sat down…my shirt soaked with sweat, that turned ice cold.

And I did not get the job.

That may have been the low point in my non career. But it was good because it made me so determined to find the secret to success.  And I did… one so powerful it allowed me to dig my way out of a potential bankruptcy.

In fact these secrets brought me such freedom and enjoyment and has allowed my family to live in so many wonderful places that I have been compelled to share them with small select groups for years.

You’ll see in a moment how I still have a weird quirk about helping people get careers.  (I think it comes from the terrible fear or maybe that icy shirt back in Hong Kong ). This weirdness may help you because it made me so conservative that everything I do is based on smallness.

My wife, Merri, and I have possibly the smallest…yet are among the highest earning… self publishing company in the world.

Our high earnings come from writing, self publishing secrets I learned clear back in Hong Kong.  These secrets have worked so well they have earned extra millions.

Let me add one more thing right now…since I’ll say it a number of times more. Merri and I believe in fate but we also know that it is vital to “Get Started”… but “Start Small”.

There I said it flying in the face of society hammering us to “Think Big”. This is the era where small is beautiful in a very big way. If you have doubts about this, just ask Steve Bozos (Amazon.com) or Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google.com) about the value of small.

We need to dive into this idea of smallness.

I am stuck with this horrible fear of being broke. You know unfilled promises… tight finances… money worries…even costly groceries and bill collector stuff. I had all that in Hong Kong and even though 40 years have passed it’s not forgotten.

I hate this for anybody. No money. No future prospects. Worry about the kids. Not knowing how to retire… or where to turn.

My problems 40 years ago affected me for life.  In fact I am so hung up on this that that Merri and I (we are so thankful that we can) give away money to help create jobs….we have now donated close to a million dollars in our quest to reduce joblessness.

Merri and I are writers and self publishers. We have earned as much $20,000 for a single day’s work… and have earned consistently year in and year out… while we do what we love… because of a few secrets.

Fateful may also apply to your case because I want to share these secrets with you so you can make six and even seven figure income each year in a matter that suits you.

There is more good news than the money.  The secrets we share make working fun. You are your own boss. You gain respect so your ideas are listened to.

Merri and I invite you to share a the writer’s camp we’ll conduct in 2012.   This will be a retreat for a select few that can help you create you own publications for profit.

Believe me we will be relentless about this fact.

In a moment I’ll explain why this retreat which we’ll conduct in the seclusion of our North Carolina farm… needs to be started early.  We’ll meet in July… but work will begin on your publication right away.

Our secret “little system” creates a crack in the creative process…so you’ll not have just one idea for a business but many. You may be flooded with ideas! In fact a big part of the workshop narrows you down to deciding which to do first.

Merri and I are living proof. We can’t open the darn paper without getting a new idea.

Remember I have a bit of a hang-up about work so I am like a kid in a candy shop and act on these ideas.

First, let me repeat…Start small!

The camp by the way is called “Self Fulfilled – Self Publishing – In Person”.  I am thinking of renaming it “Start Small but Earn Millions”.

Writers who earn the most are writers, like Merri and myself, who also publish. We always make an annual six figure income but many years we net seven figures…over a million dollars. That’s because we figured out that the lion’s share of income earned from writing goes to the publisher. The publishing part of writing can be outrageously profitable.

One case study we’ll look at in the course reviews the book. “Who Moved My Cheese.” It’s so small! I love it! The publisher had to push just to make it look like a book, yet 17 million copies in the first two years of release. No one is laughing. If the normal price is $19.95 a book, that’s $339,155 million in sales. If the author received a normal 12% royalty he made a cool $40,698,000 (much much more as it has continued to sell for all these years).

Pretty good, huh?

The $40 million plus will pay for quite a few groceries. Almost anyone would love to have this much income until they realize that this leaves the publisher with the other $300 million to spread around.

The neat thing about being a small, self publisher is that virtually all this money (the other 88%) is yours! (Sometimes the 12% too.) In other words, it could be all yours.

Merri and I began publishing with no money and little background. We started small! As already mentioned, I was bust and had no background in copywriting. I did not finish college.

Before we share the exact schedule of this exciting workshop, let me outline a few of the benefits that self publishing have brought to Merri and me.

If you accept our invitation, we will hammer, even bombard you with the absolute, vital importance of starting small. We live in the era of epublishing that makes small “big”. This plays perfectly into the hands of small businesses and copywriters as we just happened to have a perfect advantage right now in the marketplace.

Let’s begin to understand this with that old rule… follow the money. Our self publishing business has brought us millions. We own four houses, a farmhouse, six cabins and over 1,000 acres of land. Plus more money than we can spend, in the bank… safe, secure bonds and shares… no mortgages… no credit card bills and zero debt!

Now let’s get to the important stuff.  Our life is less stressed (not stress free – every business has stress) but Self Publishing can be a low stress business… no commuting…choose your own hours… immersed in your own passions with like minded souls. How refreshing!

You can have fun every day doing what you love as you accomplish goals that are important… to you… and are a service to your community.

Merri and I, for example, love helping people get jobs. So we used self publishing to create a foundation (Land of the Sun Foundation) to help the indigenous learn how to get work. The foundation has donated nearly a million dollars in Ecuador to create jobs.

What do you love? Why not make the kinds of money I’ve just mentioned publishing your passion and do something good for the world at the same time?

Your passion and self publishing create…magic, wealth, happiness.

Three other things you gain.

#1: Respect. If you are not a recluse like Merri and me, you’ll find yourself the center of attention at social events and with your friends and in business because publishing is highly respected.

#2: Power. Everyone wants publishers to distribute good information about them. And everyone fears publishers a bit. The pen is mightier than the sword!

#3: Protection. Writers are protected by the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You do not need a license to publish. There is no government watchdog nor do you have bureaucratic red tape involved in publishing. Publishers enjoy almost more freedom than any other occupation because of the Freedom of the Press. This is so powerful because the first amendment is actually a part of the Bill of Rights. Just in case you missed this in school (as most students did including me) here are the exact words of this amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

You become the press and you are set free. You cannot get more protection than that.

Shall we get back to the money and lifestyle? What can self publishing do financially for you?

Merri and I love nature so here’s our 252 acre farm in the High Country. This is an autumnal shot from the front yard of the North Carolina Dream House we built…with cash from our self published writing.

This is only where we live in the summer. The Blue Ridge is a slight misnomer for a large part of the year. Correctly named in the winter, these mountains would be called “White Ridge”. The white comes from snow which begins with S as does South which is where we head around November…to Ecuador .

While it’s freezing in the North Carolina mountains, we worry about sunburn, sometimes at our Ecuador hotel.

This hotel, by the way, is one of the most satisfying parts of our self publishing business. We bought it from bankruptcy because a dozen wonderful people (with babies and kids and worries about education, medical bills and yes groceries) were about to lose their jobs.

Mostly right now… due to a elderly mom and many wonderful new grand kids we spend winters at our in Florida and visiting families in Oregon and England.

What’s the point?  Self publishing has easily fulfilled all of our material needs.  More importantly it has thrown us together with fantastically interesting people from all walks of life.

You can enjoy this lifestyle as well. Married, single, rich, poor, in good and bad health, educated and not, travelers and those who want to just stay at home. This is who self publishing works for…those who want a gradual part time improvement in life and those who want to make big enhancements now.

This workshop appeals to anyone who would like to write or publish or both.  We will look at how published products can include compilations, catalogues, CDS, interviews. Plus we’ll look at how to develop treks, tours, visits, products and services.

For example, you’ll see below how one delegate who attended the workshop used her publication to sell real estate.

This course is for individuals and couples. We include those who want their own publishing system together as a family business.

Self employed, retired, professionals and those who are employed who want to add extra income or who want to change their life entirely will benefit. Previous course delegates have included investors, chiropractors, doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, other professionals and those who already own their own business and of course retirees.

This workshop is not theory. Merri and I share our real time experiences. We start at the beginning 35 years ago but mainly look at how we earn hundreds of thousands and even millions a year in our exciting lifestyle…right now.

Let’s get our noses to the grindstone. The workshop provides a Path called the seven Ps. They provide a simple, small and easy path for starting your own publishing business.

The workshop has one focused, refined and relentless goal. To prepare you to start your first publication the day after the workshop ends!

May I add that this workshop has done a pretty good job already? Here are a few examples of small self publishing businesses that started after attending this workshop.

From Sandra, a restaurant owner:

“Dear Gary and Merri, Yes I did it! Without you and your wonderful writing class I would not have been able to see my potential!! I THANK YOU BOTH! You told me to write about what I know and I did. Thank you for all the encouragement. Starting today, we are taking orders and I wanted you to be the first to know! So here goes…..I have some exciting news to share! I have just written my first book and very much appreciate your help. This book would make a great gift for any bride-to-be or even the parents of the bride (especially if they’re paying the bill)! Please check it out. I genuinely appreciate you helping me spread the word! Thank you!! Sandra”

From Jerusha, an anthropologist:

“Hello Gary and Merri. I am the first in the class to publish! I published a calendar on www.lulu.com!

From Todd, a wedding photographer:

“Thanks, Gary and Merri name recognition is beginning. Here is my new photoletter that your program helped me develop. I’m getting more clear about my own marketing now, so I may be able to better advantage of it. I am planning now to send out an email once a week showcasing new photos and creating awareness for my products and services. By mid July, I will place my first greeting card order (with a printing company Merri recommended in Cotacachi). So, I will soon have an inexpensive product to offer along with the more expensive prints that I sell. So far, I’ve got 60 opt-on subscribers to my email list, and I am telling everyone I know about it, so it’s starting to grow nicely. My first goal is to have 1000 readers. I’ll see how quickly I can accomplish it. Take care, Todd”

From Micky, a real estate broker:

“I want to say thank you for the inspiration and encouragement that I received through your publishing program. I recently published a 28 page booklet” Naples is Priceless “. This FREE booklet is being distributed through the Chamber of Commerce, banks, hotels, etc. With over 25 years as a Realtor I can now let potential real estate buyers gain knowledge and inside tidbits about this beautiful area. Again, thank you for helping me develop my potential. Micky”

This writer’s camp refines both Merri’s and my 40 years of experience into its most essential points. All of us will have to work intensely to cram everything into three days.  We have six months to prepare you because we want you to be ready for this intensive program.

This workshop is being conducted by Merri and me. We will be hosting the event at our North Carolina farm where we have built a seminar hall on Little Horse Creek.  We’ll personally work with each delegate to assure that all who attend can create their own publication.

On Friday, July 20, 2012 at 9 a.m. sharp, get to work.

What will you write?  Some of you know what you want to do…that’s great.  We’ll work on that.  Some of you just feel that you can succeed in this field…we’ll hone that and work on that.  We’ll create our own niches.

Your product? Your goals?  This is why we are inviting you to enroll in the camp now. This is a six month program and we’ll help you create your own product now that we can work on at the camp.

Here is where product development gets interesting. You product will be safe.

Our camp uses three highly successful strategies… #1: personal attention from Merri and me for six months… #2: peer review and #3: anonymity.  Reasons for the personal attention is obvious. The peer review is a proven way to get extra insights into your publication. Look at the acknowledgements of any successful writer. They thank many people who helped make their book correct.   The anonymity is our unique touch… so no one needs to be worried.  I could say more but just believe me this makes all the difference.   This is a unique part of our system that has evolved from decades of helping others write and publish products.!

In the afternoon, we’ll dive into the 7 Ps of self publishing. Passion, Problem, Person, profitably priced Product, pathways to Prospects, Promise and Presentation.

Then we get down to brass tacks by placing the ideas you have fractured under the first magnifying glasses of Passion, Problem and Person. This is the beginning of your first perfect product so you can become your own perfect client.

I’ll talk about how your passions, your current knowledge bring you to your own niche create the stories.  We’ll look at the all powerful “Golden Rule of Simplicity…Your Passions Represent Markets”.

Merri and I will both show you how to follow your passion to the market and use your passion to find “Prospecting Pathways” and “Presentation Templates” that are the drivers of your business.

Merri’s publishing skills and history, by the way, far exceed mine. She began her own import business selling products form Italy , Germany and Mexico through her own advertisements she wrote in the New Yorker, Sunday NY Times, Smithsonian, House & Garden, House Beautiful, and other magazines. Then she formed an ad agency and edited and published hundreds of books, brought a bankrupt magazine to award winning status as executive editor to Gulf Shore Life (which later sold to the Robb Reports for $23 million dollars), has edited over 1400 writers and was even offered the top editor (the only female) at the National Enquirer working directly with Generoso Pope (which she politely turned down).  She lectured at Magazine Conferences throughout the South to help others bring their own publishing ventures to awarding winning and financial success.

We’ll then return to and chip away at your fractured writing and publishing ideas to refine the most valuable asset you have in your business armory….your imagination.

Finally around 5 pm, we’ll stop working as one large group. However, that is not the end of the educational, evolutionary process that will by now be whirling away. You’ll have enough momentum and information to refine your publication.  That’s what you’ll be assigned to do.

We won’t want you to work too late though.  We still have a lot to do on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, I already know what will happen. You’ll all be sitting around with others buzzing over your ideas. I’ll have to force you back to group work at 9 a.m. because you’ll have such a head of steam you won’t want to stop talking. However, I hope that you have followed Merri’s and my example and had a good night’s sleep. Experience suggests that some of you in your excitement, will have worked through the night. You might not get to sleep now because today we’re going to accomplish three days work in a day!

We’ll start with a review of your assignments. No red marks or stars by the way… just feedback and a gentle coaxing toward the ways to create winning writing and self publishing ventures.

Then we’ll get into how to turn your thoughts/desires/energies into reality with:

#1: Stories with authenticity, meaning and roots.

#2: Stories true to the heart.

#3: Stories with conflict.

#4: Stories with passion.

The “why” of these four qualities is fascinating and so impossibly important, yet simple, that knowing it is worth the entire investment you make in the workshop. Here it is quick, down and dirty… knowledge worth millions.

There are three main demographic subgroups in the Western World. One is dying out. One controls everything but the third is rapidly rising… growing so fast that it can take down even a big organization like Starbucks (which it did in England) if ignored. Yet this third group (whom you will write and publish for) is at least partially ignored by every large corporation in the world. They all make the same cheesy error and this huge mistake creates fracturing opportunities for you… which will be the tiny, but immensely profitable small publisher.

We go on to our next Story Review about small niches that Merri and I have fractured. How we beat a publisher that’s 1,500 times larger in this niche.

We’ll break for lunch (same as Thursday but your new assignment will either refine your product or start another in light of new knowledge you have gained). Then at 2 pm it’s back to work:

In the afternoon, Merri and I look at how to match your passion to the National Psyche by studying the NY Times & USA Today best seller lists. We’ll see how new indie epublishers are creating top selling books and provide magical clues that lead to successful products, stories and marketing.

We’ll work on epublishing…how it is virtually free of expense to start/continue/succeed.  Only things necessary:  inspiration, desire, hard work and follow through…actual cost?  Zero.

Then we’ll review how to use Twitter to develop viral marketing and… what’s next!

Getting your reports, books or simply ideas on the epublishing parade…that’s through Kindle, Book Nook, etc.

The excitement that builds by this time of the camp often interferes with the dream process.  Ideas for reports, publishing ideas, businesses, stories, new lifestyles and bigger profits come rushing forth even though you are trying for sheep.

Regardless, on Sunday July 22, – as before, we’ll start at 9 a.m. sharp and remain intensely focused until noon.

Before Merri and I wrap up the entire process, we’ll outline our how we’ll continue to assist you for the rest of the year.

Wouldn’t this be fateful that this 40 year thread from Hong Kong, and my horror over losing my job in the 1970s recession, creates a whole new income source for you now?

Let’s end this with a summary:

Merri and I will begin to help you develop your publishing, writing idea the minute you enroll.  Our goal is to help you create your own product so you can fine tune it in July.  The workshop will help you come up with new ideas… but we want you to start one now. Merri and I will be glad to help you with it.

Okay, how about your cash investment? The cost of the workshop.

As I said earlier, Merri and I have been self publishing for 40 years and we make millions. This invitation provides access to information we share with only a very limited group.

The cost of the camp is  $799 or $999 for a couple.  Travel, room fees, and meals are your responsibility.  We have a limited number of rooms and will also offer a meal package at the farm.

Registration has to be limited due to the personal attention we provide.   We expect to be full.

Here is how to register immediately.

Click here:

July 20-21-22 $799

Couple $999

We’ll send you an email giving you details, the preparatory material for the camp, travel, etc.

We’ll set up our line of communications as well as deliver our online Self Publishing course.

We’ll send you what you need to get started. We’re going to be learning from the first minute, and we want you to be ready.

Get started and work with us and the online course until July.

Thursday July 19th, 2012. Show up for the introductory evening session.

Please if you want to participate, reserve your place right now! Simply click here to register:

July 20-21-22 $799

Couple $999

Best regards,

Gary

P.S. This is a chance to experience the dream life of a writer and self publisher.

We are going to work hard the entire time from now until the camp but the effects of this retreat won’t end on that Sunday. They’ll just begin.

One of the finest benefits you gain will be new like-minded friends. Our previous workshop delegates have stuck together…formed support groups and helped each other develop, grow and profit. This is called an “old boys network” in some places. Every major university and educational system has one…this invisible power because “who you know”, not just “what you know” works. We’ll encourage this so your alumni group can enhance your efforts whenever required.

Register today!

July 20-21-22 $799

Couple $999

May I share three final examples of how big, your little self publishing business can become from our workshop?

A long time friend, who had just retired from a 30 year career in the oil industry joined our program. His passion was to learn more about health and looking at the deep, more spiritual aspects of life since he had ended a financially successful career. He has gone on to publishing the leading healthy living magazine where he lives.

Not only does he publish 20,000 copies of a 48-64 page magazine on healthy living every month, he has been able to meet and work with leading health and spiritual leaders like Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dwyer and even the Dali Llama. What a thrill.

Michelle Toole, an at home mother, made a fateful decision… to attend our self publishing course.

Michelle was disabled when she took the “Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher” camp.

She took what she learned from our publishing courses and created her own successful global micro website.

Michelle wrote:  “I have some great news, my web site  http://healthy-holistic-living.com is now getting on average 2,000 visitors a day! Yup my little one man show web site now gets close to 60,000 visitors each month!  The power of the internet is amazing as well as the opportunities.  We have said it before but it deserves saying again the internet is truly the great equalizer.

“My web site is at a point now that it is growing without much effort and produces a nice passive income allowing me to continue working on my second site http://home-remedies-and-natural-cures.com and to get my third site up and running.  I am also working on various joint ventures with other web sites focusing on helping others start their own web business. I am doing monthly webinars helping disabled individuals start their own business on the Internet and will be starting a coaching club in the new year.  The opportunities are only limited by one’s imagination.

“Again I can not thank you and Merri enough, I look forward to many great adventures and new experiences in the coming years!”

Another successful self publisher who attended our workshop wrote :

“MY HEAD IS STILL SPINNING from all of the valuable input I received. Out in the boonies, 2 + hours from the airport in Charlotte , North Carolina it was not your typical setting for a business seminar.

“It was presented by a fascinating guy with an interesting career history. Gary Scott and his wife, Merri, split their time between their idyllic farm in North Carolina and their property in the mountains of Ecuador . I first heard about Gary through my interest in Ecuador .

“By his own admission, Gary is often ‘a bit ahead of the curve’ which is part of what makes his material interesting. You sense the authenticity of what he is saying but it has not caught on in the mainstream media or pop-culture.

“The input is that is already affecting my life was not just from the instructor, but from other participants. The small group, less than twenty, seemed to be intimately bonded as soon as the seminar started. People from all walks of life and all parts of the country gained insights from the information that was geared to create a ‘life of your choosing more so than just a successful business. A very simple but powerful concept. Why do we want the money in the first place?

“The lifestyle aspect of the course was taught by example. We, as a group, were temporarily inserted directly into the lifestyle led by Gary and Merri. No better way to learn than by doing.

“The course content suited my needs very nicely. It addressed issues pertinent to FilmTrips and my marketing company, MJ Media. New life has been injected into several FilmTrips projects that had been languishing on a back burner for quite some time. Gary talks about being open to ‘connect the dots’ and take advantage of distortions or discrepancies between economies and countries. I am in a very good position to do that. Telephone and Internet technology has certainly arrived to help make it happen. I will keep you posted!”

In the workshop we learn how to use the “Business Evolutionary Process.” Start with a small idea. Let the idea build enthusiasm. Let the enthusiasm lead you to an education. Let the education create action. The action will bring, deeper ideas…so you can start small and grow.

This is what so many others who have accepted Merri’s and my invitation have done and are doing now….as are we. A never ending process for all.

We hope you will join this growth process with us. If you do, this letter…the invitation and the workshop will be fateful and fun.  Register today!

Many Ecuador business people have written to me about their concerns about the trend towards authoritarianism in Ecuador. It has come with a radicalization of policies regarding business that raises uncertainty. In making decisions on whether to invest, business is torn between the need to expand to meet an expanding domestic market, or to postpone investment decisions given the government’s tilt towards radicalism.

The government is caught between the rock of global economic reality and the hard spot of a political need to keep unwise promises made to poor voters.  Like most governments in trouble, many feel it is trying to maintain control..

President  Correa has slammed the press for claiming that he is hampering freedom of expression in Ecuador.

One controversy started with a senior journalist at the newspaper El Universo. He accused Correa a year ago of ordering the army to fire on a hospital full of civilians. Correa filed a criminal suit of “aggravated defamation of a public official” against the writer, editor and three of the directors of the paper. The President won and was awarded $40 million. The directors and Palacio were sentenced to three years in jail. Now their appeal has now been suspended due to the ill health of one of the presiding judges.

However even if Correa does repress the press in Ecuador, there is a huge writing and publishing opportunity in this Andean country.

One of the greatest concerns readers express is the growing restriction of freedom everywhere.  This is why we urge those looking for a new or second career to consider a micro publishing business. Publishing is one of the most freedom creating businesses one can have.  You can easily live in one country… like Ecuador but earn in other countries.

Publishing can even be international if you love to travel. Publishers reap rich rewards selling information on their own country in others and vice versa. While everyone is talking about helping our country by buying U.S., publishers are in a position to do something about it…by selling U.S. knowledge abroad!

A perfect example can be seen in the way we try to sell information to Canadians, Japanese, Chinese, British, Australian, European, Russian buyers which can attract money to the U.S., rather than vice versa.

Imagine what an international publishing business means to your world travel. Every trip you take can be tax deductible! You can honestly write off every trip that is related to your publishing business. Every journey becomes a research oriented adventure and it can be a tax deductible event.

As a publisher, you’ll have one of the most respected and tax protected businesses in the country. America needs to do business abroad, and our government has created many, many programs to encourage Americans to do business overseas. Many of those benefits come in the form of reduced tax! Other benefits come in the form of legal protection. Publishers are protected by the U.S. constitution. You do not need a license to publish. There is no government watchdog nor do you have bureaucratic red tape involved in publishing.

With these thoughts in mind here are valuable thoughts about publishing and freedom from our webmaster, David Cross.

David Cross and Dr. Cinda Scott-Cross.

The Freedom of the Press By David Cross

A.J. Liebling once said that, “Freedom of the Press belongs to those who own one.”

