For anyone that has ever looked for investments on the internet, you have probably come across HYIP oriented investments. HYIP is an abbreviation for High Yield Investment Program, which refers to a type of investment where the investor has the potential to generate a substantial return on their investment. This sounds great, except that the overwhelming majority – and I do mean the overwhelming majority – of these supposed investment funds are frauds. This article will tell you the main things can alert you to a fraud before you end up putting your money in one.1.    They Guarantee High ReturnsNo credible fund manager would ever, ever promise a guaranteed return on their investment. Why? Well, simply because genuine investments don’t operate like that. You may have months and years of extremely impressive returns, only to be followed by periods of unimpressive or negative returns. Historical expectations are fine, but they can’t predict the future. If you are looking into an investment that promises a guaranteed rate of return (and its not some kind of low yield fixed income investment), then you should stay away. This is definitely one of the biggest fraud signs to look out for.2.    They Promise Against LosesThis is somewhat related to the first point, but it pertains to the investment’s risk level. One day, out of complete curiosity, I went on to live support with one of the large HYIP sites. When I asked about the security of my investment, I was told that it was completely safe and protected. When I enquired further, the person that I was speaking with couldn’t explain how this was possible, aside from stating that it would be managed by professionals who have been trading for many years, and that it was diversified. None of this is an assurance of safety, and is simply a façade for the uninformed. The last straw came when they mentioned to me that it was also guaranteed by some other secretive fund full of cash. Even if there was such a source of capital, how could it be sufficient to pay back the principal for all of their investors if they collapsed? Frankly, it couldn’t – and realistically, it doesn’t need to, since it doesn’t really exist in the first place. Any reputable money manager is going to be candid with you about the risks of the investment. If they try to claim that they have no risk, or attempt to obfuscate their level of risk, it is best to give them a miss.3.    They Take Direct Control Of Your MoneyAnyone familiar with the Madoff fiasco should know that one of the first ways to spot a fraud or ponzi scheme is if you are sending your checks directly to them. Scammers are usually very skilled – more skilled, in fact, than many legitimate investment funds – at setting up easy ways for you to send them your money. You can usually wire it, send a check to them, or even use paypal. Customers are often fooled by the guise of professionalism that this creates and don’t notice the insidious problem: they are sending their money directory to a firm that could well be a scam, with absolutely no 3rd party oversight. Genuine investment firms house their money at an independent custodian, so the client is able to have their account in their own name, with no potential for fraud on the part of the investment firm. This is definitely more tedious in terms of paperwork for the client, but the lack of this necessary safeguard is a easy way to spot a fraudster.4.    They Aren’t Sufficiently TransparentMost of these investment scams won’t allow you full access to your account. Sure, they might send you monthly statements, but that means absolutely nothing. A statement can be forged to swindle $50 Billion from many large investors, so they can definitely be very convincing. Instead, what you need is the ability to actually login to your account, allowing you to view every activity that happens in your account as it occurs. This includes making an trade, taking an trade loss or gain, and any fees charged to the account.Finally, I would even be hesitant about trusting the ability to access this information through the investment company in question. Many of these frauds have complex software, capable of reproducing what your investments should be doing, even if your capital isn’t really invested at all. As with the previous red flag, the only sure fire way to avoid an investment scam is if you are able to access your account information through a third party custodian, rather than directory through the investment firm.5.    They Aren’t Able To Explain Their Market EdgeNo successful investment fund is going to give away the specific details of how they generate returns, but they should be able to offer a verbal overview of their market inefficiency. If they are unwilling to do this, or if they give some convoluted explanation, you should be suspicious. It doesn’t have to be incredibly complex, but they should be able to offer you a general idea of how they are able to profit.Finally, don’t be tricked by people who claim to have gotten regular payments on Internet forums or investment review sites. Firstly, they could obviously be fake – but even more likely, as in the case of ponzi scams, they may well have gotten payments. In a ponzi scheme investors get regular payments that come from the initial investment in their account or the accounts of fellow investors. Regular distributions is no sign that it isn’t a scam; in fact, returns that are too regular may well be the sign that it is a fraud, since real investments are not cash machines, and tend to go through up and down periods. That said, with this guide, you should be able to avoid any investment frauds that you encounter. Just remember that any one of these by itself isn’t automatically a deal breaker. If they the red flag goes up for several of these, however, I would be very apprehensive of investing any money with that firm.

