I have done some delving into online investing & in particular, HYIPs (High Yield Investment Programs). 

Some terminology: 

e-currency – an amount of rare metal (usually gold) which is actually stored somewhere in a vault. Its value is determined by the price of the metal at any given point in time. I’ll talk about “e-gold” later on, as my chosen form of e-currency.

Exchange – the conversion of real cash into or out of e-currency. This can only be done by authorised exchangers, who (of course) take their cut in the process. Effectively, they buy or sell the amount of gold on my behalf.

Forum – a website devoted to discussions on a particular range of subjects.

Debit card – plain ol’ debit card, except that in my case, the card can be funded from an e-currency, basically it’s the "exchange out" process, resulting in real dollar amounts that can be used as POS (Point Of Sale) funds or withdrawn in cash from an ATM.

Offshore – outside the jurisdiction of the US or Australian Governments. Most HYIPs are based offshore & state very clearly in their terms & conditions that the investor is making a private loan that is not bound by any regulations anywhere. That’s the risk. 

DD – Due Diligence, the process of checking something.

e-currencies:

e-Gold & e-Bullion – websites that act like a bank account, holding a value of e-currency in an account. This allows transfer of funds to & from a Program’s account quickly & easily, as an online transaction, not really much different from Internet Banking.

Exchangers: 

e-Forex Gold – very useful in Australia, in that they will sell you a card which identifies your e-gold account in the BPAY system, which makes it very easy to use from Internet Banking or by paying in cash at a Post Office, to exchange cash into e-gold. 

There are many others. Which one is best for you depends on where you are & how you need to operate it.

Forums:

Most HYIP-associated forums are contacted by the admin of the HYIP to list their program on the site. It’s up to the forum administrator to take it from there.

I use HYIPRanks. They do their own DD on every site that comes to them & it rapidly becomes obvious which ones are likely to be scams. Choosing any of the programs in their top 10 is more likely to produce profits, although even they have also been shafted in the past by some very good looking programs. The site quotes how much money they have invested themselves in any given program, which is also a good indication of how much they trust that program, as well as a total amount invested by the members that have uploaded their transaction history.

Programs:

Please note that I have funds invested in every one of these programs.

Advanced Market Intelligence (alias AMI) – operate by an Australian living in Bowral, NSW. I have met Paul in person & I believe him to be as honest as you will ever find. He states very clearly, “I don’t need your money to do what I want to do. I’m here to help you to have the resources to help others.” or words to that effect. On the AMI private forum, there is a fascinating thread on what the various members want to do with their money as it grows. The ideas are spectacularly diverse, but with the same common theme. Paul works on $500 units & amalgamates them into the market.  This program is currently closed to new investors, except by personal invitation.

The Venture Resource Group - A great source of business opportunities. Just joined this, so I'm still exploring all of the goodies offered.

HYIPRanks is an excellent source of useful information about these & other programs. Pick the ones with a green or yellow status marker.

Debit Cards:

There are hundreds of them around. I chose the Unlimited IGE Card because it is just that, unlimited. It’s insured by the Canadian equivalent of the FDIC to the value of $5,000 a day if I lose it, but in theory I can make a POS purchase of any amount, as long as the funds are in the account. So far, I have withdrawn over AU$1,000 in one transaction with no problems. Sadly, I'm limited to withdrawing US$150,000 a month in cash.

Summary:

There is a vast amount of wealth that is out there in the marketplace - one report recently stated that there may be as much as 3 trillion dollars floating around in the financial system every night. What all of these programs offer is the ability of the average Joe in the street to be put in touch with some of that wealth & become genuinely wealthy, especially by applying the principle of compounding.  For example, the programs mentioned above, if compounded consistently, will multiply any deposit by 40 to 70 times in one year. In a little over 2 years, a modest investment of $100 could conceivably be worth half a million, and growing rapidly. 

The other factor at play here is that the technology is now such that all this is possible. I spoke to Chris in Thailand via Skype recently & it cost me nothing. Chris can be in South Africa or Europe & be equally accessible. Julie & I can see pictures of Duncan on April's webcam & I have a webcam pointing out the study window to check on the local weather. My website is hosted in Germany & the one before that was in Denmark. When I am travelling, I can usually find a wireless access point at which I can use my laptop to update the newsletter & upload the photos I have taken. I share stories on forums with people from England, USA, Europe & Australia, on a forum that may well be hosted in Israel. A website is hosted somewhere on the net - does it really matter where it is? We have entered an age of global technology & global markets. I intend to make use of it as best I can.

Is it worth the risk? I think so. Feel free to join me, by following the links above. I get a referral fee from only 4 of those links - if you don't want to use my referral, don't; I really don't mind either way. I'm just sharing the opportunity.

Please note that giving is an essential part of receiving. I have already approached a couple of worthy causes about which I am passionate, to see whether they would mind accepting a debit card & PIN from me, with the proviso that once the funds get rolling, they need to visit their favourite ATM each week, clean out most of the balance & receipt the funds as an anonymous donation. So there's the initial stage of my planned giving taken care of.

While we're on the subject, have a look at The Science of Getting Rich.

And click here to see some of my fellow investors from the AMI forum.