The Internet has made self-publishing simpler than ever before but other than starting to write, what more is there to learn about self publishing? A lot. In fact, writing has very little to do with publishing. Writers may self-publish but without knowledge of publishing – which is really all about marketing – you can quickly end up with a garage filled with boxes of your self-published title or clickless websites.

I first heard of self publishing in 1992 shortly after first meeting Gary and Merri. They’d already become self-made millionaires through self-publishing. A while later heard about their self publishing course which I ordered and a few months later published my first book.

The Marketing Survival Handbook was a compilation of effective marketing, advertising and public relations techniques I’d used in small business and charities over the years. I wrote, self-published and printed the book and sold it through CompuServe (still big in those days!), bulletin boards, websites, email and direct mail. I also used the publication to send to potential consulting clients – small business owners – who liked the ideas and wanted me to implement them.

A couple of years after publishing the book it landed on the desk of an investor in an Internet startup in Stockholm, Sweden, right when they were looking for a Marketing Director. A few weeks later I was in Stockholm eventually to become CEO of that successful startup.

From 4 years at that startup I added a lot of in-depth technical understanding of Internet business, eCommerce, security, web hosting, etc. which I then combined with my existing marketing experience to build my consulting niche of a marketer who fully gets Internet technology, programming and technology.

For me self-publishing grew into a very profitable niche with many unexpected branches and benefits.

Before You Self-Publish…

Steer clear of the Internet!

The ideas in Gary’s Self Fulfilled Publisher course are as relevant and timely today with the advent of self-publishing on the Internet as they were in the early 1970s when Gary’s own publishing business started and when I wrote and published my first title in the early 1990s. The course was written before the Internet became popular but this is no disadvantage; in fact, having a clear idea and understanding of the publishing and marketing principles in the course before you harness the tools on the Internet will set you apart from other publishers on the Internet.

The Internet is a channel through which you can publish with ease…write…click…done! But without a grounding in the underlying concepts that bring success to any publishing venture it’s easy to spend time working on ancillary tasks like a lively social media presence, viral marketing campaign or video-laden website while banging-out your first Kindle title and you could end up with little more than a hobby rather than a business.

The core self-publishing course presents many “classic” publishing ideas including what to publish, direct marketing, copywriting, list building and product fulfillment. Anyone could follow the course today in the same way that I did and self-publish a title, which could be a book, CD, audio course or audiobook, video, Kindle title or an eBook in PDF or other format. Add-in the additional materials we now provide on self publishing on the Internet and it’s pretty easy to publish on- or offline.

The Internet makes self-publishing very easy to do. So much so that you may wish to steer clear of the Internet until you’ve a good underpinning of the core principles of success in self-publishing. Just “going out there” and writing and self-publishing on the Internet using the available tools without understanding what sells, why it sells and how to market your ideas often results in frustration and low sales. If you decide to purchase the self-publishing course remember this as you ask why there is little on the Internet within the core course; there’s good reason for this! (the bonus materials are helpful with the Internet aspects of publishing)

The Benefits of Self Publishing

Delta Skymiles Magazine ran a chart recently, Self Publishing by the Numbers that a friend sent me.

The chart highlights many of the benefits of self-publishing on the Internet. One number in there is the, “$2 million profits young-adult sci-fi/fantasy author Amanda Hocking earned self-publishing her troll-inspired trilogy before she was offered a book deal by St. Martin’s Press.”

This is not typical but I did wonder why, after generating $2 million in profits, Amanda would consider going to a traditional publishing house and not just continue self-publishing.

You may have read about author John Locke – the “first self-published author to sell a million eBooks on Amazon Kindle”. His “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months” Kindle title is $10 well spent (remember you don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle titles).

In their self-publishing career, Gary and Merri have made much more than either of these authors and it’s all contained in Gary’s self-fulfilled publish course.

Recent Developments in Self-Publishing: Apple iPad

Apple’s announcement January 19th to offer enhanced textbooks on the iPad through iBooks was an interesting development as Apple simultaneously provided their free iBook authoring application to develop these multimedia publications. Although the format is proprietary, like Amazon’s Kindle format, I feel this heralds a sea change in self publishing. Over the next year we’ll see many more textbooks and multimedia publications becoming available in this format as self-publishing authors embrace this format and marketing these titles directly on iTunes Store.

Self-publishing is easy to do and you can either write and produce your own titles or self-publish other’s work (with appropriate permissions, of course). Gary discusses this in his self-publishing course. or if you like to write but don’t want to be bothered with publishing and marketing there are options of partnering with someone who does want to publish but may not have writing skills.

And of course, publishing does not mean it has to be the written word; audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, music and videos may all be self-published. The Internet makes self-publishing simpler to do. Gary’s course makes self publishing simpler to do properly.

“Freedom of the Press belongs to those who own one.” I say, “Own one!”

Photograph by Sebastian Liste for TIME from Times article Rain Forest with caption “Heart of the forest Ecuador’s Napo River feeds into the Amazon in oil-rich Yasuni National Park”

A February 2012 Times article “Rain Forest for Ransom” by Bryan Walsh outlines the importance of Ecuador’s environment in the Amazon. Here is an exceprt frm that article (bolds are mine):   Yasuni National Park — a 10,000-sq-km reserve on the western fringes of the Amazon basin — is indeed a paradise, considered by many scientists to be the single most biodiverse spot on the planet. But it’s a paradise in danger of being lost. Oil companies have found rich deposits beneath the park’s trees and rivers, nearly 900 million barrels of crude worth billions of dollars. That’s money that Ecuador — a small South American country in which a third of the population lives below the poverty line and petroleum already accounts for more than half its export revenue — badly needs, money that oil companies and consumers will be only too happy to provide if drilling is allowed to go forward.

If Ecuador follows the usual path of development, that’s exactly what will happen — with disastrous consequences for the park. “Yasuni is a truly unique place in the world,” says Gorky Villa, an Ecuadorian botanist who works with the conservation group Finding Species. “Our concern is that it will be ruined before we can even understand it.” (See photos of the polluted area in Ecuador.)

But there may be another way. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has told the international community that his country would be willing to forgo drilling and leave Yasuni largely intact in exchange for donations equal to $3.6 billion over 13 years, or about half the expected market value of the park’s oil deposits. The plan — known as the Yasuni-ITT Initiative, after the name of the reserve’s oil field — would conserve Yasuni’s unique biodiversity and prevent the emission of over 800 million tons of carbon dioxide, an amount equal to Germany’s annual greenhouse-gas footprint. The Yasuni plan would be a first for global environmental policy: recognition that the international community has a financial responsibility to help developing nations preserve nature. “Oil is by far the most important part of Ecuador’s economy,” says Carlos Larrea, a professor at Andean University and a technical adviser on the Yasuni project. “But we are willing to keep that oil indefinitely unexploited if the international community contributes.”

Of course, from another perspective, the Yasuni initiative might look like environmental blackmail by Ecuador: Pay us or the forest gets it. And since the proposal was first floated a few years ago, Ecuador has struggled to get international partners to sign on, in part because momentum on climate policy has ebbed in the face of the prolonged global economic crisis. Nor does it help that Correa himself has sent mixed signals on the project, simultaneously preparing for drilling even as he asks for donations. (Read “Can Ecuador Trade Oil for Forests?”)

There is, however, no ignoring the essential justice of the plan. If we all really do have a shared stake in the natural heritage represented by hot spots like Yasuni, then we have a shared responsibility in helping a poor country preserve it. “We need these resources to develop the country, but we’re also responsible people who want to protect Yasuni,” Correa said in New York recently. “If the poor don’t receive direct benefits from conservation, conservation won’t be sustainable.”

For the past decade Merri and I have participated in protecting the Amazon rain forest in an economically viable way and just a decade ago we financed an Amazon camp for a small indigenous community.   Here is an excerpt from an article posted at our website after we took our first (and regretfully only) group to this camp in 2002. The  February 2002 article is entitled “Amazon Story”.

This tells of the camp we financed in the Amazon to help the indigenous as they wanted a viable source of income (from small groups of tourists/students) so they would not have to sell out to big oil.

Ecuador is the second largest oil exporter in South America and its economic plan for the next five years is based on doubling its production of the black gold.

Oil has been the nation’s short term economic salvation, but this is the reason we are here as well because this same oil also creates huge ecological problems, destroys rain forests, pollutes streams, etc.

One way of combating this problem has been the creation of numerous huge eco-reserves and we headed for one of the largest, the Cuyabeno (good man) Reserve, 2,700 square miles of deep jungle rainforest that is highly protected.
This area has been created to conserve the fauna and flora and meet requirements so the native inhabitants in joint administration with the government can continue to live, as they always have, here.

The preserve is set into two areas, the first is open to tours through just six tour operators and three lodges of which our lodge is one. (Merri and I are have such a belief in this project that we have financed it for them). No one except the indigenous are allowed into this area unless with one of the tour guides.

“Land of the Siona-Secoya”. This is what the lodge is about, its revenues are used in part to help support this tribe, building schools, providing basic needs and trying to stop the encroachment of western civilization so this community can live as they have for so many generations before.

A Kingfisher (a sign that the environment is clean- as they cannot stand pollution) landed on a red plant that the native guide tells is a contraceptive used by the locals. They boil it for two days and drink a cup a day to prevent unwanted childbirth. Yet the community here needs kids, only 43 remain in the community.

Perfumes floated through the areas, exotic, heady sweet smells, wild garlic, frangapani and huge banks of honey suckle.

Huge fish roiled in the water. Ara Paima (tarpon) are one of the major food sources for the natives here. They are caught by trolling with a small fish until the tarpon is attracted. Then one fisherman uses a small canoe and detachable harpoon that hooks a strong line into the fish, leading to a long, exciting ride and finally dinner for many. Piranas and catfish also frequent the river and add to our daily fare while we are here.

After about two and a half hours of this jungle canyon, the first of three lodges appeared. Our lodge is deepest in the jungle so we journeyed further before we arrived.

The stilt lodge is hidden in the jungle and approached by steps up from the river and a boardwalk through vine-covered jungle that leads to a thatched covered tee shaped building surrounded by jungle green.

The next morning after a breakfast of tropical delights, we boated to an obscure path, climbed out and hiked to the village of the Siona-Secoya that we protect. Our partnership with this community began after the village Shaman Aldemar saw our partner (Santiagio Guamani) in a dream as the man who would help his people.

Regretfully that part of the Amazon was closed shortly after that first tour, so we donated the camp to the Ecuadorian tour operator (who was seen in a dream by the shaman) who could continue taking Ecuadorians there.

This is why we were delighted when our friend, Kjetil Haugan, purchased La Selva Lodge in another accessible part of the Amazon so we can sponsor camps there. This area is deep in the protected Amazon and is a pristine delight…we treasured our times in the Amazon and were so happy to introduce this outstanding lodge and delightful trip!

The first camp will be a Amazon Spanish camp conducted by Glenn Sterling.

Glenn just sent us this note which shows the beauty of clear skies and environmental cleanliness in Ecuador

The Skies Over Ecuador

Glenn Sterling

Ecuador had 4 distinct regions and of course, skies to match each.  Galapagos, Pacific coast, Andes, Amazon (not the bookseller). 

I haven’t been to the Galapagos, but I have been to a lot of the rest of Ecuador.  Here are some of the images my camera took that you may easily see.  I’ve also included some of the Ecuadorian airborne – by this I mean birds and such.

One of the most glorious aspects of the Ecuadorian sky is cleanliness.  You know you’re breathing good clean air, either from high altitude or from lack of pollution.  A little bird told me.

Foggy cloud above Cayambe (mountain top) near Pappalacta hot springs.

Sky over the Amazon headwaters – a cooling, refreshing rain falls most afternoons for minutes.

The Napo River, riverboats, stunning Amazonian jungle and sky.

An exquisite butterfly alights on a plant at a cocoa farm outside Tena.

Commonly called a parrot, this Macau joined us for a break at our hotel in Puyo.

Above Banos the live volcano, Tungurahua, creates its own cloud.

Rain threatens the Andes cordillera lasting about 20 seconds with a bark much worse than its bite.

This colorful Parrot patrols the animal shelter at Cotundo guarding its entrance.

Near the coast about 2 miles from San Clemente daily colorful skies amaze everyone.

Glenn

Join Glenn Sterling for photos and a once in a lifetime Amazon adventure that helps protect the rain forest environment as you learn Spanish in four days.  March 2-6.

Gary

Amazon Spanish Camp

Last modified on 2012-01-22 16:48:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

See below a special opportunity to learn Spanish in four days in an  Amazon Spanish Camp at La Selva Lodge, Ecuador March 2-6, 2012.

Ecuador Living club members can see a special Ecuador beach opportunity at the Ecuador Living Club password protected page.

La Selva Jungle Lodge is one of the best lodges in Ecuador’s Amazon and owner, Kjetil Haugan, offers several special privileges to our readers.  This has become the perfect place to have our first Super Learning + Spanish Camp in Ecuador.

The lodge is authentic… in operation since the 1980s and…

offering incredible eco tours…

jungle treks…

free birding…

boating…

wonderful cuisine… a true adventure that supports the indigenous community and environment.

The lodge is comfortable plus…

there is an indigenous spa and much much more.

There is plenty of space for meetings and…

private time.

Delegates to this course learn Super Thinking, Spanish and the wonders of the Amazon while they save hundreds of dollars.

See more about La Selva Lodge here. 

See details of  our Florida based Super Thinking + Spanish course here.

The Amazon Super Thinking + Spanish Camp Includes the Super Thinking + Spanish course fee plus four nights accommodation, all meals at La Selva Lodge, all excursions and all transport in the Amazon and an English naturalist guide.

Because Kjetil Haugan, a friend for more than a decade, recently purchased La Selva we have been able to help our Super Thinking + Spanish teacher Glenn Sterling put together a super special price that cuts the cost of your Spanish course in half.

Normally you would pay $880 for the four night full package at La Selva and $799 for the course making it $1,679. In this special one time Amazon offer you can save $480.

The fee for the classes and the full 4 night package is $1299 per person (sharing room) or $1,563  per person for one person in a room.

(Fees do not include airfare to or from Quito, Ecuador, airfare from Quito to Amazon ($145), National Park Fee ($25), bar bill and or tips.)

You might well ask how we can create such a bargain and there are several reasons behind the  answer. First, because of our long standing relationship, the owner of La Selva, Kjetil has offered us a special price.  Second most hotels and tour businesses in Ecuador offer us a commission. We do not accept commissions and pass the savings on to our Ecuador Living Club subscribers.  Third when you enroll for this Amazon tour you are automatically enrolled as an Ecuador Living Club member… a $119 value.. but this makes you eligible for huge discounts at hotels including this Amazon lodge.

Glenn Sterling has combined all these benefits to create this special value.

Time is Limited.

This is a one time offer for March 2-6, 2012.  After this Amazon tour… the owners will close La Selva for the season. Prices will rise substantially after.  This tour may be the last time you can enjoy the Amazon at a world class resort and learn Spanish in four days at such a low price.

To enroll,  contact Super Thinking + Spanish Teacher Glenn Sterling at nnomad9@gmail.com

Rain Forest for Ransom

Ecuador Real Estate MLS

Ecuador Multiple Listings: February 2012, plus links to earlier listings.

Seller details are available at the password protected Ecuador Living club site.

See how to get an Ecuador Living Club password here.

Order fresh Ecuador roses for Valentines Day this week.

New Listings:

* Cuenca Condo Rental

Top end Cuenca rental next door to Villa Nova on the Rio Tomebamba within walking distance of Old Town and New Town in an ideal location.

Rio Tomebamba

3,500sq.ft on two floors, with master suites on each floor along with two other bedroom and another bathroom and 2nd living room on the upper floor, kitchen, laundry room, dining room and living room

4 Bedrooms, 3.5+ Baths (Sleeps 6-8)

You can surf the internet, watch DirecTV with many English-language channels, do your laundry, cook your favorite foods, or just sip coffee on your private balcony overlooking the river.

See Full details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2012/01/12/cuenca-rental-available.html

* Ecuador Beach Lots

This lot is 369 square meters (3,834 square feet).

The best beach front lot (ready to build) in this Gated Community Mirador San José (Canadian Project).

A single paradise, overhanging the Pacific coast, (in front of Isla de la Plata) bringing together nature lovers and peace of all walks of life, from around the world.  You will see the whales directly from your lot and of your future house.

You will like to take a walk or make jogging in this beach “Playa San José” of 12km along.

See full details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2011/12/16/ecuador-beach-lot-for-sale.html

* New Cotacachi housing project has started and is called BALCONES DEL AMBI.

The houses will be colonial style on 10,000 square foot lots and Patricio Falconi houses from 1,500 to 1,800 square feet.

Site preparation has begun.

There are views in all directions to to Mohanda, Mt. Imbabura and Mt. Cotacachi.

Mt. Imbabura.

There is also a spectacular vista and…

and view of the Ambi River.  There will be 28 houses total.

Prices will range from $130,000 to 160,000.  See more details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2011/12/06/new-cotacachi-housing-project.html

* New Cuenca Condo.

This Cuenca townhouse would make a good rental.

There is a growing demand for Ecuador rentals.

This new Ecuador townhouse with rental potential is located at Camino del Tejar 3-83 / Cuenca close to town, shopping, banks.

This 2 story town house is one of 3 units left in this development. Because it is still under construction you can select tile and any other upgrades.

The price is $90,000 which works out to only $55.00 per sq ft. for which you get 3 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths in 1614 sq ft.

See more details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2011/12/05/new-cuenca-condo-for-sale.html

*Las Palmas Beach Lots

These lots offer great…

sunsets and…

ocean views from the beach at Las Palmas.

Las Palmas is a gated community situated on almost 12 acres of beachfront land located directly on the Ruta del Sol (main coastal highway) in Puerto Cayo.

Las Palmas is just over 45 minutes south of Manta and 30 minutes north of Puerto Lopez. Puerto Cayo is far enough away from the big city of Manta to give you that quaint small town feel, yet close enough for all of your shopping and personal needs.

With controlled access and full-time gardener, Las Palmas offers the security and beauty of 1st class resort community. With only 37 lots, we offer a very close knit community feel.

Las Palmas Community will include a clubhouse, swimming pool, and tennis court. With concrete curbing and sidewalks, you will be able to enjoy walking in the community and getting to know your neighbors. And, with over ¼ mile of private, manicured beach, you will feel as if you are in your own personal paradise!! Las Palmas offers underground utilities (water⁄power) which helps to preserve its natural feel. The streets are laid with a compacted, crushed natural red volcanic rock. This aids in natural water filtration and prevents damaging water “run-off”. We can assist you in all of your design and building needs. From the planning stage and construction, all the way to decorating and furnishing, our craftsmen and professional team will make building your dream home an easy process.

See full details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2012/01/13/las-palmas-on-the-ecuador-pacific-lots-for-sale.html

* Cuenca Ecuador home for sale.

Single family house located in a small gated community close to Mall del Rio.

The house is just over 3,000 square feet with a nicely landscaped yard of 4,000 square feet.

The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and a separate maid’s quarters, hardwood floors throughout in a nice open floor plan.

Price: $180,000.  See details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2011/12/02/cuenca-home-for-sale.html

* San Clemente Beach Condo

This two story town house at Vistazul, San Clemente, Ecuador is 1,290 square feet of living area, plus additional 645 square feet  of roof terrace.

The unit comes with 2 Air Conditioners, Microwave Oven, new Aluminum front windows.  It’s newly renovated and is in move in condition.

Kitchen

This is one of the most beautiful units with a spectacular view to the Pacific Ocean.

Sunset view from condo.

San Clemente beach.

The Vistazul club house is one of  the most exclusive hotels and spas on Ecuador’s Pacific and Vistazul owners have access to these facilities.

Club house dining and an…

infinity pool right on the beach.

Price: US$ 87,000.00.

See full details at www.ecuadorliving.com/2012/01/24/san-clemente-ecuador-beach-condo-for-sale.html

How to Use the Ecuador Property MLS:

The Ecuador Living MLS is divided into #1: Ecuador real estate for sale and #2: Ecuador rentals.

See Ecuador beach rentals here.

See Ecuador real estate for sale below.

Ecuador real estate for sale is below and all listings on this page were posted in August – September, October, November 2011.

We have also provided links on this page to older listings. We link to these older listings so readers can get a better feel of Ecuador real estate prices.

You can tell the date of the listing by the URL address. For example the Puerto Lopez beach condo in this MLS was listed August 16, 2011 and is posted at www.ecuadorliving.com/2011/08/16/puerto-lopez-houses-for-sale.html

We post two types of ads. Free and paid. Seller contact information is shown for all paid advertisements.

Seller contact data for this Ecuador real estate is available at the password protected Ecuador Living Club site.

See how to get an Ecuador Living Club password here.

We DO NOT investigate properties when they are advertised so be sure to complete your due diligence and always use an independent Ecuador attorney who represents you (not the seller) when you buy real estate in Ecuador. We also recommend that you rent before you buy and become familiar with Ecuador.

We have a list of Ecuador attorneys who have helped club members at our password protected Ecuador Living club website.

Use our FREE Ecuador Natural gift reminder. See details here.

Ecuador Rental of the Month

(Alphabetical)

Here are rentals in alphabetical order by area.

To go directly to a specific area click below.

• Agricultural Real Estate
• Ambato
• Amazon
• Bahia
• Canoa
• Cotacachi
• Crucita
• Cuenca
• Quito
• Salinas
• San Clemente
• San Vicente

Ecuador Agricultural Real Estate:

Learn about Ecuador farmland tours here.

90 hectares. Close to San Vicente. Price: $160,000 (Below)

40 hectares with river that never dries ; Price: $58,000 (Below)

23 hectares, mostly high hills, nice Price: $40,000  (Below)

140 hectares river runs right next to it all year long, great for many types of tree, bamboo plantations, short cycle crops and cattle ; Price: $195,000 (Below)

44 hectares in Briceño, it has 2.78 hectares of plantains that are currently producing. Price: $140,000 (Below)

24 hectares. It has cacao, papaya, passion fruit, plantains, etc Price: $48,000 (Below)

470 hectares, specially good for passion fruit, plantains, cashew, balsa wood, etc. Price: $1,500,000 (Below)

Cocoa

50 hectares, specially good for papaya, passion fruit, balsa wood Price: $200,000 (Below)

Learn about Ecuador agricultural property tours here.

Ecuador Amazon Real Estate:

This Ecuador Amazon lodge for sale offers a unique profit and environmental opportunity.

Reserve and Eco-Lodge for sale in the Central Rainforest of Ecuador-South America.

This is a nice opportunity to buy and own a nice eco-lodge situated on an upper Amazon basin (950 meters over the sea), and scattered in our reserve (sanctuary of birds and butterflies), with an unbeatable view over the “Sangay” National Park, Sangay, Altares, Chimborazo Tungurahua Volcanoes, and “Pastaza and Puyo” Rivers.

The eco-lodge has 25 rooms for simple, double and triples occupancy plus 64.75 hectares (160 acres) of virgin rainforest in the central part of the Amazon region of Ecuador, South America. Location: just 5 1/2 hours and half from Quito, 1 hour 30 minutes from and Baños town, 8 hours from Cuenca city, 9 hours from Guayaquil.