Our retirement safety net is shrinking.  Employers are cutting back on their retirement plan benefits, and Uncle Sam is up to his eyeballs in debt.  Retirement planning now falls on the shoulders of the individual, who must invest for retirement or suffer the consequences.Since most folks don’t know how to invest, it’s time to learn to invest and make the best of it.  A 401(k) plan or IRA is the easiest and best way for most people to invest for retirement.  These retirement plans offer tax breaks, and you can invest for retirement without the hassle of reporting investment gains and interest earned each year as your money grows.You can choose a traditional retirement plan that is tax-deferred and offers qualified folks an income tax write-off for contributions each year.  When you pull money out of a traditional IRA or 401(k) in retirement, it is all subject to income tax.Or you can go with a Roth IRA or 401(k).  Here your money grows tax free, period.  There are no tax write-offs, but your money is not taxed when you pull it out, if you follow the rules.  Frankly, I favor Roth IRA and 401(k) plans, and consider them the government’s greatest gift to people who invest for retirement.  Tax-free is as good as it gets for most folks.  Outside of these retirement plans, tax-free investments are difficult for most of us to find and/or benefit from.Now it comes down to funding your plan, or how to invest and where to invest money in your retirement plan.  Until you learn to invest and have experience, you have at least a couple of popular choices in regard to IRA’s.  You can go with a local bank, or with a mutual fund family.  If you have a 401(k) at work, your choices are limited to the investment options your plan offers.As to where or how to invest, bank IRA’s simply pay interest, and interest rates are low.  Mutual fund families offer IRA’s with many investment options, some of them designed for folks who don’t really know how to invest on their own.  These are called BALANCED FUNDS, and some 401(k) plans offer them as well.Until you feel comfortable and really learn to invest on your own, I suggest looking into balanced funds.  Professional money managers manage your money, and the cost is usually quite reasonable.  You simply choose the fund(s) that matches your tolerance for risk.  They do the rest.For example, balanced funds called LIFECYCLE FUNDS offer three choices: conservative, moderate, or aggressive.  TARGET RETIREMENT FUNDS offer several choices based on when you plan to retire, or when you did retire.Read the literature before you invest, and ask questions when in doubt.  You can invest in these mutual fund IRA’s through a financial planner, or you can work directly with a no-load fund family and avoid sales charges. If you are willing to accept investment risk in search of higher returns, consider balanced funds when you invest for retirement.  Then, take some time and learn to invest for retirement on your own.There are many fine articles available to help you with retirement planning and investing.

High yield return investing is known by very few Americans. Most Americans have been brainwashed by the advertising in the controlled media to only think in terms of buy and hold stock and bond investing and very few know that there are much more powerful retirement enabling investments available to the average person.With the collapse in the stock market the knowledge of these investments is even more priceless than before. Since it may take many years for the stock market to recover and the dollar is guaranteed 100% to suffer an inflationary collapse in the future, now is the time to get involved with high yield return investing.The recent news reports on the Bernie Madoff scandal had some erroneous reporting in it. Some news reports said that the high returns he said he got were unbelievable. But the truth of the matter is that it was not the returns that he got which were unbelievable but the chart that Madoff published which showed a straight line upwards and no dips in profits along the way. It was this which caused a competitor to start investigating and then report Madoff. But turning from this scandal let us look at some real high yield return investing.One of the most unique high yield return investments today is found at a solid bank in Europe. It is a currency leverage program whereby the money you deposit gives you a right to borrow 200% and then invest that total amount in five different programs. In 2007 for example these five different programs returned 53.32%,122.62%, 48.19%, 38.67%, 266.30% for each program. How do these returns compare to the returns you get in your local bank?Another high yield return investment that has shown the modern portfolio theory’s buy and hold philosophy to be flawed are the little known actively managed mutual fund programs that seek to make money in both up and down markets by leveraging their trades and shorting the market when it is declining. While the S&P 500 Index lost 37% during 2008 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped over 40%, our best actively managed mutual fund program GAINED over 77%. Market timing and many active trades do work.Covered call options trading is a high yield return investment that has also been hidden from the vast majority of the public because of the powerful vested interests in the financial services industry that are seeking to keep traditional stock and bond investing on life support. A good trader can consistently generate returns of 5% to 9% PER MONTH. How much is your money market account paying? 5% per year YEAR? We have a trader who has proven to us that that 5% to 9% per month is possible.Managed Futures are traded by professional managers known as Commodity Trading Advisors (“CTAs”). Investments can include futures, forex, and options on futures contracts. Managed Futures have the potential to earn monies in both rising and falling markets, enable investors to invest globally, and are used to reduce portfolio volatility through diversification. Now let us look at one of these high yield return opportunities below and see if it is truly worthwhile.Foreign exchange trading (forex) has spawned a number of ways to make profits from the trillion dollar currency markets. Once only a high yield return investing strategy of elite banks this is now available to the average person via managed forex accounts, signal trading services, expert advisors (EAs) which are commonly called forex robots. It is actually possible through one of the forex robots we use to obtain returns of 10% PER WEEK. Also, our managed accounts trader can generate 5% to 10% per month on average.Sports investing is another little known way to leverage the miracle of compounded interest which Einstein called the eighth wonder of the world. With proper discipline, money management, good picks and a top notch sports investment system it is possible to make 8% to 15% per month by using your own computer to place the investment bets online. We are confident you would enjoy this as much as we do.In this article we have touched on just a portion of the high yield return investments that once were available only to the wealthy and the institutions, but are now available to the average middle class person with some money to invest. There are others such as hedge funds, CFDs, secret bank trading programs and the like which we have not touched on in this article. But the ones we have talked about are sufficient to demonstrate that there is hope for beaten down portfolios. There is hope for those who believe they will never be able to retire. Now is the time to get involved with high yield return investing.The information contained and referenced on this website should not be regarded as an offer, solicitation or recommendation for any investments, investment funds or products in any jurisdiction where such activity is unlawful. This website is not directed at you, if we are prohibited by any law of any jurisdiction from making the information on this site available to you and it is not intended for any use which would be contrary to local law or regulation. Furthermore, past performance is not indicative of future performance. Every high yield return investment has risks.This article is governed by international copyright laws and is governed by the laws of Ezine Articles. Violators of their rules will be punished to the fullest extent possible.