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 The $12 Million Options Letter
I was sitting in an Irish Pub in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina
having a few drinks with Clayton Makepeace, my boss and copy chief at the time.

At the time we’d go out once or twice a week after leaving the office and throw a
few back at the local watering hole and he’d tell story after story about the wild west of
direct mail in the 1990s.

This letter by legendary copywriter Dan Rosenthal, pulled in somewhere around

$10-$12 million in a week or so way back in 1993.

And the story behind this letter went something like this. Dan came up with the
idea of pitching a $5,000 fax based trading service. He pitched the idea to his client with
a deal where he would get paid something like $0 up front but get 30% (ish) of sales.

At that point in their business his client was not pitching high-ticket services like
this. They, like the Motley Fool for so many years after them, focused on selling just low
ticket newsletters and cross-selling those customers to other lower price newsletters.

So when they finally sold this $5k service they already had a big list of buyers to
go to who were basically “backend virgins” to them.

It was the biggest sales generator they’d ever mailed at the time.

Now, this was bar talk and we didn’t get out the P&L to nail down the precise
figures so take the $12 million with a grain of salt but either way, it was a huge money
maker.

Enjoy,
John Newtson
www.InvestingInfoMarketingSummit.com
 Irving Weiss
West Palm Beach, Florida
August 11, 1993

Dear Subscriber:

Forgive me if I seem impatient with my son Martin, but I am. Martin is so

conservative, sometimes it drives me batty.

He likes to play it safe and double his money every 5 to 7 years. I'm far more
aggressive. I like to use leverage, take some risks, and double my money in 5
to 7 months, or even weeks.

Right now, you have an opportunity for the greatest leverage you've ever
seen -- or that you're ever likely to see. For just $50 to $100 you can control
US $1 million. That's 10,000-to-1 leverage!

Moreover, since I'm talking about options, there's no risk whatso- ever beyond
your $50 to $100. No margin calls or forced liquidations are possible. So, even
if I'm totally wrong, your loss is limited to your initial investment. This is
an investment that lets you sleep at night, yet can make you a genuine fortune.

The reason these powerful options are so low-priced right now is that they are
a bet on higher interest rates ... and almost no one expects interest rates to
go higher.

The Wall Street dealers who sell these options consider them a "sucker's bet."
Well, I have news for them: Interest rates are going to bite them in the rear
end ... and these options are going to go through the roof!

* Earlier this year, I put a friend into these interest-sensitive options.

Short-term interest rates made a minor move -- less than one-fifth of a
percent. On that tiny, tiny move, his investment rose 350% in just a couple of
weeks.

* I recommended a related investment to another friend. But he didn't act right

away. So instead of paying just $100 for it, he wound up paying $175. He bought
a slew. They soared to $600 -- a gain of 242.8% in just a few days.

Now, with any decent move in the interest rate -- say one or two percentage
points -- these $50 to $100 investments will be worth $1,200 or $1,500. And
with a truly MAJOR interest rate move -- such as I see coming, they'll be worth
$5,000 or $10,000. If you had 20 of them (your cost: no more than $2,000),
suddenly you'd have a few hundred thousand dollars.

The interest rate markets

are potentially incredibly lucrative.
But most Americans don't know anything about them.

To most Americans, investing in interest rates is entirely alien. They don't

know how. They don't know where. The most they ever do is look for the highest
yield in a certificate of deposit or a money market fund. That's a shame,
because huge profits are going to be made in the next few years in the interest
rate markets.

The interest rate markets are at the core of the world's financial markets.
Every bank, every large corporation, every local, state and federal government
is intimately involved in these markets. The interest rate markets dwarf the
stock market. The typical daily trading is as much as $700 billion -- 70 times
more than the trading on all the stock markets of the country put together.

Analyzing interest rates has been the focus of my entire 64-year career. Back
in 1929, when I was a young man on Wall Street, interest rates were one of the
great indicators that told me the stock market was going to crash.

That's when I borrowed $500 from my mother to go short the market. The "big
boys" all thought I was nuts. But while they were going broke I made a fortune
and turned that $500 into almost $100,000.

Now we're entering an era of similar profits in these markets. But the best
vehicles are not the same ones I used back in the 1930s and '40s, although
their time will come again. In the current market, the safest -- and
potentially most profitable -- vehicles are the interest-sensitive options.

You can never lose a penny more

than your initial investment.

Interest-sensitive options offer you the most extraordinary leverage you've

ever seen. Even better, it's leverage that's only on ONE side. Your maximum
risk is your initial investment. It's impossible to get the margin calls and
forced liquidations that plague futures contracts and other leveraged
investments. You can lose your entire initial investment -- but never a penny
more.

With these options, you can be wrong again and again. Then all you have to do
is hit just one right ... and you make so much money that you wipe out all of
your past losses and go deep into profit territory.

If interest rates go up only half as much as

under Carter, you can turn $1,000 into $375,000.