It has been built with construction materials that respect the eco-system of the rainforest to give our guests comfortable accommodation. Many events has been held on our eco-lodge and reserve due its exotic location, just to name a few: the visit of Candidates to Miss Ecuador to beauty pageant that selects Ecuador’s representatives to Miss Universe, Raw television from UK a multi award winning production company specializing in great stories filmed a movie “Locked Up Abroad” in our reserve, and some other Ecuadorian TV programs, the wife of our President visited twice our eco-lodge, see link for full information and our web page: www.altosdelpastazalodge.com

Those with a genuine interest in this Ecuador Amazon lodge and unique profit and environmental opportunity should contact the owner Fabian Bonilla for terms and price at drfabianbonilla@yahoo.com

See more details on this Ecuador Amazon lodge for sale here.

Ambato Ecuador Real Estate:

There is special opportunity in Ambato Ecuador condos. New Ecuador real estate opportunities in Ambato.

Here is an Ambato, Ecuador condo for sale.

When Merri and I first moved to Ecuador we lived for over a year with an indigenous community near Ambato. We loved the beauty of this land and its location in the middle of Ecuador….and enjoyed the ride along the Avenue of the Volcanos to and from our home in a small village.

See a listing for ten Ambato condos at your Ecuador Living Club site. Click here.

Bahia, Ecuador:

Bahia, Ecuador Property Prices.

Bahia real estate prices in the resale market are still 33% below what they were pre-earthquake in 1998 so they still represent good value. See Bahia property for sale here.

New Bahia Condos. 9 stories/4 apartments with nice views of the bridge.

Price is $110 per square foot.

Canoa, Ecuador:

Ocean Front Condos For Sale On A Secluded Beach in Canoa, Manabi, Ecuador

View looking South to Bahia de Caraquez.

Playa Azul is a small complex of 14 condominiums for the discriminating buyer who is looking for a beautiful condo on a nice secluded beach.  Our commitment is to provide people with the opportunity to sit by a beautiful infinity pool that will appear to flow right into the Pacific Ocean. Peace & quiet is what our condo projects are all about.

View from second floor Condo

Playa Azul will feature 14 – 1000 Sq. Ft. 2 bedroom 2 bath condos overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The complex will feature the same beautiful infinity pool that is being built at Playa Dorada.

Beautiful infinity pool and condos that I am building now at Playa Dorada that will also be built at Playa Azul.

We have just purchased one of the finest pieces of ocean front property on the Pacific Coast Highway between Bahia and Canoa.

We will have over 3000 Sq. Meters with 200 foot of ocean front to build 14 units all facing the ocean.

Your living room, dining room, kitchen and master bedroom will all have an ocean view. Even the master bedroom shower will have a window that opens to the ocean.

Entrance to Playa Azul.

My first project Playa Dorada and Playa Azul are located just 15 minutes North of Bahia and just 5 minutes South of the popular tourist town of Canoa.

We also have just received great news. We are getting a golf course in Bahia (another welcome addition to the growing infrastructural of our area).

In the last 2 years we have seen ocean front property go from $25 per meter to $65 per meter and the demand is greater than ever.

So we can not stress enough the importance of getting your spot on the beach before the prices are in line with Costa Rica and Panama. 



With ocean front prices rising so fast, it will be impossible to offer these condos again at this price. If you are serious about having a ocean front getaway or a beautiful retirement condo Now is the TIME!!!

We are located 1  1/2 hours North of Manta Airport that will soon be getting International flights from the U.S. Also just 10 minutes from here is the San Vicente Airport that is under renovation and will be getting regular scheduled flights from Quito. They have extended the runway and are almost complete with the Arrival Departure building renovation. 
We are also getting a new Shopping Mall in Bahia that will be a very welcome addition to all who live here.Bahia’s growth had always been held back by the lack of a bridge across the Chone Estuary.

But now with the new longest bridge in Ecuador complete and the coastal highway now connecting Bahia with the North coast, we are now in one of the hottest real estate markets of Ecuador. Also what makes our projects so inviting is the beautiful wide secluded beaches along with our small complexes of Condos.

Looking North to Canoa

This gives everyone a peaceful place to relax without 100 or more owners sharing 1 pool.

We are featuring handcrafted solid hardwood doors, windows, cabinets and closets built by one of the best carpenters on the coast of Ecuador. We are also featuring quality tiled floors and porcelain counter tops.

At $95 per sq. ft., you will be assured your investment is solid.

We sold out Playa Dorada in 60 days and anticipate Playa Azul selling just as fast when everyone can see the quality, location, and security we have created at Playa Dorada. 
Everyone who bought a condo in our Playa Dorada project has already earned $20,000 equity in just 8 months.

Beginning in December of this year we will have Playa Dorada 2 Bdrm 2 bath Condos ready to rent. This will give you the chance to see our project and reserve your spot in the future for a Playa Azul Condominiums just a 10 minute walk north from Playa Dorada. We can pick you up at the Manta Airport and provide you with a real estate tour so you will know the market and be confident that your investment at Playa Azul is the right choice.

These condos can also be managed as vacation rentals if one chooses. We will have a web site that will feature open booking dates and the ability for people to reserve with Visa or Master card. The path between Ecuador’s capital, Quito , and the coastal city of Manta is nearing completion with a new 4 lane concrete highway.

Here at our property the new four lane concrete highway with a bike lane from Canoa to San Vicente is nearly done.

The bridge that will link Bahia De Caraquez and San Vicente is completed, and upgrades to Ecuador’s electrical systems are being done, along with a new fiber optic cable that will be activated soon. We have hi speed internet and direct TV that has all the U.S. channels.

There are also over 240 channels from around the world with a one time installation fee of $220 and no monthly payments.

The weather here from May to Jan. averages about 72 degrees with a slight overcast. Jan. to April runs 80 to 90.

After living in the Caribbean with hot humid weather year round, I find the weather here on the coast to be one of Ecuador’s best features. 
So now it’s time to ask yourself.

You can have the Pacific Ocean at your door step with miles of quiet beaches and a beautiful infinity pool.

Here is some general info about myself and the area. I’m a custom home builder from Gold Beach, Oregon and moved here over 3 years ago to escape the poor economy.

I have since married and work with my Ecuadorian wife, Elsa, making Playa Dorada and Playa Azul a little piece of paradise. I have always built high quality custom beach homes and will never cut corners to pad my wallet. It is more important for us to offer a good price and have new found friends and neighbors.

I do not use realtors and I pass that savings on to my buyers, we have an excellent lawyer here in San Vicente that gives us all a very fair price on closing cost and you can trust that what I have to offer is what you will receive.

Asking Price: $95,000

The payment plan:  
$1,000 to hold your Condo.  
$37,000 at start of construction. 
$37,000 at completion of structure. 
$20,000 at finish.

Happy home hunting to all, 
Sincerely, 
Brent & Elsa Carlson

Carlson Narvaez Constructores 
Canoa, Ecuador

For more details contact me (Brent Carlson) at bcarlson22@ymail.com

or call Mobile 087844766 – Movie Mobile O80669470 – Porta 
Land line in Ecuador 
593-053027165. 


Portland Or. # 503-895- 0745. 
This number rings here in Ecuador via Magic Jack.

Beach Real Estate for Sale

Price $4.50 to $9.00 per square foot. See details on this Canoa beach real estate here.

Learn about Ecuador export tours

Cotacachi, Ecuador:

Yana Pamba. Gated Community in Cotacachi.

Yana Pamba homes are under construction. One is complete. See more here.

Between Cotacachi and Otavalo – designer house for sale.

.3 acre (1206 sq mtr or 12,000 sq ft ) with mountain views.

View of Imbabura Mountain from front of house and one lot next door to Otavalo – Cotacachi house for sale. Ornamentals and fruit tree plantings and the organic vegetable garden add to this great feeling of a wonderful space.

View of vegetable garden and front of house

The 1750 square feet (163 square meters) house was recently completed by a professional designer who used best materials and practices throughout.

View from side of house with patio and palapa

The world class kitchen has full-access cabinetry, granite countertops, large propane refrigerator, and commercial style range and ventilation.

Custom kitchen with European cabinetry, Fisher Pickle stove, Propane refrigerator, granite counters, wine rack.

Price $169,000. See more details here.

Or Contact Lou Montgomery email: kaliworks@earthlink.net

US Phones: 707 829 2608 or 707 477 9434

Contact for setting up a showing in Ecuador: Kerry Klages, kerryklages@gmail.com

Phone from the US 011 593 80 160 498

New Assisted Living in Cotacachi

The MGP GROUP of companies is a UK based company with offices in Florida, USA and Cotacachi, Ecuador offer homes and top quality assisted living services for clients with heated swimming pool, gymnasium, scheduled & supervised wellness training, sauna and steam rooms plus a restaurant, community center and small chapel.

The company broke ground in March 2011 for an assisted/retiree living complex of 70 condominium homes with a gym, swimming pool, doctor’s office and nursing station, organic restaurant, micro market, meeting room and a small chapel.

All condominiums will have a full-size kitchen, complete with fridge and cookers, in the rear of the property, with the living rooms all facing inwards towards the landscaped gardens with amazing views of the mountain range in the distance. From the living room there will be a door leading to the balconies with provision for floral displays on top of the safety walls.

The homes are all designed so that entry to each will be through the rear or the “working areas” (kitchen, etc.) leaving the living room areas and the main bedrooms all overlooking the wonderful gardens. All condominiums will be equipped with an emergency alarm system linked to a 24 hour monitored system. Pre-installed points for TV, Internet and phone jacks will be fitted in all condominiums as well as tiled floors and all walls will be painted a neutral color suitable for any type of furniture.

This group offers Ecuador Living subscribers a 2% discount off the quoted purchase price of their properties.

Learn how to belong to the Ecuador club here.

Learn about 4 wheel drive Ecuador export tours here.

Crucita, Ecuador:

Crucita Beach Condo

Beach views from this condo.

Roof garden.

This is a smart looking unit purchased by a real estate tour delegate who is recovering from a major medical treatment. I thought this was one of the nicest condos I have seen inside.

Kitchen.

This is next to a good neighborhood surrounded by large Ecuador beach houses.

From this point of the beach you can walk on the beach for hours.

This is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit with, a jacuzzi…

and a roof terrace.

The living area is 98.50 square meters (1,060 square feet) and with the balcony totals 155.25 square meters. (1671 square feet). It is the top unit in a 3 unit building.

The use of adjacent gated amenities of a tennis court and a swimming pool are available for a monthly fee of $30. (This fee is optional.)

There are not and cannot be any structures between this Ecuador beach condo and the ocean.

Asking price $79,000.

See more details here.

For more details contact the owner: Tetiana Samoilova, 621 Nehalem Ln, La Conner, WA, 98257. Telephone 360-770-2285 or email ellakievred@yahoo.com

Cuenca, Ecuador:

New Cuenca Townhouse in Misicata area.

The home is bordered by the Yanuncay River so enjoys the microclimate created by the river and is a short distance to downtown.

The townhouse has three nice size bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms, 1550 sq. ft.

The price is $76,000. See details here.

Cuenca Penthouse for Sale

This Cuenca penthouse for sale is only one block from the Yanuncay River and minutes from downtown. It offers 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in 1205 sq ft. Hardwood floors throughout.

A modern open kitchen with granite counter tops and ceramic tile. A laundry room with a view.

Speaking of views… here is the scenery from this Cuenca penthouse.

The price is $75,000 which includes two parking spaces.

New Listing Cuenca Condo

This is a project which is under construction and is only a few months from completion. The developer has funded the entire project out of pocket and wants to sell two units before completion.

Every side of this building has a fantastic view and it’s located in a peaceful and quiet area close to the river as well as close to downtown.

Price: $124,950.

Ecuador Living Club members can get details at their password protected club site.

Not an Ecuador Living club member? Learn how to get a password here.

Cuenca B & B and/or business listing.

Perfect for apartments, condos or a hostal right in the heart of downtown Cuenca. The space is “open at this time for easy redevelopment”. This building currently has 15 possible bedrooms.

Price $290,000. See Cuenca B&B Potential details here.

Learn how to earn conducting tours in Ecuador

Manta, Ecuador:

Luxury Beachfront  Condos  Just South of Manta

Santa  Marianita, Manabi , Ecuador

*Huge Terraces

*Jacuzzis

*BBQs

*Security

*Ample Parking

*Lush Gardens

* Social Areas

We’ve designed the the most modern and highest quality condo development in the area, JUST FOR YOU! All units have spectacular ocean views and expansive terraces to enjoy the year-round sunshine and fresh sea air.

Constructed with the unique, Mobusa® Building System, these units have many advantages over conventional construction, including:

• Greater Resistance to Earthquakes & Hurricanes
• Better Thermal & Acoustic Insulation
• Water Purification Systems
• Hot & Cold Water at All Fixtures
• Pex® Plumbing – Non-corrosive, Flexible Piping & Connectors
• Custom Cabinetry, Granite Counters, Fine Tile Finishes
• Internet, Phone, Cable, TV Wiring in All Units

Floor plan

Located on tranquil Playa Bonita (Beautiful Beach), the development is only 15 minutes from the port city of Manta, where you can find all the modern conveniences and services, shopping, fine-dining, 5-star hotels, night-life, casinos and air service.

Known world-wide as a mecca for surfing, kite-boarding, whale-watching and other water sports, the area is being developed to promote tourism and to attract residents to enjoy and preserve the location’s great natural beauty.

This prime retirement and second home location offers the best of both worlds, and also provides easy access to explore the spectacular tourism opportunities in Ecuador!

For more information, please see the Long Beach Ecuador Website for floor
plans and complete details:  www.longbeachecuador.com

OR CALL TODAY FOR PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Manta Office: 593-05-262-0962         Quito Office: 593-02-245-5191

U.S. Dialing Instructions:
Manta Office: 011-593-5-262-0962
Quito Office: 011-593-2-245-5191

Here is an ocean view condo in Manta’s Golden Mile….this condo is on Jean Marie Butterlin’s upcoming tour.

Apartment with beautiful ocean-view for sale. 2 bedrooms / 3 bath, laundry and storage on 6th floor.

Appx. 1,000 square feet (98,02 m2), parking, 24 hour security and a large swimming pool.

Close to shopping, bars, restaurants and Hotel Oro Verde.

Condominium fee $110 a month.

Price: $ 98,000

The Port of San Mateo, Manta has an interesting Ecuador investment property.

New port facility at San Mateo

Manta is the major port on Ecuador’s central coast. One of the Ecuador’s governmental goals is to upgrade Manta’s airport to international standards which will increase real estate values in the area when this happens.

San Mateo.

This land is directly in front of the new port in San Mateo, 10 minutes from Manta and is perfect for a commercial site as maritime hardware store, fish monger, spare parts, boat engines, B & B etc.

There is an existing concrete construction to expand upon. The lot size 10 meters (30 feet) front with 20 meters (60 feet) depth or 200 m2 (2,000 square feet) with zooming to construct three floors.

Price $ 25,750

Manta Ecuador condo for sale.

This is a spacious apartment in the best area of Manta for sale. 120 feet from beach, 4-bedroom 4-bath apartment with large view 
terrace, 2 parking spaces and storage.

Asking price $150,000. See details here.

Manta Ecuador Ocean-view Apartment.

This is a brand new apartment located in the good area of Manta, ready for occupancy August 2011.

Third floor with a great ocean view. Appx. 1,100 square feet.

This Manta apartment is in a quiet residential zone with only new constructions, great for children.

This ocean view apartment is 2 minutes by car to the Malecón and beach, and walking distance to the university.

Price: $ 76,000. See Manta Ecuador Apartment details here.

Puerto Lopez, Ecuador:

Beach view houses in a project named TRANQUILO, a four unit housing enclave has started in Puerto Lopez Ecuador.

Looking down onto Puerto Lopez

Architect-Builder, John Fisher, selected Puerto Lopez for his first project in Ecuador after traversing the coast top to bottom three times, turning stones in every village en route. He has partnered with reknowned Ecuadorean architect Xavier Vargas, to create a small project with a distinctly modern South American look combined with North American planning. Only two units left.

The beachfront building “Beach House” consists of an upper and lower unit, each with private entrance and approximately 1400 s.f of interior living space. See details here.

Learn more about investing globally including Ecuador at our upcoming International Seminars in North Carolina and Florida.

Quito Ecuador:

Golf in Ecuador is not easily available so all of you golfers will be very interested in this gated community house with golfing.

This two bedroom, two bathroom house is located  in Los Chillos Valley a suburb of Quito, Ecuador, 30 Minutes from the city center.

The property which is located in Valle de los Chillos, in La Merced village, includes the main house and a caretaker’s cottage. It is surrounded by trees and flowers all year. It has a fireplace-oven in the living-dining area, a fireplace in the master bedroom, breath taking views of the mountains.

Membership at a nearby country club allow guests to golf. 
  
A path built within the property to reach the river or just to stroll, a terrace, an outdoor Jacuzzi, and a barbecue area.

The river at the base of the property is lined with 150 foot tall giant eucalyptus trees and makes a lovely spot for a picnic.  A caretaker currently lives in the small cottage, providing 24 hour security as well as his assistance in any way.   There is a water supply cistern and city of Quito water, electricity, garbage collection and telephone service.

First Floor

An ample sitting area with exit and view to the garden and mountains, integrates to the dining and kitchen areas. There is a very cozy fireplace-oven that gives a warm, seductive atmosphere.

The kitchen is equipped with modern appliances & an island with 4 stools and a good size pantry.

The second bedroom has two bunk beds, ample storage space and window views to the garden. A good size bathroom with a shower complements this bedroom.

Second Floor

Glass double doors lead to the terrace from which you see 350 degrees of spectacular mountain view. This level includes an wide open master suite with sitting area in front of the cozy fireplace and a balcony. 

The windows have spectacular views of the mountains and gardens as well. The tastefully decorated master bathroom has an antique soaking tub, and his and hers sinks.

This is a fully fenced property, 9000 meters (90,000 square feet) in total.

The property features outdoor Jacuzzi, river on property.

The seller is asking $199,000.

For details contact Maria Garcia at mtgarciasosa@gmail.com

There are limited golf facilities in Ecuador.

Ecuador is not a great golfing destination as there are only a handful of private clubs near Quito, Guayaquil, or Cuenca, with 18-hole courses.

These limited opportunities for playing golf in Ecuador however do include some excellent golf courses. 

This house is near one of the best, The Los Chillos Golf Club.

Los Chillos Golf Club is outside Quito and is one of the more exclusive clubs.

Club Los Chillos was founded in 1979 and offers a par 72 with a course rating of 34.5.  The club is about 20 miles from Quito with 11 lakes, a driving range and mountain and forest scenery.  The golf course is almost 8,000 feet above sea level and  has good weather and spectacular views.  This golf club has clay tennis courts, racket facilities, squash courts, soccer fields, volley ball facilities, swimming pools and horse riding.  There is also a  sauna, hairdressing salon, cafeteria, bar and Turkish bath.  People with babies are welcome.

Colonial Quito view apartment for rent or for sale.

Learn how to place Ecuador rental advertising

Learn how to place Ecuador real estate for sale ads

This penthouse, is at San Juan (Centro Historico), Galpagos and Garcia Moreno, just above the Basilica.

The building has 4 floors and was built in 1986. This Quito apartment penthouse has…

views all around day and night.

The size is 140 square meters (1507 square feet).

The interior decor is Swiss.

On the first level you have: a big living room, a chimney, a kitchen and a place to put your washing and dryer machines. Also 1 master bedroom with a bathroom, dresser and two closets, plus a balcony and interior plants.

On the second level there is space for a small library or study.

This Colonial Quito penthouse also has:

* Phone line
* Cable TV
* Storage room

The building has full security and two parking spaces for the penthouse. The neighborhood is quiet, not much traffic and is secure.

colonial charm.

The monthly maintenance fee is just $18.00.

The asking price for sale is USD $170.000.
The asking price for renting is USD $800.00.

See more details here.

Upcoming project near the new Quito Airport offering potential for businesses developing real estate.

One of our good Ecuador contacts sent us this note. Gary, a friend of mine is building a neat complex by the new airport, he already has a few buildings and a restaurant with two Chalets plus a Pesebrera (for horses). He is working on making this a Hosteria with more buildings and a Swiss style to it. The place is really big and he will be selling houses there. The place is really beautiful and he plans on building many things there.

Views… space and… many buildings are…

already up plus a hosteria with many facilities inside and out.

See more photos and details here

Salinas Ecuador:

Here is a Salinas, Ecuador ocean view apartment for sale at $47,000.

This is a 700 square foot, 4th floor, one bedroom condo with ocean views, just a block off the beach in Salinas

The price of $47,500 includes furnishings, excluding artwork and personal items.

See more details here.

A new Salinas Ecuador Coastal condo – finished and ready for sale.

This Salinas condo has 650 square feet.

Pool at project.

Price $62,200. See Salinas condo details here.

Learn how to earn from Amazon.com as a publisher in Ecuador.

San Clemente Ecuador:

San Clemente - beach view house for sale.

Here is the view from the living room of this San Clemente Ecuador beach house.

Beautiful modernly designed zen style house on one of the best beaches in Ecuador in San Clemente. The house is situated right in front of the ocean. The propriety is 1300 sq feet on a 3000 sq feet lot.

The house was designed to get the maximum light possible. In fact, the front of the house is all from floor to the ceiling windows and have also four skylights. The house was rebuilt from ground up with open spaces and with a big patio. The house is situated in the quietest part of the city, no discotheque, no noise, just the beach.

Propriety description

- Three bedrooms
- Four complete bathrooms
- Brand new kitchen with custom built thermoplastic cabinets by Madeval (www.madeval.com/)

- Big living room
- Dining room
- Brand new air conditioning in each rooms and in the living room
- Two cisterns for water
- Cable for internet and satellite TV

Price $99,000.

For more details please contact Joseph Kollar at jo.kollar@me.com

or Call Joseph Kollar in Ecuador at: 08-919-2993 or Stella Kollar at 08-197-0707.

* San Vicente, Ecuador:

San Vicente condo for sale.

This is a 1,900 square foot 4 bedroom apartment in San Vicente across the Chone Estuary from Bahia.

The apartment has a huge terrace…

overlooking the Chone Bay and ocean.

Asking price is $150,000. See this San Vicente condo details here.

Ecuador Living Club members can contact the sellers of these properties at the password protected Club Site here.

Get details on how to obtain this discount at the Ecuador Living Club password protected site here.

New Rental Offers Cotacacahi – Puenta Blanca – Salinas

COMPLETELY refurbished and newly done home located in San Alejo—-between San Clemente and San Jacinto.

Sunset at an Alejo

Downstairs completely furnished with new custom furniture and new custom cabinets.

The refurbishing includes new window screens on all windows, though on my three week stay without screens, I did not see one mosquito.

New Curtains

Water pump completely rebuilt.

New shower heater.

New nice size refrigerator and stove.

New modern locks on all doors

Automatic switch between cistern and city water so the property is never without water.

New plumbing and electrical as required

ALL tile refurbished for cracks, etc., and new tile in upstairs kitchen..tile completely throughout house as well as outside  porches, stairs, steps. Beautiful tile, like new.

Internet hook up and satellite TV is available

Large yard with producing fruit trees.

PLENTY of room for parking, patio and garden.

2-3 blocks to the beautiful Pacific and beach.

Good expat community. a nice hotel, etc.

Total utility costs are around or less than $30 per month.

