Harvard Investment Services

john walton

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Has anyone ever used 'Harvard Investment Services' i'm new to all this but have read about this company on another forum but few people on there had experience with them.

Those who did were very positive, apparently they have averaged 8% returns per month since the started. accounts start from £5000 and up to £1million.

I have contacted them requesting a brochure but i'm keen to learn from anyone else who may have first hand experience of them?

Many thanks

John
 
Any links to a website? Did a quick google search but didn't get anything that I could say with any certainty is the service you're looking at.
 
I can't speak from personal experience but first impressions suggest they keep a low profile which, in my opinion, is a good sign. You seem to be doing the right thing in trying to find out as much as you can about them, including personal experiences of others, before investing. The last post (as of writing) in the thread you linked to looks like it might be pretty beneficial to you with regards to finding personal experiences.

As it's not a signal service it's unlikely you'd get a free trial but by the sounds of things you might be able to arrange a visit to their offices to meet with them in person. I'd certainly pursue that avenue myself.

Whatever you decide I wish you all the best with your venture.
 
Hi Vrithdar,

Thanks for your input- just out of curiosity if you were to visit their offices what kind of information (beyond what i can expect from their brochure, marketing info, headline returns etc) would you ask from them to help make an informed deicision?

I'm completely new to this so any suggestions appreciated

Thanks again
 
I'm not really in a position to give that kind of advice as I've no experience with these kinds of investments nor have I any intention of ever getting involved with them.

My main objectives would be to get a feel for the people I'd be investing with, their facilities etc to decide whether I feel I can trust their published information and am comfortable investing in them. Again, that's coming from the perspective of somebody who has no personal experience of this kind of thing.
 
A very dodgy website that was only created in Jan 2008

So no history behind them. Also it is a free website - i.e. they've paid no money for it.

A quick search on companies house shows that the company itself was incorporated in Jan 2008.

You think that investing in a company that has only been around for 8 months is sound - then go ahead. Personally I wouldn't touch em with a barge pole

Name & Registered Office:
HARVARD INVESTMENT SERVICES LIMITED
GLEBE HOUSE, WOODLANDS DRIVE
NORMANBY
MIDDLESBROUGH
CLEVELAND
TS6 0NW
Company No. 06486468


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Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 28/01/2008

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
None Supplied
Accounting Reference Date: 31/01
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 28/11/2009
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 25/02/2009
 
Hi Hoggums/everyone

At the risk of sounding very stupid - what difference does the short period of time they have been in business mean in terms of risk?

I have recieved the brochure today which includes monthly statements from their account since last November, they also say that they are actually the middle men in effect pooling money from smaller investors to pass onto their dealer who places the trades in the same way the banks trade FOREX?

I have replied asking for details of how my money would be handled, who trades the money, what exposure per trade do i have etc although any other suggestions i should ask for id appreciate hearing.

As i said earlier i'm totally new to this so please feel free to add anything you think may be useful!

Thanks
 
Careful with the name 'Harvard'.

A flashy name is something to be very worried about in this business. Always exceptions to the rule but not many.

John, if you're new to this game then you're at a big disadvantage because you won't be abl to spot all the tricks that many people play. Tread carefully and don't focus on just the results. 8% a month also seems like a very high number to me in regards to the amount of risk they probably have to take.

Remember, this game is NOT about returns, rather risk-adjusted returns...........
 
Thanks for your words of caution Anley, are there any particular or common tricks that i may be liable to fall foul of which i can investigate or research to prevent making such a mistake?

If anyone has ideas what the best things to include in ones due dilligence with such companies i'd be greatful to hear! :)
 
Hi Hoggums/everyone

At the risk of sounding very stupid - what difference does the short period of time they have been in business mean in terms of risk?

I have recieved the brochure today which includes monthly statements from their account since last November, they also say that they are actually the middle men in effect pooling money from smaller investors to pass onto their dealer who places the trades in the same way the banks trade FOREX?

I have replied asking for details of how my money would be handled, who trades the money, what exposure per trade do i have etc although any other suggestions i should ask for id appreciate hearing.

As i said earlier i'm totally new to this so please feel free to add anything you think may be useful!

Thanks

How can this company have accounts from Nov 07 when they were only incorporated in Jan 08?? THINK ABOUT IT.

GREED is taking you over. You are looking for a quick easy profit and as such you are easy prey for the scamsters. The 8% a month figure has blinded you. Admit it.

Why would a fund that can make 8% a month be after a small investors money? With proven returns like that they could attract large amounts of capital from institutions, banks, companies etc... It wouldn't be worth their while messing around with small investors.

You need to wake up before you lose your money.

edit:

I have just seen the thread on stinking pig and I am not convinced by how genuine those posters are. In my opinion it sounds too good to be true and I think it's quite likely that the owners of this company have created these ficticious entries in order to draw punters in.
 