1st floor COMPLETELY furnished—-$300 per month….first and last month rent due at time of rental with a minimum of six months rental.  30 day notice of moving. Furnishings deposit of $400 required. Prefer no animals. CATS are strictly forbidden.

2nd floor with only queen bed and dinette for $175 per month with first and last month rent due at time of rental.

Both apartments available at $450 per month with same requirements.

Each floor plan is identical with large LR, large dining room, small kitchen, Large BR, separate shower room and separate toilet and sink room. Yard care available and negotiable.

For more details or to reserve contact Bill Bowlin, Sr.  Email: biogene86@yahoo.com

5112 Concord Hills Circle, Mason, Oh. 45040.  Tel. 513-478-6086.  Skype name:  bilbowler

Cotacachi, Ecuador House For Rent.

Enjoy cozy fires at night.

Rent this charming, Cotacachi home. Just steps from the bus stop to Otavalo and Ibarra. 15 minute walk to the main square.

Fully furnished right down to the vases and teaspoons..

Three bedrooms.

Lovely garden. Super location.

Enjoy avocados and lemons from your own trees, fresh flowers for your table, comfortable beds and your large private garden. Perfect for longer term stays. The house has awesome views beautiful lawn and… garden area.

Included in the rent are all your utilities, internet and a gardener once a week.

Please email walkwithsue@gmail.com.

Punta Blanca Ecuador Beach Rentals:

Punta Blanca is located on the Ruta del Sol, north of Salinas, in Santa Elena, Ecuador.

This luxury rental offers many accommodations overlooking a spectacular ocean front location.

Available at one day, week or monthly rates with airport pickup and a shuttle service from Guayaquil.

There is both beach front and indoor air conditioned dining.

Guest Passes to the yacht clubs and water park are available along with
pool side food, bar service, room service and breakfast in bed.

This resort stretches along 3 miles of the white sandy, tropical Punta Blanca Beach.

All rooms feature: Air conditioning; Cable TV; Safe rental; Balcony or terrace; Coffee Maker; Iron and ironing board; Radio-Alarm clock; Private bathroom; Hair dryer; Mini-fridge; Queen size beds, sitting area with sofa bed, additional to above amenities.

Living area.

For more details contact Marcel Newberg at marcelnewberg@me.com

Salinas, Ecuador, beach access rental for $450 a month.

2 bedroom, 1 bath ocean view furnished unit at $450 per month or $250 per week low season (now through November). See details here.

See all Ecuador property rentals here.

See older previous listings in the Ecuador Real Estate MLS covering all of Ecuador here

Gary

Here is the Winter 2012 Ecuador Tour Schedule

Ecuador Tour Schedule & 4 Day Spanish Courses

Last modified on 2012-01-31 11:51:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Feb. 16-17-18 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

to beautiful places from mountains to…

the sea with hidden…

charms like this thermal spa near our hotel in Cotacachi. The people are…

friendly and…

wonderful from many…

cultures. Ecuador real estate is good value.

Condos here in Cuenca for example are just $42,000.

See spectacular beach properties  near this beach for as low as low as $6,000.

An extra benefit in these Ecuador real estate tours is that the staff does not sell real estate, and does not allow staff to accept commissions on the sale of real estate.

We ask those whose property we show on the tour to give discounts to our delegates (as we are known to bring many buyers and do not charge commissions).

We make sure that sellers show up.  (A bad habit Ecuadorians have is often to not have the property open on time.) We avoid showing property that in our experience is out of line price wise or quality wise. We provide efficiency. There are few road signs in Ecuador… no organized brokers… no multiple listings… not many English speaking.  We plan routes so our delegates can see the most in the shortest time and have English speaking staff with the tours. We provide contacts with brokers, attorneys architects etc who have shown to be trustworthy. We share 41 years of experience investing globally and 14 years in Ecuador.

Otherwise chances are you’ll drive around… be lost… see little…  and have no basis on which to compare and when and if you plan to buy not know if the people you are dealing with are trustworthy. We feel that our $499 fee is a bargain.  If you hire a car with driver for four days… you’ll have spent almost as much just on transportation.

Our Ecuador real estate tours help you learn the ropes in Ecuador.

We also provide a very personal service that helps you save money and makes your trip to Ecuador more comfortable and secure.

We hope to help you in Ecuador soon. See details for each of our Ecuador real estate tours here.

Cotacachi, Otavalo & Ibarra real estate tour

Cuenca real estate tour

Save with Multi tours. Learn more on how to save with multiple tours to Cotacachi Imbabura, Ecuador’s coast and Cuenca.

Cuenca from above.

A number of readers commented on our recent about inflation and inflation in Cuenca.

One reader wrote:  At long last last someone is speaking the truth and telling it like it is without all the hype  Thank you for the honesty and editorial integrity. Have a good weekend!

Another did not quite agree and wrote:  Gary, Costs have gone up, that is true but not that much! I spent one month in Cuenca four years ago last October and now live here full time. I have been in Cuenca now for one year. Market costs, Medical, Transportation, etc are the same. Buying property has increased especially if you use the typical gringo services, same with rental property, if you talk to locals and do your home work you do not have to pay gringo prices. I rent a brand new 3 bedroom two bath partially furnished, new washer & dryer, stove & fridge for $325.00, that does not include association fees. I believe too many older gringos are coming to Ecuador and do not do their homework and just drive prices upward, it happens in the US when people from areas like California move to places with much lower real estate costs and pay way too much and just drive the prices up and before you know it locals can no longer afford property in their own town!

Another was worried and said:    Hello Gary,  I was in San Clemente today, enjoying a glass of wine at the hotel you have often favorably reviewed.  Reading your EL article today I am confused. Are you suggesting not investing in real estate in Ecuador?  I have recently purchased a condo in Manta but find myself uneasy with the leanings of the President.  Sincerely.

I suggested to this reader that if we eliminate places where we are not happy with the politicians we might be living in a pretty narrow world!

However this reader should not be confused that just because there is inflation that there are not Ecuador real estate bargains.  Our advice remains the same.

There are real estate bargains everywhere…especially on Ecuador’s coast.  However don’t look for a place just because it is cheap.  Look for places you love. When everything seems right, go visit before you decide to stay. Next rent before you decide to buy.  There are bargains everywhere but you find them by being there and getting to know the market… not necessarily when you first arrive.

Owning real estate is very different from committing your investments and savings.  We like living and real estate in Ecuador. Businesses in Ecuador can also be great… but Ecuador banks… bonds, etc. are not investment grade.

However wherever you choose to live, there is always the unknown. We can never know it all.

On the subject of investing on the coast and the unknown.

No one knows what the future will bring anywhere… but glimpses can help us prepare for profit in business and investing.

Photo from National Geographic article “The Calm Before the Wave”.

I took extra note of this February 2012 National Geographic article… “The Calm Before the Wave” because the house above is at Canon Beach, Oregon very near where Merri and I stay often with our kids, grandkids and my mom.  Wow!  We could be sitting there enjoying the Pacific and get wiped out.  We simply cannot know… in investing… in business…. in life.  They now have Tsunami Warnings but when we asked how long would a person have once the warning has sounded and were told “5 minutes”…well we felt a little disheartened!

However we can take advantage of the future unknowns by extrapolating what might take place. 

At our Quantum Thinking + Investing and Business  Course we study potential problems that could hit the world in 2102.  Then we ask… “What businesses and investments will rise busy from each catastrophe?”

Take for example the #2 concern on the list we’ll review… another type of tsunami… an economic disaster that is the Euro’s disintegration.  The National Geographic article “The Calm Before the Wave” shows two potential tsunami disasters that could happen at anytime… and are growing increasingly likely.

What effects will happen if a tsunami hits Hong Kong?

Here are excerpts from the February 2, 2102 National Geographic article “Calm Before the Wave” which is about potential tsunamis (bolds are mine): “I think all subduction zones are guilty until proven otherwise,” says Kerry Sieh. Sieh, director of the Earth Observatory at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, is one of the world’s leading paleoseismologists—he plumbs the geologic record for evidence of ancient earthquakes and tsunamis. He’s a delicately built man of 61, with graying, neatly trimmed hair. The historical record—and especially the modern instrumental record—is too short, he says. It absolves long-dormant faults around the world that very likely could generate killer tsunamis. “We must assume every long subduction zone is capable of producing great earthquakes and tsunamis,” Sieh says. “We can’t assume that any megathrust is gradually and harmlessly releasing strain.”

Sieh pulls up a map on his computer. “This is the Manila Trench,” he says, pointing to a line that begins off the west coast of the Philippines and continues north to Taiwan. “It’s 800 miles long and hasn’t done anything big in 500 years. If it broke in a magnitude 9, it would have very serious consequences along the Chinese coast—the tsunami would focus right on Hong Kong and Macau. We don’t know if it will break, but I think we have to assume that it can. And there are many others.”

Among them is the Cascadia subduction zone, a 600-mile-long offshore fault that runs from northern California to southern British Columbia. Geologists have found sand deposits up and down the coast that were laid down by a tsunami 312 years ago, in 1700. Recent evidence from seafloor sediment cores suggests to some that about 40 earthquakes have occurred along the Cascadia fault zone over the past 10,000 years, an average of one every 250 years; other researchers estimate the recurrence interval at 500 years. When the fault does rupture, most agree, the earthquake could be as large as the one that hit Japan last March, and the tsunami could reach the coast in 20 minutes.

A lot will depend on the season, says Nathan Wood, a geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver, Washington. “The Pacific Northwest coast is sparsely populated for the most part, and many people are less than a mile from high ground,” Wood says. “But in the summer there can be 100,000 people on the coast. We could have tens of thousands of deaths.”

In Washington there are tsunami evacuation signs, tall towers on the beaches to broadcast warnings, and tsunami information booklets in hotel rooms, next to the Gideon Bibles. But evacuation centers are sparse, and not everyone has access to high ground. Ocean Shores, a resort town that NOAA lists as “tsunami-ready,” lies on a narrow peninsula with no high ground and just one two-lane road to safety; 5,500 people live there year-round, many more in the summer. One evening last summer I drove around the town with Jody Bourgeois, a geologist at the University of Washington. “These people are toast, soggy toast,” she said glumly.

Seattle, tucked away in Puget Sound behind the Olympic Peninsula, would probably not be hard hit by the tsunami, though it would certainly feel the shaking from a Cascadia quake. But geologists have discovered smaller, shallower cracks in the crust that extend under Puget Sound. “The picture has just started to come together in the last two decades,” says Bourgeois. “It’s a major, major hazard.” The earthquake from a shallow fault could be extremely destructive, and a moderate tsunami launched right off Seattle might be even more damaging than a giant one off the coast. It’s not clear how often such events happen in Puget Sound. The last one was about a thousand years ago.

Seattle

The idea is to figure out what disasters could happen.  Then figure our what businesses would be most useful due to the tsunami.  Plus know what you will not want to be holding.  The idea is not to invest in these businesses now but to have a short list.  Research these companies.  Know them.  Be ready to act immediately if a disaster hits.  The list makes us proactive rather than reactive.  Currency tsunami, business tsunami, etc. are all important to research.

Good News Too.  We look at positive scenarios as well… potential for new agreements… new inventions… reduced tensions in markets… currencies and conflict.  Then we calculate IN ADVANCE who will benefit and study this opportunity so we are prepared to react instantly if and when either scenario good or bad unfolds.

So we can anticipate disasters.

We certainly can anticipate all the good that might take place in the year ahead.  We can plan how to invest in each event.  Yet with the power of logic we can never know it all.

Beyond Logic

Logic is a 64 Kilobyte processor in a exponentially expanding Yottabyte world.  After anticipation and planning and research we need to go Beyond Logic.

Our need to know more than we can think is why Part #3 (Part #1 is about investing, Part #2 how to have a micro business) of our Quantum Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar has sessions on Frequency Modulation.  It is important how to tap inner resources for outer expansion in a changing world.   As change comes faster we must become smarter… more flexible and enhance our ability to embrace and understand deeper from the never ending shifts we face.

Frequency Modulation helps us fine tune our intuition so we are more in touch with reality and can translate this knowing into useful action.

Merri developed this program from her study from the Bulgarian education master, Dr. Georgi Lozanov.  At least three best selling books, Superlearning, the Mozart Effect and Superlearning 2000 have revealed insights about how we can learn and think more powerfully based on systems drawn from the Dr. Georgi Lozanov.

In 1980 Superlearning sold over two million copies and showed how the Lozanov learning system blended long-tested sciences of yoga with contemporary physiology and psychology so people could learn faster and better.

This book exposed this fact and made the system so popular that Dr. Lozanov was allowed to visit the US from Bulgaria to teach this system to just a very few people so they could pass on this vital information on how to learn and think in a more natural, powerful way so we can enjoy life and enhanced memory more.

Merri was among those few who learned and is licensed to teach the Lozanov System. She has organized a practical course on how to learn faster and better.

With her modified system, you will learn how to think and learn more powerfully.

The learning systems you gain expands on Dr. Lozanov’s original work and offers new insights into tapping human potential, drawing from ancient and modern tactics for quick learning such as subliminal memory, music, nutrition, and productivity.

There are three scientific reasons why this course can change your learning capacity forever.  By helping integrate brain waves, the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.

Correct brain wave integration enhances the three C’s:  Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

FM creates relaxed concentration… a key to happiness, health and success through whole brain thinking that can help improve your business & investing.

This part of the seminar helps investors and business people integrate brain waves so they are more intelligent, intuitive and relaxed.

This workshop shows how to get into and stay in a state of relaxed concentration… a mental state shown to enhance almost every human capability.

FM…  Frequency Modulation/Full Mode Plus

FM  works by focusing on the learner first… the data second.  FM Plus “grows the learner” rather than just expands the information.  The explosion of data we must all process everyday means there is too much information to process already.  Let’s view this learning in terms of plumbing to outline what “Growing the Learner”  means.

If you have 4.5 inches of information flowing through a 4 inch learning pipe, the solution is not to add another inch of information.  The answer is to first create a six inch pipe and then an even larger pipe…a never ending expansion of abilities!

Frequency Modulation expands the learner’s thinking and information processing ability.

First, you learn how to evoke the power of the senses thus super-charging memory. Ever hear a song from twenty, thirty or forty years past and in a snap know all the words, the tune and remember with whom and where your heard it decades ago? Learn how to use ten cycle music to gain almost super human thinking powers.

Dr. Lozanov was totally committed to learning without stress, to enjoy the thrill of relaxed, leisurely learning. These are just two, whole learning, super-thinking tactics you gain at this course.

What is your desire? Do you want to speak Spanish, French, German, Chinese or any language? Would you like to golf better or accomplish more in school? Would you like to easily, quickly zip through projects, chores, reports? Know what to invest in or what career to follow?  “Quantum Thinking” sessions can help you learn any subject two-to-five times faster, in exciting and innovative ways.

The techniques you gain will help unlock the quantum potential we all possess. This evolutionary program shows how certain types of music can enhance learning and how even altered nutrition can make you a startling 25 percent smarter, how subliminal messages can increase your energy and thinking process, plus much, much more.

This system follows and builds upon what was taught in the Superlearning, the Mozart Effect and Superlearning 2000 books plus includes techniques and strategies that she has gained in her 44 years of global travel and studying with educational masters around the world.

This is a course that shows you how to increase your mental power to better succeed in the 21st century when we can otherwise be overwhelmed by information. The system you gain is built from old and new sources ranging from yoga to contemporary Russian science, and ultimate zone training already used by many Olympic champions.

“Quantum Thinking” presents new ways to use  music to supercharge your mind. The knowledge you gain about smart food and super nutrition allows you to enhance productivity and creativity.

The tactics you gain enhance your ability to absorb… retain and recall information.

Once these concepts of enhancing your mental powers with music are understood, you will know how to create your own program and build new skills at work in study and play.

The science behind this has been explained by Austrian scientist, Karl Pribram.

According to Wikepedia: Pribam is a professor at Georgetown University , and an emeritus professor of psychology and psychiatry at Stanford University and Radford University.

Pribram tries to explain this power we all have within in scientific terms.
Pribam is  a neurosurgeon, who pioneered work on defining the power of our limbic systems, the relationship of the frontal cortex to the limbic system, the sensory-specific “association” cortex of the parietal and temporal lobes, and the classical motor cortex of the human brain.   He is also known for his development of the holonomic brain model of cognitive function and his contribution to ongoing neurological research into memory, emotion, motivation and consciousness.

What the heck is a holonomic brain model?

The answer to that, I fear, is beyond me. An excerpt from the research paper entitled  “Comparison between Karl Pribram’s “Holographic Brain Theory” and more conventional models of neuronal computation”  by Jeff Prideaux might explains why the understanding is complex.

The excerpt says:  Karl Pribram’s holonomic theory reviews evidence that the dendritic processes function to take a “spectral” transformation of the “episodes of perception”. This transformed “spectral” information is stored distributed over large numbers of neurons. When the episode is remembered, an inverse transformation occurs that is also a result of dendritic processes. It is the process of transformation that gives us conscious awareness.

Pribram says that both time and spectral information are simultaneously stored in the brain. He also draws attention to a limit with which both spectral and time values can be concurrently determined in any measurement (Pribram, 1991). This uncertainty describes a fundamental minimum defined by Gabor in 1946 (the inventor of the hologram) as a quantum of information. Dendritic microprocessing is conceived (by Pribram) to take advantage of this uncertainty relation to achieve optimal information processing. Pribram then says that the brain operates as a “dissipative structure” where the brain continually self-organizes to minimize this uncertainty. The next few sections will attempt to explain the concept of the “uncertainty principle” and the concept of “dissipative structures” that self-organize.

The Uncertainty Principle

Quantum Physics

In quantum physics, the uncertainty principle can be described in the following way (paraphrased from Pagels, 1982): Consider that you have a device that can simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a single electron. Every time you push a button, the device displays numerical values for the position and momentum. Although, each time you press the button, you will get slightly different measurements for the momentum and position. If enough measurements are taken, then a statistical analysis can be performed. Heisenberg defined the term delta q as indicating the spread or uncertainty of the position measurements around some average value and delta p as indicating the spread or uncertainty of the momentum measurements around some average value (for the series of measurements). He then found that (delta q)x(delta p)>=h where h is Plank’s constant. For a series of measurements, the positions can be expressed as an average +/- some uncertainty. Likewise for the momentum. No matter how good one makes a quantum measuring device, the products of the uncertainties can never be less than Planks constant. For example, if you could build a measuring device that exactly determined the position (where delta q = 0) then you would not be able to determine anything about the momentum (delta p = infinity). There is a similar uncertainty relation for the energy of a particle and the elapsed time. For a series of measurements, the product of the uncertainty of the energy (delta E) and the uncertainty of the elapsed time is always greater or equal to Planks constant. (delta E)x(delta t)>=h.

Communication theory

In communication theory, a variation on the uncertainty principle also holds (Gabor, 1946). The measurement of the frequency can be made with arbitrary precision. Likewise, the measurement of the time of occurrence can be made with arbitrary precision. But there is a limit to the precision when these measurements are taken simultaneously. One can exactly measure either the frequency (of for example a tone) or the time (of occurrence) but not both at the same time. For instance, if the time of occurrence were known (indicating an impulse function) there would be frequency components all up and down the spectrum. If, on the other hand, the frequency information was exactly known, one would not know any information about when it occurred. A single peak (or peak pair if you consider the corresponding negative frequency) in the spectrum implies that the tone has infinite extent in the time domain. Analogously to the quantum uncertainty principle, when frequency and temporal measurements are made simultaneously, there is a limit to the precision possible. Pribram claims that the brain functions as a dissipative structure to seek to decrease this uncertainty in the direction of its theoretical limit.

Dissipative Structures

The second law of thermodynamics holds that the entropy always increases in any isolated system (figure 10). This simply means that if something is left to itself, it will move towards equilibrium…it will move towards maximal disorder…its internal energy state will tend to be minimized. There has not been, to date, any confirmed observation that this law is invalid.

I have printed this report and read it and read it… but it still totally has not sunk in.

However I am getting some clues about how our mind works.

The first clue is that we do not have “a mind”.
Pribam when asked in an interview about the mind said:

Well, I don’t like the term the mind, because it reifies — that means it makes a thing of — something that’s a process. We pay attention, we see, we hear. Those are all mental processes, mental activities. But there isn’t a thing called the mind. There might be something you want to call yourself, but the mind sort of makes something concrete out of something that’s very multifaceted.

This clue is that our mind is not a thing… but a process that takes place in the brain.. body and maybe elsewhere…. at some quantum level.

Life is a continual learning process so anything we do to improve that process is vital to success, fulfillment happiness and reduction of stress.

This never ending process is also dramatically improved by certain types of music. The AARE is the Australian Association for Research in Education, the Australian national association for fostering educational research in Australia.  AARE facilitates contact between educational researchers and supports the development of high quality educational research.

Here are excerpts from this study (bolds are mine):  In his discussion of the historical development of holonomic brain theory Pribram (1986) stated that all “the evidence is coming.  Not only at the neuropsychological level, but at the psychophysical and psychological level, the behavioural level and in quantum physics (there) is a real paradigm shift away from Euclidean geometry that allows for crazy things, even like hypnosis to be so (p.73).”   To many scientists this may appear to be very “soft science” but Pribram appears to believes that the distinction between soft and hard science is not as relevant any more as he sees many fields to be moving in the same direction and the final proof of brain theory will be “mathematically so precise that…there is just no stopping it.”

This study fits into the psychological and behavioural levels that Pribram was talking about.  When I started this type of research I had a notion that if a person had some control over their own behaviour and they were able to be in command of their state of consciousness and never be out of control, they would be operating at a rhythm which would be optimal for them.

By gaining the skill to relax at will and thereby alter the state of consciousness, we can gain more control over our behavior.  Extra control of our body and behavior is a positive force.   The knowledge, derived from consistent results over a period of time becomes even more powerful as it affects confidence and self-esteem.

This new skill permeates and improves our decision making process.

No one knows what the future will bring.  We can get glimpses that help us prepare and we should use logic to prepare in advance… yet we also need to go beyond logic for the extra profit… the magical touch we can all have in life… in business and in investing.

Join us to learn about Quantum Learning, International Investing and Business.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

The Florida seminars are taught at…

Mt. Dora’s Lakeside Inn listed on the
 National Historic Register, that has continuously 
operated as an inn for more than 125 years, 
the oldest operating inn in Central Florida.

The Lakeside Inn is located 40 miles Northwest of Orlando
 in Mount Dora… our Florida shopping town and known as 
the “New England” of Central Florida.

February 10-11-12, 2012, Lakeside Inn, Mt. Dora, Florida.

Gary

Better still join us all year as an International Club member and stay in touch with investing and business as the world moves on.

Learn About Ecuador in the International Club

Last modified on 2011-12-27 01:01:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Join Merri and me as we look at ways to prosper during change in the year ahead. There are five ways to gain from the forces of change that will raise havoc with many.

#1: Multi Currency Investing through US brokers and bankers abroad.

#2: Commodities.

#3:  Real estate.

#4:  Living in lower cost countries.

#5: Having your own micro business for extra earnings, freedom fulfillment and fun.

We have specialized for over four decades in helping our readers excel in these five inflation beating opportunities.

January 12-15, 2012  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Florida ($999)

Feb. 10-12, 2012  International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Mt. Dora Florida ($999)

March 8-11, 2012  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Florida ($999)

June 22-24, 2012 International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($999)

July 20-22 Writer’s Camp, Blue Ridge North Carolina. ($999)

October 5-7, 2012 International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($999)

Plus up to three more exclusive seminars at our North Carolina Farm.

(Schedule subject to change. Always check final schedule at www.GaryAScott.com/catalog)

Enroll here

There is another big saving:  $1,265 more!

When you join the club, I’ll email you our online course “International Business Made EZ”, a $299 value, plus four bonuses.  You receive the bonus course “Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher”  which also has a $299 value.

Plus I email you the online course “Tangled Web – How to Have Your Own Web Based Business” another $299 value plus “Event – Full Business – How to Earn With a Seminar Business” a $349 value.

In addition you’ll receive the 52 lesson course on how to create your own website using sitesell and finally I include an internet video on how to set up a website presented by our webmaster David Cross.

These courses are valued at $1,265…  in addition to all the seminars above you can attend.

You may well wonder why I would make such an offer and ask why the cost is so low?

Let me answer this question frankly and from the heart. First, it helps us do a better job for you. We feel greatly enriched when we can really help our clients improve their lives. We have learned through years of experience the best way to do this is to meet with you regularly. We can best help you learn how to improve your health and wealth through continual expansion of knowledge.

Second, we gain enormous fulfillment from the many friendships we form through the years. Our friends have enriched our lives tremendously. Let me explain this in more detail.

As a member, you will be part of our international family that meets intensively over the next year to examine ways we can make our lives better. Our goal is beyond just having money. Our goal is to have quantum wealth… good health… wealth and fulfillment through service.

Though we give all course delegates our very best, we cannot help but to do a better job for those who come again and again. As we meet often; your particular wants, needs and desires become clear, and it is easier for us to help you find the right direction.

Another phenomenon is that repeat delegates help each other! They get to know one another, help each other learn, share their insights, make contacts, become friends and gain more wealth.

The fourth savings: Lifestyle for Two.

There is still more!

We have learned at our courses that many repeat delegates were couples.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO!  You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year?

We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

The International Club fee is $1,799 barely the price of  two seminars.Take for example if you plan to attend our Super Thinking + Spanish, $999 for a couple and a couple for International Investing and Business program, the normal cost would be $999 or $1,98.   International Club members attending just these two programs would already save… plus could attend all the other  Florida and North Carolina seminars plus receive $1,265 worth of emailed courses.

Exclusive “Think Tanks”

Twice a year club members meet for an exclusive members only Think Tank to look at ideas and answer multi currency and micro business questions that members may have.

Club members meeting at our Blue Ridge home.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses and tours.

Here is one final benefit. When you enroll… we automatically lock in this low fee for next year so your savings are automatically renewed in 2012 and 2013 at a discounted continued membership fee of $1,799.  Of course if you choose not to renew,  just simply cancel membership at no cost.

Let’s prosper in these times of change.  Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

International Club 2012 Membership $1,799.  Enroll here.

Read National Geographic The Calm Before the Wave

The farm we bought in 1999 has sugar cane, citrus, berries, avocados and incredible bio diversity.

Ecuador’s bio diversity cannot be in doubt.  The UN has co-produced a study that lists scientific details of Amazon plant species alone that can be harvested for economic or medicinal purposes.  The numbers are huge!

It is estimated that 80% of people in developing nations depend on non-wood forest products, such as fruit, for nutrition and medicine.

This study (linked below) is contained in a  353-page book, Fruit Trees and Useful Plants in Amazonian Life – co-produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor) and People and Plants International (PPI).  Numbers of farmers, midwives, hunters and musicians contributed their valuable insights and experience.”

Here is the puzzle.

We are hearing from more and more people who have moved to Ecuador and are unhappy because they have nothing to do.

May I say to you… if you are considering moving to Ecuador… first “go try things”.  Then if you move there, you have something to do.

This phrase “Go Try Things” can make your life better with everlasting wealth!

This phrase can help you grow richer, feel better and be healthier… beginning right now.

Here I am working at home yesterday morning trying to explain the importance of this phrase “Go try things”… which sums up why you not only can but should gain the benefits of an international business.

Perhaps the importance of what should be shared began in Hong Kong about 44 years ago.

A warm South China Sea fog swept up the mid levels like a spider’s  web in fast air. …then hung like a moist blanket over the thin ribbon of asphalt that snaked the ridgeline through the jungle ahead. Low city rumbles blunted the green tropical freshness and fought nature’s cacophony of dawn.

Bowen Road runs flat as a pancake through the mid-levels of Hong Kong.  I lived there for several years decades ago and took early morning runs most days.  Arriving shortly after my 21st birthday, my task was to build a sales team that sold American mutual funds to the Hong Kong Chinese. That turned out to be a bad idea. The Hong Kong market was booming and the US stock market dead.   Yet just trying this, led me into the business of writing about how Americans could invest in Hong Kong. Many of my readers made fortunes and for me, a career was born.

A decade later after a move to London… distortions were spotted in the cost of Manx corporations.  This led me shortly to the Isle of Man… overlooking Douglas Bay… a brisk ocean air off the harbor carried mournful seagull songs into our room at the Palace Hotel.  I was looking for cheap corporations but found a real estate treasure instead.  Years of real estate tours helped readers start businesses there and they picked up unimaginable profits… because we tried some new things.

However Britain’s gray winters soon drove me to the sun. I found myself watching sun rays sparkle on the emerald prisms of cool, spring fed pools. They reflected and danced, rainbows that glimmered on towering mahogany, banana, stately palm. Green vistas shimmered, easy paced in the afternoon sun and sweet, tropical perfumes floated in the breeze.

Merri, and I were sitting on a huge veranda, overlooking a vast expanse of lush, green, countryside watching our kids joyfully ride their horses up the mountains in the Dominican Republic. A tropical breeze flowed over the porch cooling the sunny afternoon.  My portable laptop computer sat before me. Working, I had dozed off, lulled by katydid songs, the soft breeze and my lost thoughts.   That was work and the sudden realization of how wonderful that work was shocked me into understanding that having an international business is the best way to security, wealth, freedom and fulfillment in life. That realization was the foundation of our seminars on how to have a micro business and that trip came because we were searching for new places and trying new things.

Since then thousands have attended or taken the correspondence version of this course all over the world.  In the process of trying to find new places, 15 years ago we stumbled onto Ecuador… the best yet.

Our business has evolved over 44 years from Hong Kong to London to Europe to the Isle of Man to the Dominican Republic to Florida to North Carolina to Ecuador.  Each time because we were trying things of interest and fascination to us.  Not once did the business turn out how we expected… but always there was some success… happy customers…. good deeds…. great service… profit… fulfillment and adventure all originating from just trying some things.

Delegates to our seminars have improved their lives, gained greater independence, increased financial safety and dramatically gained more freedom to lead the type of life they desire…all because these delegates after our courses “go try things“.

So I sat straight up and started writing yesterday morning after sitting round the pool and reading the January 2012 USA Today article entitled “THEY WON’T QUIT” by Janice Lloyd which summed up the vast importance of trying and the benefits you can gain when you “go try things”.

The article is as follows  (Bolds and underlines are mine):  Experts say Baby Boomers are starting to work past conventional retirement age, a trend fueled by an uncertain economy, improved health in older life and an understanding that staying engaged leads to a better sense of well-being.

Hitting 65 and “getting the gold watch” is not on the must-do list anymore for many people, says Jacquelyn James, research director at the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College.

“Their emphasis isn’t just to keep working but to do things that add life to years and not years to life,” James says. “People who are very work-oriented and love their jobs don’t want to give them up, especially if they’re healthy.”

An April Gallup survey had similar findings: 534 working people were asked whether, when they reached retirement age, “you think you will continue working and work full-time; continue working and work part-time; or stop working altogether?” Those who answered that they would continue to work were then asked, “Would you do it because you want to, or because you will have to?”

•18% said they would work full-time, and a third of those said it was because they wanted to, not because they would have to.

•63% said they would work part-time; almost two-thirds of those said they would do it because they wanted to.

•18% said they would retire and stop working altogether.

The average age of retirement is 64 for men and 62 for women, according to an analysis of Census data by the Center for Retirement Research. Census data also show the number of Americans living to age 90 and beyond has tripled in the past three decades to almost 2 million and is likely to quadruple by 2050.

“People are beginning to realize that if you retire at age 60, you could easily spend 35 years in retirement,” says Richard Johnson, senior fellow and director of the program on retirement policy at the Urban Institute. “And that could get tedious.”

There are other reasons to stick it out.  Job satisfaction grows with age, Johnson says: 90% of workers age 60 to 64 agree or strongly agree that they enjoy going to work, compared with 95% of workers 65 to 69 and 97% of workers age 70 and older, according to the Retirement Project of the Urban Institute.

Stress levels also drop on the job. About one of three workers age 70 and older agree or strongly agree their jobs involve a lot of stress, compared with more than half of workers age 60 to 64.

“There isn’t a script for 65 anymore. We recommend the same thing we tell people in their 20s: ‘Go try things.’”

This is why we would like to help you make your life better with a funky micro business and why we have expanded this focus in our business seminars.

The USA Today article goes on to point out: “People are being given rotten advice to slow down, take it easy, stop worrying and retire,” Friedman says. “The Longevity Project discovered that those who worked the hardest lived the longest — the responsible and successful achievers thrived in every way, especially if they were dedicated to things and people beyond themselves.

Learn how to create and enjoy your own funky micro business at the February 10-11-12, 2012 Quantum Thinking + Investing and Business seminar in Mt. Dora, Florida.   The business sessions share “How to Create a Global Income From Home or Travel”.

You can learn how to gain “earning flexibility” so you can earn… mobile or not… full or part time… young or old.    We have many boomers attend our seminars… some older. Other participants are in their 20s and 30s and want to get started while avoiding the rat race.  Others in their 40s and 50s are looking for ways out of the rat race.

Technology and economically speaking, you have a a perfect time now to have your own micro business. Communications and computers do most of the work that previously required labor and staff.   Outsourcing and virtual offices, plus internet marketing mean a one man (or woman or couple) show can accomplish incredible things.

Let’s Make Earning Easy

The sessions you’ll participate in are highly practical and usable because they are a reflection of what we are doing… now.   You won’t hear any ivory tower theory…. just the realities of business as we see them in the marketplace today… and how we respond to these conditions.

Our sessions focus on how to use modern technology to start global micro businesses… that can create valuable extra income with minimal investments of time and capital.

You learn how to start small and build with stepping stones and a harmonious focus… how to build a successful at home business via the internet using several profit generating phrases at Google.   You gain the secrets of how you can use words to create your own global income as well at our seminar.

The seminar shares how to use the first four of “Seven Ps”  (Person, Problem and Promise, Product) to zero in on key word phrases.  Then you learn how to use the Fifth P Promise to develop new customers. The Sixth P is the Prospecting Path and Seventh P is the Presentation to create income.

Then you gain all the facts on how to try the seven Ps in seven specific business sectors:

Funky Business Sector #1:  How to create an export businesses.   Exports are society’s great equalizer.  As long as there are traditions, skill sets and productivity levels that vary… there will be imports and exports.  Learn how to spot markets not products and buy low to sell high.  An export business can turn every trip you take into a profitable venture and tax deductible expense free travel. Exports can help societies improve as they help create jobs… affluence and greater understanding by mankind of itself.

Funky Business Sector #2:  How to earn from self publishing and writing.  Many of us are a book or publication waiting to happen.  Modern technology and ePublishing activity now favors the small guy.   Learn how to write and self publish to sell for profit.

Funky Business Sector #3:  How to create internet sales.  The internet can support a business or can be a business.

Funky Business Sector #4:  How to create a business in Ecuador or elsewhere. Learn ways to earn frm Ecuador exports and roses.  See how to earn anywhere… even in really emerging places. For example, you’ll meet our meet our Cuban researcher and learn ideas for Cuban business.

Funky Business Sector #5:  How to earn from organic food ideas and the natural health business.  You learn ways to earn from naturally healthy products that Merri and I have used for decades.

Funky Business Sector #6  Earn from high finance.  Our business sessions provide you a portal into the Jyske Introducer program… an income earning opportunity from Denmark’s second largest Danish bank.

Funky Business Ideas #7: Go Try Anything!   Learn systems that work successfully on the internet for any type of business you want to try.

We’ll see great opportunity for investors and micro businesses in the following markets:

Love-friendship-control-freedom-tradition-change-big answers-recognition and care. These are emotional needs that create expanding demand and business opportunity. The next generation is having more involvement in every step of the buying process.  Uniting the body and mind is an emerging market.  Natural physical health, fitness will expand but botox and insulin sales will also grow.

Mental health, retreats and spas prosper.  The health of the planet is becoming a more important business.There is a shift of emphasis from GDP to GWB  (General Wellness Barometer Happiness Factor).  Business will operate with more passion.

We’ll see how markets are shifting from materialistic needs to emotional and spiritual needs.

By not purposely limiting business sessions to any specific businesses, delegates can learn how to try anything!
This knowledge has really helped previous course delegates. Here is what one previous delegate just shared:

“Gary , I have been working on my website, healthy-holistic-living.com site and I figure it is time for another update. It is really hard to believe it, but my site just keeps growing and growing and I am now averaging 2000 visitors per day!

“What I find to be most amazing is that in just a few short months my site is #1 out of over a million sites and sometimes even millions of sites! As you always say the internet is the ‘Great Equalizer’ anybody given the right tools can compete on the internet.“Below are some of my search results. I only listed GOOGLE and YAHOO but you can find similar results on both MSN and ASK.com.

GOOGLE:

#1 out of 1,190,000 …………………………“definition healthy spirit “

#1 and #2 out of 1,210,000.………………….“benefits to living a holistic life “

#1 out of 1,260,000 …………………………“gaining a healthy mind “

#1 and #2 out of 1,260,000 …………………“benefits to living a holistic life “

#2 out of 935,000 …………………………..“holistic lifestyle tips “

You will learn how to use the same system to expand (or start) your business globally!

This is a perfect era to increase your wealth and improve your lifestyle as you reduce stress with investments in the ideas below or your own a micro internet business.

Merri and I enjoy having an international internet business and it has done well since 1998.

We are very thankful to be one of the most read sites in Ecuador and we do very well in the US and Canada, too.  Also we have clients in 82 countries.

Yet we are trying new things still.  Last year we began adding teachers to our Suepr thinking + Spanish program you’ll see how to expand you micro business through others.   Recently Panama has also become a hot spot for our business and we are now working in an expansion via the internet into Hong Kong, China and Singapore.

May we share our experiences to help you learn how to enjoy this satisfaction and success through your own micro business?

We help readers learn how to create a value oriented micro businesses. This is important because this type of activity does well in good times and bad.

Our sales doubled during the last recession.  Our list of readers increased over 100%.

This is how good, value oriented business grow by the way.   They should increase steadily in good times.  They do not get caught overextending in euphoria. Then during bad times they are in a position to do really well!   Our sales doubled during the recession.  Our list of readers increased over 100%.  Since the economy picked up our business growth has slowed but business is still growing. This is how good, value oriented business grow by the way.

Knowing the micro business philosophies we follow can help you invest better and can help you create an internet success if you desire.

The Western economy has changed… probably forever.  The old ways are gone and those who held jobs… or still have work in the private sector have lost the most.

The economy will recover… but the way people earn and work… and how the money is distributed and to whom especially… has been profoundly altered.  This is especially true in value added countries like Canada… the USA and most of Europe.

We are in an era of global structural change… in economics… in society and in the way we work because technology brings us low cost administration, low cost access to data, low cost communication, and low cost travel, plus the opening of markets beyond logic that rely more on passion and experience than on efficiency and cost.

We look at these economic and structural changes, and what to do about them in the international investing and business portion of our seminar.

Join us February 10-11-12, 2012 in Mt. Dora, Florida.  Try This Thing!

International Investing Business and Quantum Wealth.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

Gary

Learn About Ecuador in the International Club

Last modified on 2011-12-27 01:01:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Join Merri and me as we look at ways to prosper during change in the year ahead. There are five ways to gain from the forces of change that will raise havoc with many.

#1: Multi Currency Investing through US brokers and bankers abroad.

#2: Commodities.

#3:  Real estate.

#4:  Living in lower cost countries.

#5: Having your own micro business for extra earnings, freedom fulfillment and fun.

We have specialized for over four decades in helping our readers excel in these five inflation beating opportunities.

January 12-15, 2012  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Florida ($999)

Feb. 10-12, 2012  International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Mt. Dora Florida ($999)

March 8-11, 2012  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Florida ($999)

June 22-24, 2012 International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($999)

July 20-22 Writer’s Camp, Blue Ridge North Carolina. ($999)

October 5-7, 2012 International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($999)

Plus up to three more exclusive seminars at our North Carolina Farm.

(Schedule subject to change. Always check final schedule at www.GaryAScott.com/catalog)

Enroll here

There is another big saving:  $1,265 more!

When you join the club, I’ll email you our online course “International Business Made EZ”, a $299 value, plus four bonuses.  You receive the bonus course “Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher”  which also has a $299 value.

Plus I email you the online course “Tangled Web – How to Have Your Own Web Based Business” another $299 value plus “Event – Full Business – How to Earn With a Seminar Business” a $349 value.

In addition you’ll receive the 52 lesson course on how to create your own website using sitesell and finally I include an internet video on how to set up a website presented by our webmaster David Cross.

These courses are valued at $1,265…  in addition to all the seminars above you can attend.

You may well wonder why I would make such an offer and ask why the cost is so low?

Let me answer this question frankly and from the heart. First, it helps us do a better job for you. We feel greatly enriched when we can really help our clients improve their lives. We have learned through years of experience the best way to do this is to meet with you regularly. We can best help you learn how to improve your health and wealth through continual expansion of knowledge.

Second, we gain enormous fulfillment from the many friendships we form through the years. Our friends have enriched our lives tremendously. Let me explain this in more detail.

As a member, you will be part of our international family that meets intensively over the next year to examine ways we can make our lives better. Our goal is beyond just having money. Our goal is to have quantum wealth… good health… wealth and fulfillment through service.

Though we give all course delegates our very best, we cannot help but to do a better job for those who come again and again. As we meet often; your particular wants, needs and desires become clear, and it is easier for us to help you find the right direction.

Another phenomenon is that repeat delegates help each other! They get to know one another, help each other learn, share their insights, make contacts, become friends and gain more wealth.

The fourth savings: Lifestyle for Two.

There is still more!

We have learned at our courses that many repeat delegates were couples.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO!  You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year?

We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

The International Club fee is $1,799 barely the price of  two seminars.Take for example if you plan to attend our Super Thinking + Spanish, $999 for a couple and a couple for International Investing and Business program, the normal cost would be $999 or $1,98.   International Club members attending just these two programs would already save… plus could attend all the other  Florida and North Carolina seminars plus receive $1,265 worth of emailed courses.

Exclusive “Think Tanks”

Twice a year club members meet for an exclusive members only Think Tank to look at ideas and answer multi currency and micro business questions that members may have.

Club members meeting at our Blue Ridge home.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses and tours.

Here is one final benefit. When you enroll… we automatically lock in this low fee for next year so your savings are automatically renewed in 2012 and 2013 at a discounted continued membership fee of $1,799.  Of course if you choose not to renew,  just simply cancel membership at no cost.

Let’s prosper in these times of change.  Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

International Club 2012 Membership $1,799.  Enroll here.

Read the entire USA Today article on “Go Try Things”

Read more about Fruit Trees and Useful Plants in Amazonian Life at www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16248485

The book is at www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2360e/i2360e.pdf

Ecuador flights may be down as Ecuador inflation flies.

Ecuador’s 2011 annual inflation rate closed at 5.4%.  This is 4.7%, higher than in Ecuador’s South American trade partner and more than 2% than in the U.S.

This is of special concern because the inflation is in US dollars and the Ecuadorian government has no way to control dollar rates and has little control over monetary supply to reign this inflation in.

This could spell trouble if the trend continues in 2012, especially if the US dollar sees a rebound against other Latin American currencies. This could put Ecuador at a trading disadvantage to Colombia, Peru and other Andean nations.

Yet at the end of 2011 due to political considerations, Ecuador’s government accelerated public spending.  This is an early indicator of even more inflation.  As long as the price of oil remains stable and high, the government will have revenue it can pump into the economy.

This inflation and a strong US dollar along with government induced salary increases, domestic market expansion and increased business regulation will not help Ecuador’s exports.

Since the government is most sensitive to the growing voting power and restlessness of the poor, it can be expected that wealthier residents of Ecuador will be expected to pay the costs of this inflation.  For example, President Correa decided that airlines flying into Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca and Galapagos will have to pay international market price for kerosene i.e. about $3/gallon instead of the now subsidized $1/gallon.

For Tame or Aerogal Airlines, they will have a cost increase of about 60% and then they plan to add a gas surcharge on ticket price of about $50 for a one way trip. This means that the cost of internal fares in Ecuador will just about double.

The cost of a roundtrip ticket from Quito to Cuenca or Manta or Guayaquil might go from about $130 to $230 if the airlines pass on all the added costs. The airlines are assessing their strategies deciding whether to absorb some of the new added costs or not. Eventually passenger response will also impact the pricing.

Ecuador like some other countries like Costa Rica are trying to either cut costs of subsidies or increase revenue to balance their budgets, but pay attention to preserving first social peace by taxing the more affluent. In this case the thought is that the people who fly can afford to pay more.

Tourism could suffer as the the price of tickets rise but the thinking is that the impact will be on the wealthier segment of the population and that the masses who will no longer be able to afford the higher fares will travel by bus or car.

The one thing that would be suicidal and that no Ecuadorian president can afford to do is to increase gasoline prices as it would disrupt totally the whole economy that is solely based on car and trucks for the transport of goods.

Fortunately overall prices in Ecuador are still low and real estate prices still affordable. These facts will help Ecuador maintain it position as a best place to retire.

However this increased inflation and the government’s desire to aim them at the higher income brackets (ie you and me) reminds us of the importance of keeping our investments and savings out of Ecuador.

This is why we’ll look at seven common sense ways to diversify around the world at our upcoming Quantum Thinking + Investing and Business Seminar.

We need common sense investments in this Common Thought World that has been turned upside down by accelerating technology and change.

What 44 years of living, investing and doing business around the globe has taught me though is that common sense is never common thought!

Common Thought is what the thundering herd believes…based on what happened in the past.

Common Sense dictates that the good investments have never been made before.

I have been investing abroad for decades and I have enjoyed capturing seven common sense trends.

#1: 1970s. Gold & Silver.

#2: 1970s. Japan, Germany, Switzerland, England, Australia and Hong Kong .

#3: 1980s. The Tigers:  Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea & Turkey .

#4: 1990s. South America (which led me to Ecuador ).

#5: 2000s. China, India and Eastern Europe .

#6: Invest in Real Estate Throughout.

#7: Bet Against the US Dollar Throughout.

Yet  at the time these investments were spotted they made no sense at all IF… one was thinking Common Thought.

In the 1970s the idea of investing in Hong Kong was crazy. In the 1990s when I suggested investments in Ecuador… many laughed at Merri and me.

They are not laughing now because when the future becomes the past… Common Sense and Common Thought merge.  Common Thought is the common sense of the past.