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Agree, if somebody is making a genuine 8% a month and has a proven track record you don't go looking for small amounts of money and having to deal with all the crap from a load of different clients.

My bet is that the 8% a month comes from a combination of trading and simulated back testing. I'd also bet that when it comes to real money and real returns being generated 8% or more will be a dream.......
 
John

The best kind of due diligence is to only deal with known people who have been around for a few years and have the all important audited track record. Otherwise probabilites suggest you'll be dealing with people that talk a good game but can't deliver.
 
Hi guys,

many thanks for your feedback and thoughts on this- hoggums i also have wondered about the posters on the thread and how genuine or not they are. Hence i have brought the discussion here to get further perspective and opinions, as i say i am competely new to this so i appreciate people thoughts and can assure you i am not trying to be greedy- i am really appreciative however that people are taking the time to advice me so i dont lose money through ignorance!

For feedback this is the response i got from the director when i asked how my money would be handled, how much is traded at any one time, and who actually places the trades- as you can see the HIS appear to be middle men- this explains how they can show accounts from pre-Jan 08 as that is the date of their incorporation although they have had an account prior to that date (i'm guessing?)

Morning John



Your right HIS do not do the actual trades . The monies are with HIS for approximately 1 week per month at which point it is transferred to our trading partners for trading. With regard to the exposure I can only give you past history as FSA regulations do not allow us to give future risk factors and that we must state that all monies used can be at risk. The norm in past trading is an automated 20% cut off if the trade was not managed. If it was managed it could be around 5% per trade. Our trading partners only trade 70% of funds per trade as appose to most other traders who trade 100% . Again with regard to past trading history we have not experienced a negative month, but bear in mind that the FSA regulations state that future forecasts should not be gauged of past performance.

To give you some history of how HIS started with Regard our trading partners. I was introduced to our TP and watched their performance for a period of approximately 2 years before I stepped in with a large sum! and ran with them for a number of months to gain confidence, and then at which point I started HIS with my partner Dean. We don’t give out their name as it is what our business is built upon. Our TP have a fantastic past record. They are about 7/8 years old. Their aim is to be a private bank and a name to be reckoned with.



Hope I have helped



Regards



Paul
 
I've read what's been written and it looks complete nonsense to me. Written by someone who doesn't understand trading.

They are saying that a single unmanaged trade could result in a 20% loss...

And that most funds have 100% of the capital invested at all times?

Anyway - they mentioned FSA regulations. Have you contacted the FSA to see if they are actually regulated? If the answer's no (as I suspect) then you know where not to put your money.
 
They are not regulated it states in their brochure that the FSA do not regulate FOREX transactions and that they are exempt from FSA and markets act 2000 regulations-is that right? Ive read the FSA website and cant seem to find anything which disproves this claim about FOREX although i may have missed it.

As interesting as their services may be i'm clearly not expert enough to know whether they are legitimate or not so i'm really using this as an exercise to learn how to make such judgements and know how to identify genuine investments - i'm grateful to everyone who has taken time to comment on this as its helping me to improve my researching skills and know what sorts of things to ask when faced with an 'oppotrtunity' like this!

cheers
 
Hi

Just entering this discussion. Does anyone know of a regulated Forex trader that offers these types of invesstment services?
regards
Jim
 
Thanks for your words of caution Anley, are there any particular or common tricks that i may be liable to fall foul of which i can investigate or research to prevent making such a mistake?

If anyone has ideas what the best things to include in ones due dilligence with such companies i'd be greatful to hear! :)

Hi there. I'm very concerned about a friend of mine who invested 20,000 pounds with Harvard Investment Services four to five months ago. For three months she received statements showing she had earned around 1,200 each month. Then she was told by her brother (also an investor) that all the accounts had been frozen as the company was under investigation because they were purportedly giving financial advice when they are not registered to do so. She has been unable to withdraw the profits or her capital since this happened, about six weeks ago.
 
Dean and Paul are both builders who personally invested with Cameron Farley and recieved fantastic ROI, they then decided to take this up as a business and layed other peoples funds off and paid a proportion of the return back to investors, everything was ok until the FSA got wind of Cameron Farley and allegedly froze there account and assets. Cameron Farley alledge that the FSA never closed the trading platform and the funds closed thereselve out as they were left trading without stop losses going from £80 million to £8,000.
There is a court case to establish the facts this week, but what i can say is that there are a lot of investors that lost a lot of money

Dean and Paul are both respectable guys and would not scam anyone, and i am sure that they will explain any risks if you invest.

Would i invest with them ? no, but thats just me. you make your own mind up.
 
Hi Investor One, i guess you must have been one of those people caught out ?

Dean and Paul never lost any money for anyone, maybe there investor did ? maybe the FSA did ? i expect we will soon find out>When you invest with a high ROI then the only person to blame is the investor, trust me i know.

I'm not disagreeing with and do understand where your coming from, but if there is no seed then the birds wont feed
 
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