Common Sense investing requires new thought!

Yet we cannot divorce ourselves totally from common thought because at times the thinking of the masses drives markets and economies rather than basics and fundamentals.

Let’s take betting against the US dollar as an example.  The dollar has fallen and fallen and fallen. Back when I began, a US dollar bought four Swiss francs.  Recently the greenback would only fetch about .75 francs.  (This is one reason we say not to invest in Swiss francs for safety now.)

There have been times… such as 1980 shown in this chart from Grandfather.com (below) when the dollar strengthened so much it took seven years before it dropped. That’s a terribly long time if you are speculating against the buck.  Long enough in fact to go broke!

The dollar had every reason to go down but economic concerns caused the thundering herd to rush back to the dollar… just as they did in 2008.

Here are seven ideas we’ll cover in the investing session.

Common Sense Investing Idea #1:  Expect a rebound in the US dollar in 2012.

A look at what we’ll cover in the investing session of our February 8-9-10, 2012 Quantum Thinking + Investing & Business Seminar in Mt. Dora will show how common sense can stray from common thought… but actually does make sense.  The road to profit in investing and business is to get ahead of the crowd.  Buy on the rumour… sell on the news.

Common Sense Investing Idea #2: Major Markets Now Offer Greater Value than Emerging Markets.

Really… think about this and look at the numbers above.  What most of the establishment calls “emerging markets” have long since emerged.  Is China emerging with its 3.5 trillion in reserves and 7.5% per annum growth rate compared to the USA with $149 billion in reserves and a growth rate too low to even mention?

Although all three so called emerging regional indices advanced last quarter: Asia by 3.6 %, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) by 3.8 % and Latin America by 9.2 %, many of these markets emerged long ago.

It just took most investors an extra decade to catch onto this fact.

In our upside down world (which is the present old common thought that emerging markets are the best value) is outmoded.  The so called major markets now offer equal or better value than major markets.

The numbers below show the average Price to Book Value,  PE Ratio and Return on Earnings of the shares in four Morgan Stanley Capital Indexes.

For the past two decades emerging market shares have been considerably better value than major markets with lower prices to book and  much better price earnings ratios.   The numbers above show that this is no longer the case and recent scares in Europe have made the equity values in Europe look even better.

Plus the US stock market may now offer one of the best places to buy.  The USA is still by far the largest economy and its demographics are much more geared for growth than Europe or Japane.  Plus US companies are lean mean profit generating machines now… as attested to the 14.7% return on earnngs figure above.

Our February investing sessions will look at potential US stock winners in 2012.

We’ll also see that Europe offers the best value of all for equities.  Problems in Japan and Europe create extreme value in both areas. Our reveiws will pull apart the bargains  in the  top six “Buy”-rated markets: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Norway at equal weights.

Which portfolio would you rather have?

An implicit projection by Keppler Asset Management shows how much we should expect the Equally-Weighted World Index to rise over the next three to five years, 17.6%.   Shares in the European index are available at a 10% discount over the World Index.

A look at the Irish Stock Exchange ISEQ General Index shows how shares can suddenly recover after investors panic.   The market turned gloomy over Ireland in mid 2011 and fled this market.

When this panic created over the top value in Irish equities, common sense finally prevailed… investors rushed back in and the market causing share prices to rapidly rise.

Irish ETF

iShares ETF managers offers the MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund (Symbol EIRL NYSE) U.S.-listed ETF which provides exposure to the Irish economy.

EIRL is linked to the MSCI Ireland Investable Market 25/50 Index, a benchmark that is designed to measure the performance of stocks in the top 99% by market capitalization of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in Ireland.  The index consisted of appx. 20 securities, with large allocations to the materials (25%), consumer staples (23%), and industrials (18%) sectors.  Large holdings include CRH PLC, an Irish building materials group, the food company Kerry Group (11%) and drug development firm Elan Corporation (9%).

That idea wasn’t too ahead of itself was it?  So let’s take the plunge and go right past the Vietnam .com bubble.  Let’s look at why we are starting to expand our internet marketing now in China and Singapore (we’ll look at Nhom-Mua and Muachung two of Groupon’s Vietnam clones as well as China’s Baidu and Tencent in the business sessions of the seminar) and go to three ideas that will get many laughing again.

Common Sense Investing Idea #3:  Three New Emerging Markets

We will not abandon the so called emerging markets mentioned above and will review the top value emerging markets:  Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey.

Then we’ll focus on three new emerging markets: Cuba, Scotland & North Korea!

Cuba: Almost a decade ago I wrote Ecuador was a great place to invest:

Our farm in Ecuador we bought in 1999.

One of my messages back then said: 60 million baby boomers will begin to retire in just a few years. Many of their pensions and social security will be severely squeezed by inflation, leaving these people with one of five options.

#1: Keep working
#2: Move to less expensive areas within the US
#3: Export their retirement
#4: Live in near poverty
#5: Die

This is why I also believe in Ecuador. Imagine this. 60 million boomers will retire over the next 20 years. We boomers are the most spoiled group of consumers as a demographic class that has ever existed on earth. We were promised the world. We were given the world. Now the magic is about to disappear.

Assume that 10% of these will decide to move to less expensive countries. That’s 6 million people. Where is the most likely place to go? Eastern Europe offers great potential but is a long distance from the US.

Canada is out…too expensive and too cold. Most people will head south.

Mexico stands to be #1, but prices there are rising quickly and there is a lot of anti-gringo sentiment. After all there have been numerous Mexican-American wars. The building of a fence across the border will not help either. Yet it’s still probably the place that will benefit the most due to location.

The low end Caribbean is also good except for those darn hurricanes that will put lots of people off…plus many water and transportation problems and the fact that few of the islands have a real infrastructure.

Panama is good…lots of English spoken, many Yanks already there, but weather is lousy if you want to be in town (hot and humid) and prices are no longer low. Ditto for Costa Rica. Central America lacks infrastructure though there are some nice gringo settlements though they are expensive. Colombia is the first nation with a progressive economy and full infrastructure after Panama and Mexico. This could be a wonderful place but security will stop most from going there. If the security/drug/crime issues are resolved and image cleans up…go buy in Colombia. This will be a great opportunity.

Cuba. When this opens it will be the best.  A great place to buy when you can assume there will be no negative political circumstances.

Since that time I have been watching Cuba and the time to start is NOW.

Cuba is already Canada’s #1 tourist destination.  The US State department is already letting tour operators take Americans on tour in Cuba.  The Cuban government has started to open up capitalism and the ability to sell private goods and property.

Now is the time to start learning!

Scotland: Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, announced plans to hold an independence referendum in the autumn of 2014.  This may seem surprising to many but certainly is not a new idea.  The origins of the independence movement in Scotland began almost as soon as the unification with England took place in 1707.

At the time, the view was that Scotland was in desperate need of financial support, but opponents of the move were outraged by claims that the Scots who put their names to the Act of Union were bribed.  Scotland’s Bard, Robert Burns, famously wrote: “We are bought and sold for English gold. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.”

In 1934, the Scottish National Party (SNP) who supports independence began.

What makes these times different is that after decades of ups-and downs, the SNP won its first election in 2007 and then won again, in 2011.

Let me add here that Scotland is already a good place to invest.

Scotland provides educational excellence with top notch universities.  University of Edinburgh is regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. The university is ranked 6th and 7th in Europe according to the 2011 QS and Times Higher Education Ranking.

Scotland is well known for scientific success.  Scotland has two of the top 10 best scientific institutions in the world for scientists to work in according to The Scientist, 2011 and a strong tradition of creativity, ingenuity and invention. Scots pioneered MRI scanning, the ATM, golf, Dolly the Sheep, television and penicillin.

Scotland offers higher returns.  Scotland is one of the most cost-effective regions in the UK…. 30 percent more cost-effective to set up and run a facility here.  Leading international companies, such as Amazon, Mitsubishi Power Systems, Barclays, Blackrock and Gamesa chose Scotland to expand their operations.

The difference is that there is a much higher chance of a yes vote for Scottish independence and no one knows  exactly how events would then unfold. The likely timescale from a “Yes” vote to full independence would be lengthy providing ripe opportunity for investors and business who stayed tuned to the change.

North Korea:  Perhaps the most laughable of all?  Laughing all the way to bank in ten or 15 years… yes.

North Korea’s population rose to 24.2 million in 2010 from 24.1 million in 2009, about half of South Korea. Inter-Korean trade rose 13.9 percent from a year earlier to $1.9 billion last year.

South Korea plans to set up a fund to raise as much as 55 trillion won to pay for eventual reunification with North Korea, Unification Minister Yu Woo Ik said in an interview with Bloomberg last October.

China’s trade with North Korea has more than doubled since 2006, and Beijing’s investment in North Korea and in Chinese border infrastructure has been rising.

North Korea sells commodities such as copper, coal and iron ore to China. By some estimates, China now accounts for more than 70% of North Korea’s foreign trade, with Russia believed to account for most of the rest.

China has been pouring money into the border area over the past two years in a bid to encourage North Korea to launch Chinese-style market reforms, analysts say.

North Korea’s trade expanded more than 20 percent in 2010 to $6.1 billion on growing business with China.

Chinese, South Korean and about 30 European companies are now operate in North Korea.  The first investments will be in these firms.

China agreed during senior-level talks last year to make investments totaling US$10 billion to build railways, housing and other infrastructure.

China and North Korea are now allowing Chinese group tours to North Korea.

China will invest 45 billion yuan ($7.1 billion) over the next five years to expand Dandong Port, a key trade link to isolated North Korea.

Dandong, which lies on the North Korean border, will be able to handle more than 100 million tonnes of freight annually once the expansion is complete, compared with 60 million tonnes at present, the report said, citing a government statement.

Firms in our Research Now

The International Passenger Transport Company of the Port of Dandong Group. Established in July 1998. It mainly transports the passengers and small pieces of goods from Dandong, China to Inchon, Korea. It is a key opening up the windows of Dandong City. Its annual passenger handling capacity and the economic benefit always rank top places among the 12 national routes to Korea.

Wanxiang Group Mining.  North Korea’s mineral reserves are valued at 6 trillion.

Yanbian Tianyu International Trade Company, special economic zones and casino in North Korea. They managed the  inaugural Yanji – Hunchun – North Korean Luoxian – Mount Kumgang tourism line and its maiden voyage with over 130 tourists.  This maiden voyage took place August 29 to September 2, 2012 from Yanji, via China’s Quanhe River Port and North Korea’s Yuantingli Port, to Luoxian City, and then rode North Korea’s Wanjingfeng Cruise straight to Mount Kumgang.  Then they visited Jiulong Yuan, Hai Jingang, Wanwu Xiang, Sanri Pu and other attractions in Mount Kumgang North Korea.

Orascom Telcom. Egypt’s phone company that is building a 3G mobile phone network.

France’s La Farge. Cement maker owns 30% of a North Korean cement factory with 3,000 employees.

German outsourcer, Nosotek does North Korean computer programming.

Swedish Noko makes jeans in North Korea.

Nine Mode… Men’s Shirts.

Common Sense Investing Idea #4:  Invest in Canada for Growth and Safety
You may not be laughing so much now, but be aware that taking early risks in new pioneer markets like this requires a balancing act with investments in safe economies like Canada as well.  So we’ll look at Canadian investment opportunities also.

Canada has economically outperformed most industrialized countries during these recent difficult years for the global economy.

Forbes magazine “ranks Canada as the best place on the planet for businesses to grow and create jobs.” The OECD and the IMF predict Canada’s economy will again be among the leaders of the industrialized world over the next two years.

For the fourth year in a row, this body, the World Economic Forum, says that Canadian bg anks are the soundest in the world.

Canada has sound fundamentals… the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment…. and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G-7  by far.

Canada is also one of only two G-7 countries that has recouped all of the jobs lost during the 2007-2008 global recession.

The Upcoming February investing sessions will include Canadian bonds, shares and ETFs that invest in Canada.

Common Sense Investing Idea #5: Choose Bonds Over Shares Whenever You Can.

Long term readers at this site have known about the potential in bonds and value for many years and reviewing great bond deals is a major part of our seminars.

A January 5, 2012 USA Today article entitled: “Why are bonds outperforming stocks over long term?” by Matt Krantz confirms what we have shared when it said:  Despite a reputation for being a slow-growing alternative to stocks for the risk-averse, bonds just passed stocks’ long-term performance over the past 30 years.
Given the rally in bonds in 2011, it might not be surprising that the Ibbotson Associates SBBI bonds index, a broad bond measure, returned 28% last year, crushing the 2.1% return of the Standard & Poor’s 500 including dividends. The bond index also topped stocks for the past 10 and 20 years.

What’s more surprising, though, since it contradicts the widespread belief that stocks beat bonds, is that the Ibbotson Associates SBBI bond index has returned 11.03% a year on average over the past 30 years, edging out the 10.98% return of stocks.
Bonds’ impressive run is being powered by several factors, including:

•Distrust of the stock market’s future. An entire class of investors is rattled by a dismal decade for stocks, including double-digit losses in four separate years since 2000, says Bill Larkin of Cabot Money Management. “People are looking at the (stock market) and seeing the casino component,” he says. “They’ve taken big hits.”

•Search for investment income. Aging Americans nearing or in retirement are deciding they crave steady income and don’t have the stomach for stocks’ higher volatility, Winans says.

•Historic declines in interest rates and inflation. The continual movement down in interest rates and inflation the past 30 years has been a boon for bonds, which rise in price as interest rates fall, says Charles Crane of Douglass Winthrop Advisors.

It would be a mistake to assume that bonds’ strong run over the 30 years is destined to repeat, says Mark Hebner of Index Funds Advisors. Bonds have had stock-beating periods before, but stocks, over the very long term, still have beaten bonds, he says.

Choosing bonds over shares does not mean just invest in plain Jane bonds.  This means to look for bonds that perform like shares and the bonds to find now are long bonds. This once again upsets common thought which is… in risky times… get short term bonds.  Now times are so risky that short bonds have the greatest risk and no yield. Long bonds are more likely to weather any 2012 storms and pay really nice yields plus extra forex potential now.

Here are a few of the bond blocks we’ll review and update at the upcoming seminar:

HUF HUNGARYGOVT    6,500 24-06-2019 Ba1 BB+  8,76

TRY INTBKRECON&DEV 13,625  09-05-2017 Aaa AAA 7,61

RUB RUSSIA-EUROBOND 7,850 2 10-03-2018 Baa1 BBB+ 7,08

ZAR REPSOUTHAFRICA 10,500 21-12-2026 A3 A 8,21

BRL    BRAZIL REP 12,500 05-01-2022    Baa2 BBB    8,56

MXN MEXICANBONOS 10,000 05-12-2024 Baa1 A-  6,22

AUD EUROPEANINVTBK 6,125  23-01-2017 Aaa AAA 5,99

This portfolio yields 7.49%

USD INDONESIA(REP) 5,875  13-03-2020 Baa3 BB+  3,72

USD TURKEY REP OF 5,125  25-03-2022 Ba2    BB  7,66

USD SOUTH AFRICA 5,875 2 30-05-2022 A3 BBB+ 4,19

USD UKRAINE GOVT 7,950  23-02-2021 B2 B+ 9,45

This portfolio yields 5.14%

AUD EUROPEANINVTBK 6,125  23-01-2017 Aaa AAA 5,99

NZD KFW 6,375   17-02-2015 Aaa AAA 3,59

CAD CANADA-GOV’T 4,250  01-06-2018 Aaa AAA 1,55

USD UKRAINE GOVT 7,950  23-02-2021 B2 B+ 9,45

This portfolio yields 5.41%

EUR PORTUGUESEOT’S 4,750  14-06-2019 Ba2 BB 17,00

EUR IRISH GOVT 4,500  18-04-2020 Ba1 BBB+  6,75

EUR SPANISHGOV’T 4,000  30-04-2020 A1 A  4,49

This portfolio yields 9.41%

In the seminar we look at a mix and match bond tactic so investors can learn how to match the best combo to their own investing.  Then we examine Bond ETFs that allow even small investors to gain this added income.

See more about why bonds have performed better than shares at Buy Better Bonds

Common Sense Investing Idea #6:  Bet Against the Swiss franc

Are most investors 52 days from disaster?

The peak in this chart… shows a risk that could come this year… by March 20, 2012… 52 from now.  See more at Are we 52 days from Disaster?

Common Sense Investing Idea #7: Invest in the Green Revolution, Water, Agriculture and Food.

This idea stems from where does one store value in this time when so many traditional stores of value are at risk?

At this upcoming seminar, we’ll see why necessity is always a good place to store value… food clothing and shelter.

Invest in Water

We’ll look at eleven multi currency investments in water because the root of all three of our basics  is water.  Water investments offer great potential. This does not negate the need to suit such investments to your needs.

While the world’s population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold. Within the next fifty years, the world population will increase by another 40% to 50%.  This population growth – coupled with added water demand per person from industrialization and urbanization – will result in an increasing demand for water.

Yet the world may be entering an era of less water!

An August 22, 2011 article in Time Magazine  entitled “Parched Earth” by Bryan Walsh says:  Hurricanes announce themselves on radar screens before slamming into an unlucky coast. Tornadoes strike with little warning, but no one can doubt what’s going on the moment a black funnel cloud touches down. If we’re lucky, a tsunami offers a brief tip-off — the unnatural sight of the ocean swiftly retreating from the beach — before it cuts a swath of death and destruction.

But a drought is different. It begins with a few dry weeks strung end to end, cloudless skies and hot weather. Lawns brown as if toasted, and river and lake levels drop, like puddles drying after the rain. Farmers worry over wilting crops as soil turns to useless dust. But for most of us, life goes on as normal, the dry days in the background — until one moment we wake up and realize we’re living through a natural crisis.

This summer the python has gripped much of the southern U.S., from the burned fringes of Arizona — singed by massive wildfires — to usually swampy Georgia. Hardest hit is Texas, which is suffering through the worst one-year drought on record, receiving an average of just 6.53 in. (17 cm) of rain so far this year, well off the 34 in. (86 cm) it receives over a normal 12 months. At the end of July, a record-breaking 12% of the continental U.S. was in a state of “exceptional drought” — the most severe ranking given by the National Drought Mitigation Center. More than 2 million acres (809,000 hectares) of farmland in Texas have been abandoned, and streets are cracking as trees desperately draw the remaining moisture from the ground. Taps are dry in one North Texas town.

And there’s evidence — when it comes to rainfall, at least — that the good years we’ve enjoyed in the past may have been more of an aberration than we realize. The Southwest in particular has a history over the past two millennia of severe droughts that lasted for decades; deeper in the geologic past, dust bowls endured for centuries. Just as worrying, climate change is expected to further dry out much of the region, multiplying the impact of population growth and expanding demand for water. What the South is facing may be not just a drought but the first signs of a permanent dry, one to which we’ll need to adapt — if we can.

This article was accompanied by a 17 Photo Essay “Picturing the American Drought” by George Steinmet

This, one of 17, photo entitled “The Island,” shows a resort on Lake Travis, that is normally a peninsula surrounded almost completely by water. All the photos are linked below.

One More Vital point About Investments and Water.

The United Nations Water agency UNwater.org says:  A Drought in Your Portfolio?

The World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) participated in the EIRIS conference on global water risk research. The conference explored the investment case for considering the risks and opportunities arising from water scarcity as part of a wider sustainable investment strategy, and heralded the launch of the EIRIS’ Global Water Risk report.

The report shows that out of the 2000 global companies analysed 54% are exposed to water risks but take little or no action to mitigate them, and approximately half show no evidence of any management response to water risks whatsoever.

So when thinking about any investment, look at the water element… this is becoming a necessity that can help your future from becoming all wet!

At our next International Investing & Business Seminar, we will look at eleven ways to profit from investing and business in water agriculture and food.

What an incredible place we are in!  The present screaming so quickly from the past and dragging us often screaming and stressed into the future.  Join Merri and me and our host of expert speakers as we examine ways to make the here and now and our future not only exciting but prosperous and safe by simply applying Common Sense.

Join us for our Quantum Thinking + Investing & Business Seminar February 10, 11, 12, 2012 Mt. Dora, Florida.

Gary

Better yet join our seminars all year long free as an International Club member.

Learn About Ecuador in the International Club

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Join Merri and me as we look at ways to prosper during change in the year ahead. There are five ways to gain from the forces of change that will raise havoc with many.

#1: Multi Currency Investing through US brokers and bankers abroad.

#2: Commodities.

#3:  Real estate.

#4:  Living in lower cost countries.

#5: Having your own micro business for extra earnings, freedom fulfillment and fun.

We have specialized for over four decades in helping our readers excel in these five inflation beating opportunities.

January 12-15, 2012  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Florida ($999)

Feb. 10-12, 2012  International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Mt. Dora Florida ($999)

March 8-11, 2012  Super Thinking + Spanish, Mt. Dora, Florida ($999)

June 22-24, 2012 International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($999)

July 20-22 Writer’s Camp, Blue Ridge North Carolina. ($999)

October 5-7, 2012 International Investing & Business Made EZ,  Jefferson, NC. ($999)

Plus up to three more exclusive seminars at our North Carolina Farm.

(Schedule subject to change. Always check final schedule at www.GaryAScott.com/catalog)

Enroll here

There is another big saving:  $1,265 more!

When you join the club, I’ll email you our online course “International Business Made EZ”, a $299 value, plus four bonuses.  You receive the bonus course “Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher”  which also has a $299 value.

Plus I email you the online course “Tangled Web – How to Have Your Own Web Based Business” another $299 value plus “Event – Full Business – How to Earn With a Seminar Business” a $349 value.

In addition you’ll receive the 52 lesson course on how to create your own website using sitesell and finally I include an internet video on how to set up a website presented by our webmaster David Cross.

These courses are valued at $1,265…  in addition to all the seminars above you can attend.

You may well wonder why I would make such an offer and ask why the cost is so low?

Let me answer this question frankly and from the heart. First, it helps us do a better job for you. We feel greatly enriched when we can really help our clients improve their lives. We have learned through years of experience the best way to do this is to meet with you regularly. We can best help you learn how to improve your health and wealth through continual expansion of knowledge.

Second, we gain enormous fulfillment from the many friendships we form through the years. Our friends have enriched our lives tremendously. Let me explain this in more detail.

As a member, you will be part of our international family that meets intensively over the next year to examine ways we can make our lives better. Our goal is beyond just having money. Our goal is to have quantum wealth… good health… wealth and fulfillment through service.

Though we give all course delegates our very best, we cannot help but to do a better job for those who come again and again. As we meet often; your particular wants, needs and desires become clear, and it is easier for us to help you find the right direction.

Another phenomenon is that repeat delegates help each other! They get to know one another, help each other learn, share their insights, make contacts, become friends and gain more wealth.

The fourth savings: Lifestyle for Two.

There is still more!

We have learned at our courses that many repeat delegates were couples.

We want couples! As a member of the program, you are entitled to bring another person to every single course or tour. The cost for that extra person will be ZERO!  You can bring whomever you wish. Bring your spouse, a friend, son or daughter, partner, accountant, adviser. You can bring the same person each time or a different person, whomever you choose to accompany you. (Accommodations and air fares relating to the courses are not included for members, delegates or their guests.)

Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year?

We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

The International Club fee is $1,799 barely the price of  two seminars.Take for example if you plan to attend our Super Thinking + Spanish, $999 for a couple and a couple for International Investing and Business program, the normal cost would be $999 or $1,98.   International Club members attending just these two programs would already save… plus could attend all the other  Florida and North Carolina seminars plus receive $1,265 worth of emailed courses.

Exclusive “Think Tanks”

Twice a year club members meet for an exclusive members only Think Tank to look at ideas and answer multi currency and micro business questions that members may have.

Club members meeting at our Blue Ridge home.

I invite you to be a member of the International Club which allows you and your guest of your choice to attend all of these courses and tours.

Here is one final benefit. When you enroll… we automatically lock in this low fee for next year so your savings are automatically renewed in 2012 and 2013 at a discounted continued membership fee of $1,799.  Of course if you choose not to renew,  just simply cancel membership at no cost.

Let’s prosper in these times of change.  Won’t you join us in this exciting club and share Merri’s and my lifestyle for the next year? We look forward to seeing you at as many courses as possible and sharing this wonderful world of abundance and well being with you!

Gary

International Club 2012 Membership $1,799.  Enroll here.

Wherever you live…. Ecuador, USA, Canada or eanywhere, 2012 could be a year of great stress especially if currency markets come unglued 53 days from now.

A USA today article entitled “Health takes a hit as economy creates more stress” by Sharon Jayson says:

“Economic stress is taking its toll on the USA’s emotional and physical health, new survey data show: More than half of Americans report irritability or anger, fatigue and sleeplessness, and almost half say they self-medicate by overeating or indulging in unhealthy foods.

“Money and the economy topped the list of stressors for at least 80% of those surveyed by the American Psychological Association, which releases its numbers today. Finances now overshadow the more typical daily stressors of work and relationships; 46% report being worried about providing for their family’s basic needs.”

Yet economic recessions and depressions are natural. They are also the natural breeding ground for the next group of extreme rich.

Those who can maintain their balance during the downsides of economic cycles are the ones with the best chance of great profits on the upswing.

Here are three tips on easy ways to maintain health energy, vitality and vigor.

Here we are on a shamanic journey in Ecuador’s LLanganatis with the Andean Taita Yatchak.

Merri and I have enormous energy, vitality and enthusiasm, running our farm, buying and fixing up properties plus running our publishing business on our own.

Merri and I both collect Social Security…yet the idea of retiring has not even entered our mind.

We love our work so much we do not even think of this as work. We are amazed at what we get done. At a time when many our age are thinking retirement, we feel we are just getting started.

Here are three tips we use.

Tip #1 is to focus on good digestion. Every health regime I have studied from the east to the west to the south begins with good nutrition and the core of that routine is better digestion.

Reducing caloric intake and getting more from what we eat was the area of greatest focus that the Andean shamans gave us when we lived and studied with them.

Jean Marie Butterlin head of our Ateam Ecuador just sent me this note that explains why:

Why Ecuador Living is Healthy Living – A Tip Just Discovered By Scientists in Rome !

 By Jean Marie Butterlin

The aging of the brain is directly linked to the daily food intake. Obesity for example, has been known for years to be a factor in cognitive function loss; but up to now we did not know how the number of daily calories was linked to problems in the brain.

Researcher at the Catholic University of Rome has given us recently the answer to that mystery :

They have isolated a molecule (CREB1) that is activated when starting on a calorie restrictive diet.

Just lowering your daily calories by 30% would activate the production of that molecule. That molecule has been shown to stimulate the brain, help in memory functions and avoid the degenrative diseases like Alzheimer.

CREB1 is also a primary factor in anxiety.

Ecuador can help you in many ways to restrict your daily food intake :

-        there is a lot of fresh low calorie food available everywhere in markets and restaurants from : shrimp, or fish ceviche, grilled fish, lean poultry, grilled meat ; fresh produce and a lot of fresh fruits that are low in fructose like lemon, passion fruit, etc.

-        Less temptation with fast food chains. No french pastry shops here!

Just limiting alcohol, eliminating all soda and restricting starches will get you that 30% drop in calories.

Another good tip to lower your calories : stop eating when still a little hungry and drink a big glass of water just before eating. (This tip has shown to be very effective in many weight loss programs).

It seems also that longevity is linked to the total amount of calorie intake i.e. we have at birth a predetermined amount of calories that we are able to burn and when that amount is exhausted we die.

Jean Marie

Tip #2: Use Essential Oils

The Ecuador shamans all use essential oils in their Floral Waters because they know that is one of the greatest health creating tools.

The sensation we call pleasure changes our brain chemistry in less than a second.

Neuroscientist, Candace Pert, has proven that this emotional response creates corresponding brain chemistry that has receptor sites on cells throughout the body.   Cells create tissue.

So, angry emotions…angry tissue. Stressed emotions…stressed tissue. Happy emotions…courtesy of pleasure…happy….healthier cells.

During these troubled times we all need an extra edge to make positive contributions that also increase our wealth and improve our health. The added energy you can gain now can give more than average rewards.

The fastest way to get pleasure into the body is through the skin and lungs so rubbing essential oils on the skin or inhaling their aroma is the fastest way to balance the body chemistry.

There is a great research facility at the University of Minnesota’s website that helps see ways to use essential oils for greater health. I have linked this site below.

The introduction says:  What Does the Research Say About Essential Oils?

Although essential oils have been used therapeutically for centuries, there is little published research on many of them. However, this is beginning to change as more scientific studies on essential oils are conducted around the world.

Clinical studies are currently underway in Europe, Australia, Japan, India, the United States, and Canada. Many of these studies describe the remarkable healing properties of various oils.

What does the research say?

Research studies on essential oils show positive effects for a variety of health concerns including infections, pain, anxiety, depression, tumors, premenstrual syndrome, nausea, and many others. The resources on this page are meant to highlight a few examples.

On the Subject of Essential Oils for the Heart

Valentine’s Day is a day for the heart and our friend Candace Newman, the Essential Oil Lady is offering a special Valentine’s essential oil pack.

Candace writes:   Our Valentine’s special gift includes a Gentle Lavender Mist (4 oz cobalt blue glass bottle) – for the peace, tranquility and serenity. High altitude Bulgarian Lavender in our water-aloe base mist formula.

Luscious Rejuvenation Face Gel –  for aromas that soothe the soul, touch our hearts and renew the skin. Our proprietary formula of ancient aromas: Sandalwood, Patchouli, Frankincense, Rose Geranium and Fine Bulgarian Rose otto essential oils in our aloe gel & organic golden jojoba base.

Complimentary at no charge:  these precious oils come in our pretty white glossy gift bag with OLA Silver Seal, red tissue and OLA Gift card with red rose logo ($4.75 value). Write your personal note in the comments when checking out. Dark chocolate is also included.

Go to Candace’s Essential Oil site here.

Tip #3:  Use frequency Modulation.  I use frequency therapy in three ways to maintain a healthy balance.

About ten years ago at the University of Chicago, researchers discovered that the average wavelength of cell tissue in the human body ranged around 660 nanometers.  This single frequency is closest to to the resonant frequency of a healthy cell tissue.  The frequency also absorbs better in hemoglobin.  When cells are bombarded with this frequency it helps balance cells into their health normal state.  At this end of the spectrum, the rate of cellular regeneration increases.

660 nanometer wavelengths are a fast way to regenerate tissue. Injuries recover faster.  Irradiating mitochondria with red and infrared light (880 nano meters) causes them to produce cytochromes, which increases their efficiency.

880 nanometers (infrared light) therapy is widely administered in many conditions. Wound healing and neuropathy. Monochromatic infrared light has been shown effective through limited clinical studies, to help restore sensation and reduce pain in patients with Neuropathy, and to improve circulation, thus increasing the healing rate, of non-healing ulcers. It is thought that the infrared light helps to release nitric oxide into the bloodstream, which aids in increasing local circulation and improving blood flow. People with diabetes have poor circulation due to their naturally low levels of nitric oxide and sedentary habits.

Red and infrared light therapy has been shown to aid in muscle spasms and relieve stiffness. Infrared light in particular is very effective in increasing local circulation and reduce pain.

Because I had a broken back and serious neck injury as a young man I use a low cost ($80) Light Force 9000 light on my lower back and neck most days… as I sit and work.

I also meditate most mornings in an infrared sauna.

Meditating in our infrared sauna.

Infrared saunas are an excellent enhancement to health.  They can be an effective tool for detoxification, weight loss, skin rejuvenation, relaxation and post workout muscle recovery.

In the evening, I meditate in a quantum blanket.

The Quantum Blanket assists the body’s natural defense and repair systems and provides a variety of health benefits as it helps alleviate both physical and emotional stress.

Here I am meditating in my Quantum Blanket.

The Quantum Blanket has a scientific history as it is modeled after the spacesuits that cosmonauts and astronauts wore to protect them from electromagnetic radiation and harmful cosmic rays, and to induce relaxation to the nervous system during space travel.

The way is that it is composed of woven gold and aluminum that  isolates and reflects the infrared waves  emitted by the body.  The Quantum Blanket reflects back 95% of the infrared waves emitted by the body.

The blanket also contains Germanium that acts as a semiconductor and stops external electromagnetic pollution by absorbing the higher-frequency, harmful radiations, (ie, the harmful radiations emitted by mobile phones, Wi-Fi, and other products/similar technologies.)

This combination helps relax the entire muscular system and optimizes some of the body’s organic functions.

One gains deep sleep – The Quantum Blanket induces alpha waves in the brain – which occur during states of wakeful relaxation (such as meditation) and also during REM sleep. Whereas beta waves are associated with active consciousness and alertness, alpha waves are associated with a relaxed mental state.

Alpha brainwaves are slower, and higher in amplitude. Their frequency ranges from 9 to 14 cycles per second. (A person who has completed a task and sits down to rest is often in an alpha state. A person who takes time out to reflect or meditate is usually in an alpha state. A person who takes a break from work and walks in the garden is often in an alpha state).

The alpha state is an intensely pleasurable and relaxed state of consciousness, essential for stress reduction. Alpha is associated with deep physical and mental relaxation. Alpha waves instill a sense of mild euphoria, calm the body, reduce Cortisol levels, strengthen the immune system and counteract the negative effects of stress. Alpha waves also increase the production of melatonin to greatly improve the quality of sleep. Alpha waves increase the production of DHEA (the mother hormone) to give you a general mood boost and increased optimism.

Learn more about the quantum Blanket at www.quantumblanket.com

Modern life and the rapid pace of change creates new demands, deadlines, frustrations, and stress all the time.  For many people, stress has become so commonplace that it is a way of life, but when a person operates in emergency mode constantly, it takes a serious toll on both the mind and body and can lead to poor health conditions.   Poor health in turn leads to more stress and starts a negative downward cycle.

Regular use of the three health tips above… better nutrition… essential oils and frequency modulation help improve concentration and energy levels so you can develop an upwards positive spiral for good health and everlasting wealth.

Gary

Learn how to use frequency modulation in investing and business at our February 10-12, 2012 Super Thinking in Investing and Business Seminar in Mt. Dora Florida.

Quantum Thinking + Business & Investing Seminar

Last modified on 2012-01-28 02:22:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

International Business & Investing Seminar

Gary Scott & Thomas Fischer

Learn international business and investing Made EZ from Gary Scott and Thomas Fischer.

February 10-11-12, 2012 Mt. Dora, Florida.

June 22-23-24, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

October 5-6-7, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Enroll here. International Investing Business and Quantum Wealth.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

There is a triple economic crunch brewing, a precursor to rising prices, reduced financial safety and diminished capacity to earn.

Learn in three parts how you can turn the great changes ahead into opportunity.

Each seminar updates how we are investing globally, how we doing business globally… and why… right now. Join Merri, me, Thomas Fischer from Jyske Global Asset Management and share three days of information on how to prosper in time of change.

We’ll address what to do as investors, in business and in life at our upcoming International Business and investing seminar February 10 to 12, 2012 in Mt. Dora Florida.

The seminar is divided into three sessions.

Friday and Saturday – International Investing.

Saturday – How to be more intelligent, successful and happy with whole brain thinking through “Frequency Modulation“.

Saturday and Sunday – International Micro Business – “How to Have a Global Income “.

International Micro Business – “How to Have a Global Income”

This part of the seminar shows “How to have an international micro business.”  These sessions are highly practical and usable. They focus on how to use modern technology to start global micro businesses with minimal investments of time and capital… that can create valuable extra income.

By starting small and building with stepping stones and a harmonious focus, Merri and I have learned how to almost own several profit generating phrases at Google.  We, along with our webmaster David Cross share the secrets of how you can use words to create your own global income as well.

The seminar shares how we use the first four of “Seven Ps”  (Person, Problem and Promise, Product) to zero in on key word phrases.  Then you learn how to use the Fifth P Promise to develop new customers. The Sixth P is the Prospecting Path and Seventh P is the Presentation to create income.

We use this system successfully on the internet and share what we do with you as we look at ways you too can have a high income generating business… even if you never leave your home.

This knowledge has really helped previous course delegates. Here is what one previous delegate just shared:

“Gary , I have been working on my website, healthy-holistic-living.com site and I figure it is time for another update. It is really hard to believe it, but my site just keeps growing and growing and I am now averaging 2000 visitors per day!

“What I find to be most amazing is that in just a few short months my site is #1 out of over a million sites and sometimes even millions of sites! As you always say the internet is the ‘Great Equalizer’ anybody given the right tools can compete on the internet.“Below are some of my search results. I only listed GOOGLE and YAHOO but you can find similar results on both MSN and ASK.com.

GOOGLE:

#1 out of 1,190,000 …………………………“definition healthy spirit “

#1 and #2 out of 1,210,000.………………….“benefits to living a holistic life “

#1 out of 1,260,000 …………………………“gaining a healthy mind “

#1 and #2 out of 1,260,000 …………………“benefits to living a holistic life “

#2 out of 935,000 …………………………..“holistic lifestyle tips “

You will learn how to use the same system to expand (or start) your business globally!

This is a perfect era to increase your wealth and improve your lifestyle as you reduce stress with investments in the ideas below or your own a micro internet business.

Merri and I enjoy having an international internet business and it is doing well.  Almost every month our internet business sales are higher than they were in the same month a year before.

We are very thankful to be one of the most read sites in Ecuador and do very well in the US and Canada too.

May we share our experiences to help you learn how to enjoy this satisfaction and success though international investments or micro business?

Here is a recent ranking of just one of our five websites.

This ranking from Alexa.com shows how our site is in the top 16,000 web sites in America, top 8,000 in Canada and top 500 in Ecuador.  There is more.  While many suffered in 2007, 2008 and 2009, the recession caused our internet business to grow.

Our seminar helps you learn how to use the same tactics we use… with a micro business.

Our sales doubled during the recession.  Our list of readers increased over 100%.  Since the economy picked up our business growth has slowed but business is still growing. This is how good, value oriented business grow by the way.

Value oriented micro businesses should increase steadily in good times.  They do not get caught overextending in euphoria. Then during bad times they are in a position to do really well!

Knowing the micro business philosophies we follow can help you invest better and can help you create an internet success if you desire.

The Western economy has changed… probably forever.  The old ways are gone and those who held jobs… or still have work in the private sector have lost the most.

The economy will recover… but the way people earn and work… and how the money is distributed and to whom especially… has been profoundly altered.  This is especially true in value added countries like Canada… the USA and most of Europe.

We are in an era of global structural change… in economics… in society and in the way we work because technology brings us low cost administration, low cost access to data, low cost communication, and low cost travel, plus the opening of markets beyond logic that rely more on passion and experience than on efficiency and cost.

We look at these economic and structural changes, and what to do about them in the international investing and business portion of our seminar.

We’ll see how markets are shifting from materialistic needs to emotional needs.

We’ll see great opportunity for investors and micro businesses in the following markets:

Love-friendship-control-freedom-tradition-change-big answers-recognition and care. These are emotional needs that create expanding demand and business opportunity. The next generation is having more involvement in every step of the buying process.  Uniting the body and mind is an emerging market.  Natural physical health, fitness will expand but botox and insulin sales will also grow.

Mental health, retreats and spas prosper.  The health of the planet is becoming a more important business.There is a shift of emphasis from GDP to GWB  (General Wellness Barometer Happiness Factor).  Business will operate with more passion.

Learn about Ecuador Exports

At the seminar, Merri and I will conduct an Ecuador exports workshop.

In the global micro business sessions we’ll see ideas on:

* How to create export businesses

* Self Publishing

* Internet Sales

* Ecuador Business Ideas

* Organic Business Ideas

* Health Business Ideas

* Ideas for Cuban Business

February 10-11-12, 2012 Mt. Dora, Florida.

Enroll here. International Investing Business and Quantum Wealth.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

This course has three areas of focus. The second is “How to Invest Better… globally” and especially now how to store value during stagflation.

Precious metals are a traditional way to store wealth and at previous seminars we have looked at why it was time and how, when and where to invest in gold.

The upcoming seminar will look at the question… buy or sell and take profits now?

How long will the gold bull market hold?  This chart from Kitco.com shows the similarity of the run up from 1976 to 1980 and 2002 to now.

Learn how to deal with volatility in gold & silver.

It makes good diversification sense to hold a percent of your portfolio in gold… yes… absolutely.   Gold as insurance… a permanent but small portion of your portfolio is different from gold as a speculation.  Gold can be a good speculation…  as the chart above shows.   When it is at an all time high… beware.  Very few people find value at the top of a bubble and the history of serious sharp declines in all speculation and all bubbles exists.

The Kitco.com website says: In an article titled, “What Goes (Straight) Up …”, KITCO.com analyst John Nadler said the bears are seeking to test the 1680 to 1650 level, and that a bounce from there would not be surprising. He also made an allusion to memory of the large decline in 1980 (which was about 45%).

In an interview with The Street, titled “Expect a 35% Correction in Gold,” he said that a 35% decline was possible, and that something in the 1480 area might be a bottoming level.

This begs the question, where does one store value?

At upcoming seminars we’ll see why necessity is always a good place to store value… food clothing and shelter.

Invest in Water

We’ll look at eleven multi currency investments in water because the root of all three of our basics is water.  Water investments offer great potential. This does not negate the need to suit such investments to your needs.

While the world’s population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold. Within the next fifty years, the world population will increase by another 40% to 50%.  This population growth – coupled with added water demand per person from industrialization and urbanization – will result in an increasing demand for water.

Yet the world may be entering an era of less water!

A August 22, 2011 article in Time Magazine  entitled “Parched Earth” by Bryan Walsh says:  Hurricanes announce themselves on radar screens before slamming into an unlucky coast. Tornadoes strike with little warning, but no one can doubt what’s going on the moment a black funnel cloud touches down. If we’re lucky, a tsunami offers a brief tip-off — the unnatural sight of the ocean swiftly retreating from the beach — before it cuts a swath of death and destruction.

But a drought is different. It begins with a few dry weeks strung end to end, cloudless skies and hot weather. Lawns brown as if toasted, and river and lake levels drop, like puddles drying after the rain. Farmers worry over wilting crops as soil turns to useless dust. But for most of us, life goes on as normal, the dry days in the background — until one moment we wake up and realize we’re living through a natural crisis.

This summer the python has gripped much of the southern U.S., from the burned fringes of Arizona — singed by massive wildfires — to usually swampy Georgia. Hardest hit is Texas, which is suffering through the worst one-year drought on record, receiving an average of just 6.53 in. (17 cm) of rain so far this year, well off the 34 in. (86 cm) it receives over a normal 12 months. At the end of July, a record-breaking 12% of the continental U.S. was in a state of “exceptional drought” — the most severe ranking given by the National Drought Mitigation Center. More than 2 million acres (809,000 hectares) of farmland in Texas have been abandoned, and streets are cracking as trees desperately draw the remaining moisture from the ground. Taps are dry in one North Texas town.

And there’s evidence — when it comes to rainfall, at least — that the good years we’ve enjoyed in the past may have been more of an aberration than we realize. The Southwest in particular has a history over the past two millennia of severe droughts that lasted for decades; deeper in the geologic past, dust bowls endured for centuries. Just as worrying, climate change is expected to further dry out much of the region, multiplying the impact of population growth and expanding demand for water. What the South is facing may be not just a drought but the first signs of a permanent dry, one to which we’ll need to adapt — if we can.

This article was accompanied by a 17 Photo Essay “Picturing the American Drought” by George Steinmet

This, one of the 17, photo entitled “The Island,” shows a resort on Lake Travis, that is normally a peninsula surrounded almost completely by water. All the photos are linked below.

Hyflux Water revisited.

Hyflux chart from sg.finance.yahoo.com.   Hyflux trades in the USA as OTC code HYFXY.

We have been recommending Hyflux for over five years.  Each time the price drops I mention this again.

We first recommended Hyflux in 2004.  Then we wrote about Hyflux again in 2008…  both times before the shares began to rise.  You can see those who purchased Hyflux in 2004 and 2008 have been in a position to make huge profits.

Here is what I wrote in 2008:

#1: Is Hyflux a well managed company?

I have liked the management team for years. The group is headed by Olivia Lum who has proven to be an astute leader. Hyflux Limited SGX: 600 began in 1989 as Hydrochem (S) Private Limited, a trading company selling water treatment systems in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and later, China. Lum has been progressive. She added a team of scientists and engineers that created technology for Singapore’s water recycling plants that filter and treat waste water.

These technologies are based on semipermeable membranes and reverse osmosis that is capable of extracting potable water from residual, sewage and salt waters.

Hyflux was the first water treatment system company to be listed on Singapore’s equivalent of NADAQ in 2001 and the first to be upgraded to Singapore’s main exchange in 2003, again making history.

The group has been expanding geographically first to China, then lucrative Middle Eastern markets and is now entering India, Southeast Asia and Africa.

#2: Is the company in a growth industry?

There are few sectors with as much potential as water. China, the Middle east and India offer special opportunity.

#3: Are the shares available at a good value?

The shares are certainly a better value than a few months ago. Here is the share price over the last year.

We’ll investigate Hyflux in detail at the upcoming seminar.

An investment in Hyflux by the way also represents an investment in Singapore dollars so all the numbers above have been enhanced by this added forex growth.

This chart from sg.finance.yahoo shows the benefits of a multi currency portfolio as the Singapore dollar has risen versus the US dollar since 2004

One More Vital point About Investments and Water.

The United Nations Water agency UNwater.org says:  A Drought in Your Portfolio?

The World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) participated in the EIRIS conference on global water risk research. The conference explored the investment case for considering the risks and opportunities arising from water scarcity as part of a wider sustainable investment strategy, and heralded the launch of the EIRIS’ Global Water Risk report.

The report shows that out of the 2000 global companies analysed 54% are exposed to water risks but take little or no action to mitigate them, and approximately half show no evidence of any management response to water risks whatsoever.

So when thinking about any investment look at the water element… this is becoming a necessity that can help your future from becoming all wet!

At our next International Investing & Business seminar when we look at eleven ways to profit from investing and business in water.

Diversification of currencies and equity markets is vital…   right now.

One way to diversify is in the Morgan Stanley World Market Index with 22 component markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hongkong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and USA.

We will look at ways to invest in this index for as little as $5,000.

Then we’ll see how to invest in emerging markets.

Emerging markets have over performed major markets for more than a decade.

A recent 10 year comparison of major versus emerging markets show some of the reasons that emerging markets are one of the seven places I like to invest in now.

A comparison of the Morgan Stanley Capital index Emerging Market versus Morgan Stanley Capital Index Emerging Market Index.

Annual Return   Emerging Markets 19.81%    Major Markets  10%

Emerging Markets Longest Down period 6 months – Major Markets Longest Down 6 mos.

Emerging Markets biggest downward drop 55% – Major Markets biggest downward drop  53%.

Emerging Markets PE ratio 12.9   Major Markets  PE Ratio 15.2.

Major Markets yield    3.70%.
Emerging Markets yield  3.22%.

In other words in a decade… Emerging Markets have appreciated nearly twice as much as Major Markets.  There has been little difference in the lengths or size of drops and Emerging Markets offer much better PE ratios.  The only area where Major Markets have excelled is yield.

Emerging markets offer attractive returns and a search for value leads us to Brazil and eight other markets.

As of October 2011 the nine best value MSCI emerging markets were: Brazil,  the Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey at equal weights.

One way to beat the upcoming crunch is to diversify into several of these best value markets and we’ll see how to do so with as little as a few thousand dollars.

Another way we’ll review on how to fight stagflation is with Brazilian bonds. The US dollar interest rate for ten year bonds is about 3%.  Brazilian real bonds pay up to 11%.

Plus there is currency appreciation. Since 2006 the Brazilian real has risen from 44 cents to 61 cents.

There is some extra risk.  Brazil is rated BBB, the USA, AAA but the rating agency Fitch raised Brazil to “BBB stable” so Brazil bonds are investment grade, two steps above speculative level.  There can be volatility. The real rose from 45 to 70 cents from 2006 to 2009.  Then it plunged to 40 cents before recovering back to 61 cents.

My own favorable experience has come from been holding three Brazilian bonds denominated in Brazilian real in my pension portfolio for some time.

Borrower                                    Coupon      Maturity
European Investment Bank     11.125%    14.02.2013
Brazil Republic of                      12.500%    05.01.2016
Brazil Republic of                      12.500%    05.01.2016

These bonds were purchased at excellent discounts back and have been dream investments, the type that causes one to wish he or she had put all their portfolio in.  Of course investing in just one thing is never a good idea because hindsight is so much clearer than foresight.

The bonds, during the worst recession in seventy years, have created profit in three ways.

First there is the yield... the quarterly payment that amounts to over 14% per annum on one of the bonds.   The coupon payment (11.25% and 12.50%) of each is really good in its own right.  Yet each bond was purchased at a discount so each is paying more than 12% per annum income.

Second there is a capital appreciation. The 12.5 % Republic of Brazil bond due 05-01-2016 I purchased for $98 ($9,800 for a $10,000 bond was offered in May 2011 (when this report was released) for $117.75. This has dropped the yield to 7.84%.

This means that I could sell each $9,800 of bond I invested for $11,775, an extra $1,975 or  20.15% capital gain.

Third, there is a forex profit. Look at what happened to the Brazilian real versus the US dollar in this five year period of 2006 to 2011. These charts are from http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts

The real rose from 45 to 70 cents from 2006 to 2009.  Then it plunged to 40 cents before recovering back to 61 cents.

In other words during the time these bonds have been held, they gained an added 46% forex profit.

The rising Brazilian real is not just a short term trend either.  The 12 year chart below shows how it began its climb versus the greenback clear back in 2002.

Two global bond ETFs we’ll review with diversified portfolios including Brazilian bonds are:

Market Vectors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond (EMLC), with about 10% of assets in Brazilian bonds.

iShares JPMorgan USD Emerging Market Bond Fund (EMB), has 8.87% of assets in Brazilian bonds.

Plus we’ll see the WisdomTree Dreyfus Brazilian Real Fund (BZF) ETF that invests in short-term, investment grade instruments and is up 35.14% since inception May 14, 2008. Wisdom Tree has also filed to create a Brazilian bond ETF.

We’ll look at many other equity ideas. You can see a few of the ideas we looked at in previous seminars below.

Plus we will review my personal portfolio… how and why.

The third way to beat the upcoming crunch is by trading currencies.

Now is the time to invest out of the dollar.  At the seminar Thomas Fischer who was a professional currency trader for many years will review Jyske Global Asset Management’s Managed Foreign Exchange (FX) Portfolio, that only invest in currencies.

This combination reduces overall risk and enhances the chances of a good return.

Currency investments reduce overall risk by diversifying investments across different asset classes that do not react the same way to risks because they are not fully correlated. Traditionally stocks and bonds correlate inversely.  When stocks fall bonds rise.

However, the crash in 2008 showed that at times all asset classes can collapse at the same time. In 2008, almost the entire financial market panicked due to fears of a systemic collapse. A fear still so profound it keeps investors overly nervous to the extent where an otherwise insignificant event can result in a massive market tremble.

Currency investments supplement traditional asset allocations of  stocks, bonds and commodities, because currencies do closely correlate with these traditional asset classes when the market panic.

Currency diversification should be an essential strategy for every investor.

You’ll see how to create a Managed Forex Portfolio using:

* Proven currency traders who avoid high volume trading and select investment opportunities with less volatility and fewer trades.

* Portfolios with positions in different currency pairs using stop losses to limit downside risk and using trailing stop losses to lock in profits.

*Regulated leverage depending on your risk factors.

This type of multi currency investing is usually in slow moving, safe, conservative investments but it can be really profitable as well.

The portfolios we create and review at our seminar are mostly composed of ETFs, mutual funds, bonds and shares via ideas developed with the help of one of the world’s safest banks, Jyske Bank… Denmark’s second largest bank  with a history of over 100 years.

Jyske is Denmark ’s second largest bank, with 450,000 clients in Denmark and over 30,000 abroad. Jyske Bank has over 23 billion euros in assets and also happens to be one of the leading currency traders in the world. The Danes have always been big currency traders because as a small naval country surrounded by England, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Germany, Norway and other countries…they have always had to deal in many currencies. This historically gained expertise means that unlike most banks (that trade only eight hours a day) Jyske maintains a 24 hour global currency and commodity dealer service. Many other large banks use Jyske to handle their off hour currency positions. This means that Jyske is huge when it comes to multi currency activity. In fact their currency and commodity trading turnover reaches $50 billion dollars a day.

That’s safe.

Jyske investment managers speak at our seminar and also meet delegates personally.  Here is Thomas Fischer of Jyske speaking to a group at a previous seminar at our farm.

Each seminar reviews global economics and updates ways to adapt and prosper in current conditions. This portion of the seminar reviews what I am doing as a multi currency investor myself.

For example in my portfolio right now I adding German and Swiss domestic shares plus have equities and equity mutual funds.

In each of our investing sessions you’ll see my updated portfolio and why I have made changes, plus my current seven favorite places to invest.

At the last seminar (June 2011) my seven picks were:

#1: Multi Currency Investments.

#2: Emerging Market Bonds.

#3: Good Value European and Emerging Equity Markets.

#4: Turkey & Brazil.

#5: Ecuador & Florida Real Estate.

#6: Silver Shares.

#7: Water Shares.

I explain why my portfolio is designed by me for my circumstances at any one time.

This provides you with two benefits. First sharing why I adjust my investments might be of help to you to understand how to adjust yours.

Second and most important,  I invest real time. The data shared in our courses is about global investments you can make in the here and now. What you learn is not dated theory, but up to the minute fact!

Many delegates come to course after course just to update their portfolios.

Plus the third session, our Quantum Wealth Frequency Modulation workshop  looks at ideas on how to live better…. using frequency modulation to be smarter… stronger…. more energetic… and healthier.

Most of us have never seen such serious economic conditions as those that face us now.  A growing global population… depletion of natural resources and technology are bring social and financial shifts at a pace never seen before.

These shifts will rob many of their financial well being, but fortunately the same technology that is creating the change can also help you gain prosperity like you have never imagined.  We look for ward to sharing these riches with you.

We are in our 43rd year of international investing and business and share what we have learned and where this is leading our activities in our two upcoming International Investing and Business Seminars. Join us

Each seminar updates how we doing business globally and how we are investing… and why… right now. Join Merri, me and Thomas Fischer from Jyske Global Asset Management.

February 10-11-12, 2012 Mt. Dora, Florida.

June 22-23-24, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Enroll here. International Investing Business and Quantum Wealth.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

In the investing portion of each seminar you’ll see up to date ideas on our multi currency portfolio.  Last seminar here is what we held.

Dollar Bloc  46.6%

Colombian peso .8%
Mexican peso  4.5%
Brazilian real 13.4%

LatAm Bloc 17.7%

Euro   20.6%
British pound  .4%
Danish kroner  3.6%
Norwegian kroner  6.5%
Polish zloty 2.0%

Euro Bloc  32.5%

Singapore $  1.0%

This is our 153rd International Investing & Business seminar and you learn about multi currency investing… how to have your own global micro business… how to take advantage of overseas real estate distortions…  which commodities are now best and how to cash in on them…  plus how to enjoy lifestyles of greater profit, freedom fulfillment fun and adventure.

We are approaching our 30th year of conducting these seminars… each updates global investing and business opportunity you can use.

Delegates learn from each other.  Here is a group from a previous seminar discussing what they learned during the course, at a complimentary wine and cheese reception after the Saturday session.

Part Three of the Seminar: Frequency Modulation – Tapping our inner resources for outer expansion. As change comes faster we must become smarter… more flexible and enhance our ability to embrace and profits from the never ending shifts we face.

The educational program Merri and I have developed uses a different form of frequency modulation that opens enormous opportunity for expansion, understanding, peacefulness as well as greater wealth.

FM teaching uses frequency (in music and with each sense… sight…. smell, tactile and even smell) to integrate brain waves so the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.  This brings forth the three C’s:  Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

FM creates relaxed concentration… a key to happiness, health and success.

You learn whole brain thinking that can help improve your business & investing.

This part of the seminar helps investors and business people integrate their brain waves so they are more intelligent, intuitive and relaxed.

This workshop shows how to get into and stay in a state of relaxed concentration… a mental state shown to enhance almost every human capability.

Merri and I are explorers so we have used this techniques for decades. We  are always looking for what’s next… trying to stay on or ahead of the leading edge and need ways to think outside he box..

This journey has helped us alter the main mission in our lives again and again… every seven to 14 years.

During the 43 years we have been investing and doing business abroad, we have enjoyed capturing seven golden trends

#1: 1970s Gold & Silver.

#2: 1970s investing in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, England, Australia and Hong Kong .

#3: 1980s. The Tigers, Taiwan , Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea & Turkey .

#4: 1990s. South America (which led us to Ecuador).

#5: 2000s. China , India and Eastern Europe.

#6: Invest in Real Estate and Global Micro Businesses throughout.

#7: Bet Against the US Dollar throughout.

Spotting these trends early brought us a strong and continual flow of income. More importantly the process has been fulfilling…. beneficial to society and healthy.    Now you can benefit from the latest… and perhaps strongest… of all the trends we have stumbled upon.

Our writing and talking about each of these trends over 43 years has helped thousands of our readers make and save millions.   The success of our readers has been a driving force in our lives yet we have always wanted to do more so continued looking deeper for a core idea that we could share that provided income, stability, good health and contentment.

Recent events have moved us closer to this core which is why we are developing a way for a few others to join us in the profits and fulfillment of this quest.

Enroll here. International Investing Business and Quantum Wealth.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

The Florida seminars are taught at…

Mt. Dora’s Lakeside Inn listed on the
 National Historic Register, that has continuously 
operated as an inn for more than 125 years, 
the oldest operating inn in Central Florida.

The Lakeside Inn is located 40 miles Northwest of Orlando
 in Mount Dora… our Florida shopping town and known as 
the “New England” of Central Florida.

February 10-11-12, 2012, Lakeside Inn, Mt. Dora, Florida.

June 22-23-24, 2012, Jefferson Landing, West Jefferson, North Carolina.

October 5-6-7, 2012 West Jefferson, North Carolina.

Jefferson Landing Golf Club & Resort

Enroll here. International Investing Business and Quantum Wealth.  Enroll here. –  $749 Reserve- $999  for two.

University of Minnesota study is at http://takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/aromatherapy/what-does-research-say-about-essential-oils

I have been caught in a foreign country without cash twice… so please read this message carefully.

First time was in Singapore… 1971. The US dollar was unhinged from gold for the first time and devalued.  I had plenty of cash… greenbacks but nobody would take them.  That only lasted a day but scared the heck out of me.

Then this happened again in Ecuador… 2000. All the banks went bust!  Everything financial shut down and for a week one could not get a penny.  This can be scary… even dangerous… and this is why I say do not leave all your money in Ecuador banks.  Don’t do it!

This is the year to take extra care because most investors could be 54 days from disaster.

See why and what to do about it below.

The peak in this chart… shows a risk that could come this year… by May 2012… 16 weeks from now.

This chart shows how in May 2009 global banking liquidity provisions rose to such a high level that they created an unintended consequence that has the potential to wipe out many investors while it enriches just a few.  The next time of great risk will be October 2012. See why below.

This note explains why this chart represents a financial overhang that like a rock trap will ravage the finances of millions who are caught when it falls… but it will also also be a bellwether of fortunes for investors in the know.

That chart by the way is totally accurate…  pulled directly and unaltered from an article entitled “International Liquidity Provision During the Financial Crisis: A View from Switzerland” in the recently issued December 2011 Federal Reserve Review.  This is the Fed’s warning of potential upcoming economic disaster.  This is a warning which is hidden in plain sight.

There is a link below so you can read the entire Fed’s report yourself… but you may find the Federalese daunting and obscured in obtuse language (I spent two days studying just two pages to try and unravel all the implications), so let me outline here why these liquidity provisions could rip the guts out of many safe investment portfolios who follow tradition.

This outline will also unveil why huge returns will come to just the contrarians who see the risk and bet again the norm.

The fact that this danger is openly outlined is unusual but the extra quirk is that this chart was published by the US Federal Reserve Bank yet shows liquidity provisions provided not by the Fed, but by the Swiss National Bank in Swiss Francs!

To understand how this creates a problem and the investing risks that may affect us all,  let’s look first to the past.

Then we’ll see where and how the future hides the risk.

In a small way I was partly responsible for starting the problem… clear back in 1986.  Having spotted how my bankers in Europe would lend me one currency at a low rate so I could deposit it in another currency at a higher rate, we published our first version of our report “Borrow Low – Deposit High”.  The report mainly featured how to borrow low interest rate Swiss francs and Japanese yen to invest in high yielding currencies like the US dollar, British pound. French franc (this was pre-euro) Mexican peso, Brazilian real.

Before this time there were certainly big banks and institutional investors already using the tactic… later called the “Carry Trade.”   I did not invent it, not even close… but I spotted its potential early on and our reports were among the first to reach tens of thousands of investors and open this idea for the little guy… smaller, individual investors  like myself.

Investors caught on and this trend of borrowing Swiss francs to invest in higher yielding deals grew so much so that in June 1999 a mechanism was created called the Swiss Repo Market to expand the ability for banks to borrow Swiss francs so they could lend them on.

The Federal Reserve acknowledges this fact in the report “International Liquidity Provision During the Financial Crisis: A View from Switzerland” and points to the problem when it says:  The authors document the provision of liquidity in Swiss francs (CHF) by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to banks located outside Switzerland during the recent financial crisis. What makes the Swiss case special is the size of this liquidity provision—at times, 80 percent of all short-term CHF liquidity provided by the SNB—and the measures adopted to distribute this liquidity.

In the years leading up to 2007, banks across the globe dramatically increased their balance sheet exposure to foreign currencies. This led to increased trading between banks with a need to refinance in the foreign currency and domestic banks with deposits and consequently sufficient funds to lend in that currency (i.e., extensive cross-border trading).

This idea described in the report worked well for almost a decade. Investors would come to their bank and borrow Swiss Francs.  The bank would lend the low interest francs… even if it did not have them to lend… knowing that it could cover its loan in the Swiss Repo Market.

Then came the crunch.  The Fed describes it in its report like this: With the onset of the financial crisis and the successive drying-up of the repurchase agreement (repo) market and especially the unsecured interbank money market, the private sector no longer provided this liquidity, thus requiring a coordinated action by the world’s major central banks.

This was the easy part… describing the problem.  This demand to get Swiss francs to cover loan positions was a huge financial crack that made all the other complicated economic issues worse as financial systems structures and banks crashed around the world.

The Feds report: CHF-denominated loans obtained by non – banks outside Switzerland are typically granted by non-Swiss banks that, in turn, finance themselves by borrowing from financial institutions in Switzerland.  As in all bank business, these non- Swiss banks provide long-term loans yet finance themselves on a short-term basis. Their ability to roll over maturing CHF positions became stressed when the interbank money market progressively dried up following the onset of the financial crisis in August 2007, particularly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.  The CHF-specific spike in the cost of obtaining unsecured funds was caused by a combination of the need by banks outside Switzerland to continuously roll over maturing interbank loans and the shrinking supply for these funds. Most Swiss banks and a considerable number of non-Swiss banks have access to the Swiss repo system—the prevailing secured money market in Swiss francs. In a calm market environment, these banks would  have immediately exploited this profit opportunity and provided unsecured funds to banks without access to the Swiss repo system.

A key ingredient of the crunch was that… most borrowers borrowed short and invested long… exactly the opposite of what they should have done.  Now they had to repay Swiss francs and the non franc assets they held were crashing.  Losses were enormous and growing.

The Fed report continues (bolds are mine): In international currency markets, any bank can potentially obtain financing in any foreign currency either by going directly to the interbank money market or by obtaining funds from its central bank and swapping the received funds into the desired foreign currency. In principle, these two methods should ensure the rate at which a currency is funded is the same.  

During the recent financial crisis, however, interbank money markets temporarily faltered.

Without access to the Swiss repo system, even banks with ample collateral could not obtain secured funding from the SNB or the secured interbank market.

There you have the crux of the problem.  The system that gave access to Swiss francs melted down. This created huge additional potential losses that could have destroyed the already weakened European (with threads back to the USA) banking system. This could have added to the downwards crush in the global economy.

Here is the Fed’s explanation in the report: The lower cross-border trading could have posed a substantial danger to the stability of the financial sector at large.  If banks across the euro zone and CEE were unable to obtain CHF in the money market, then non-Swiss banks, in turn, could try to reduce their exposure by liquidating CHF loans they had made to their clients.  Given the banking tensions at the time, this move would have driven many debtors into default and could have started a disorderly winding-down of CHF loans, with increasing default rates implying the need for additional loan-loss provisions, thereby increasing pressure to liquidate CHF exposure.  This vicious cycle could have had dire consequences for the banking system and the real economy.

The Fed and other central banks had to find a stopgap for this problem which was a bigger problem for every country because of the Swiss Franc angle.  This is also explained in the Federal Reserve report:  The drying-up of liquidity distribution in foreign currency posed a problem more challenging than the breakdown of the domestic interbank money market: No central bank, on its own, can provide a large amount of liquidity in a foreign currency in a timely manner.

So what could the central banks do?

They hung it all on the Swiss.

Here is how the Fed describes the resolution in its report:  To overcome this market friction, the SNB jointly announced with the ECB and subsequently with the Narodowy Bank Polski (the National Bank of Poland) and the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the central bank of the Republic of Hungary) that all these central banks would directly distribute CHF-denominated funds to their counterparties.

That is what the chart above and this chart (also take unaltered from the Fed report) explain.

In essence the world let the Swiss National Bank become a second central bank for the European Central Bank (ECB),  National Bank of Poland (NBP),  as well as the Central Bank of the Republic of Hungary (MNB).

This worked for that moment but created a huge financial rift for the times ahead.

So let’s speed ahead into the future… now and onto May 2012.  May I first add the fact that if we get past May… we might breathe a little sigh of relief but the problem will not end there.  The next large window of risk will come in October 2012.

Anything can happen at any time but now until May is when the risks are the highest until October 2012 when risk will rise again.

This future problem is described also in the Fed’s report which says: While the exchange rate interventions were part of the SNB’s unconventional measures to avert deflation risks in Switzerland, an unintended side effect of the interventions was the resolution of the international CHF liquidity shortage:

The supply of the additional CHF 150 billion is available to the banking system on a permanent basis and, consequently, the majority of banks are awash with CHF liquidity.

Our excerpts here of this Fed report ends with: The size of the exposure has raised many concerns about the financial stability of the banking sector, given the possibility of continued CHF strength or even appreciation.

There you have it.  The problem in 2009 was the banks did not have any Swiss francs. When they lent the Swiss Francs which they did not have, this created a potential liability if the Swiss Franc rose…which it did.  The problem now is that non Swiss banks are awash with 150 billion Swiss francs and no place to invest them.

This creates an overhang that could crush traditional investors like a rock trap who follow the investing norm and pull the stick.

This is why I have just created a report “The Swiss Trap” for my Multi Currency subscribers and would like to offer this report to you.

The Swiss Trap describes the problem above… includes the total Federal Reserve Report and describes what could happen in the next euro crunch…. most likely to start around March 20, (54 days from now) when Greece defaults on the 18.5 billion dollars it owes bondholders that day.

Bloomberg Businessweek described the problem in a recent report “A Greek Default: You Can Mark It on Your Calendar” that says:  Negotiations over how to shrink the Greece’s unaffordable government debt make the brinkmanship over the U.S. debt last summer look simple.

A Bloomberg report also says: ‘Disorderly Default’.   Talks between Greece’s Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Charles Dallara, the managing director of the Institute of International Finance, which represents private creditors, will resume Jan. 18, according to a Greek Finance Ministry official who declined to be identified.

Greece’s creditor banks last week broke off talks after failing to agree with the government about how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds.

“We remain concerned that Greece may suffer a disorderly default in March,” Mansoor Mohi-uddin, chief foreign-exchange strategist at UBS AG in Singapore, wrote in a Jan. 14 note. “A Greek default would have a major impact on the euro as it would spread contagion to other bond markets in the euro zone.”

Contagion is the euro zone is the problem.  Greece’s default is a forgone conclusion but the worry is how far has the rot spread?  Will Portugal and then Spain also falter… perhaps even Italy and now France’s debt has been downgraded!   All these concerns could cause the euro to fall.

The Trap is Set

The falling euro will set the trap which is described in our report,  “The Swiss Trap”. This report descibes why the problem exists… the trap and  how it can destroy the savings, investment and speculations of millions of investors.

Avoid the Trap and Profit Instead

The report also describes how to avoid the Swiss Trap and earn profits with a little known investing vehicle called an ETP…not to be mistaken with the ETF.

ETPs are shares traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) available to all investors large and small.  Investors can invest millions or as little as $1,000.

ETPs are similar to ETFs.  The “Swiss Trap” describes the differences… and how these alternate features allow investors to profit from the 150 billion dollar Swiss Franc Overhang.  Plus this report names brokers in London and the US who can purchase these ETPs for you.

If you are a Multi Currency Portfolio subscriber, read the Swiss Trap at your password protected site here.

Not a Multi Currency Portfolio subscriber?

Subscribe to our multi currency portfolio service and get the password, Swiss Trap, free.

Gary

Here is one more way to read the Swiss Trap free now.

Enroll in our February 10-11-12, Super Thinking + Investing and Business seminars and I’ll enroll you as a Multi Currency Portfolio subscriber for a year FREE.