A friend of mine, for instance, just "splurged" and bought $1,000 worth of
these options on my say so. If I'm wrong, he takes a $1,000 loss and writes it
off his income tax.

What if I'm right? When Carter and the Democrats were last in, the prime rate
went to 21 1/2%; T-bills surged beyond 17%. If that happens again during the
life of his options, my friend will walk away with $750,000 on his $1,000
investment.

Now, I told him that's extremely unlikely. But, if interest rates go up only
half as much, he'll still clear $375,000, less commissions, which I don't
imagine he'll object to very much. Even just a 2 percentage point rise in
interest rates -- and that's a very modest rise -- is going to net him
somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000, less commissions.
Wow! In all my 64 years on Wall Street, I've never run across leverage of such
incredible dimensions.

How To Turn Financial Disaster Into A Bonanza

Interest rates have a much more far-reaching affect on you -- and the whole
country -- than anyone realizes. There's approximately $41 trillion of debt in
the world. So each percentage point rise in interest rates means that one class
of people -- the debtors -- must pay a second class of people (the creditors)
an extra $410 billion. That's a huge amount of money -- that they don't have.
It's clearly not a stable situation.

That's why rising interest rates cause catastrophic economic side-effects. If

rates go up just a few points, nearly all traditional investments will be
devastated. Stocks will plunge. Real estate values will collapse. Banks and
insurance companies, that rely upon trillions in real estate as collateral,
will fall like a row of dominos.

For most investors, it's going to be an absolute disaster. But, as you've

already seen, with interest-sensitive options, you can turn the interest-rate
disaster into an interest-rate bonanza.

Why, at the age of 85, and legally blind,

I'm starting my own advisory service

My son, Martin, and I have been debating endlessly about these options -- and
dozens of other spectacular opportunities begging to be snatched up in this
market. I wanted to put them in the Safe Money Report. He wants to keep them
out.

His point is very simple: These investments are extremely time- sensitive. You
just can't put them in the "Safe Money Report," which is a monthly publication.
Even though it's sent by 1st class mail, that's not fast enough. A weekly
publication might be better, but even that isn't right. I really have to be on
top of them daily -- even hourly.

So, I decided it was time for me to set up my own advisory service. Martin
agreed, and I am doing so with his blessings. That's important to me, because I
value his love and didn't want to cause a rift in the family. It's also
important because now I have Weiss Research -- Martin and his staff of 70
employees -- as my publisher.

How can an old geezer like me start a new service? I like to think of Beethoven
who wrote his great string quartets and most famous symphony while totally
deaf. He heard the patterns in his mind's eye.

Likewise, I can't see the numbers on the printed page any more, but I don't
have to. I see the patterns in my mind. I have a better feel for them than ever
before. I have a full-time, top notch assistant who gathers all the information
I ask him for and reads it to me. When I need numbers crunched -- for instance,
to pick the most undervalued options -- he feeds the raw data into my options
software and prints it out for me.

Many people think life ends when you turn 65. Bah! I still see well
enough -- and have the energy -- to jog every morning. I work 7 days a week.
But, I don't want to overdo it. Martin has 50,000 subscribers. I can't possibly
handle that many.

I am restricting my new service to a maximum of 2,000

subscribers. This is absolutely essential for two reasons. First, I
want to make sure that we answer every single one of your
questions. Second is the liquidity of the market. I want to make
sure you get good fills on your buys and sells. So I have given
firm instructions to return all checks beyond 2,000 subscribers.

The name of the service is "Irving's Interest Rate Speculator." The price is
$5,000 a year. No discounts. If you can't afford to spend $5,000 without
worrying about it -- or jeopardizing your liquidity -- you shouldn't be
investing in these high-powered, interest-sensitive options. And no guarantees,
but I expect the very first recommendation to pay many times the cost of the
service.

What you will get as a

subscriber to my Interest Rate Speculator

FIRST, I will send you a detailed explanation of those remarkable

interest-sensitive options that can turn $1,000 into $375,000 -- if interest
rates go up only half as much as under Carter.

For optimum profits, I recommend a package of 6 closely related -- but

different -- options with varying expiration dates and strike prices. I'll
explain what they are, how to buy them, and how much to pay for them. (In case
you don't really know what options are, I'll include an explanation that begins
with the basics and covers everything you'll need to make this really work for
you.)

Most advisors give a recommendation but don't do the necessary homework to make
sure you can really act on them. I will tell you when to get in, when to get
out, and when to "roll-over" your positions so they don't expire prematurely.

On each and every investment, I'll tell you, ahead of time, what I believe the
profit potential is and where to set your profit targets. Then I'll keep you
posted on any changes, so you'll always have specific instructions on precisely
when to take profits.

This is a V.I.P. exclusive service which has no ambiguities, ifs, buts,

wherefore's or other weasel phrases so many advisors use to cover their
you-know-whats. It always goes out by fax, because the instantaneous
communication is essential for good fills in these fast moving markets. When
it's time to buy -- or take profits -- I can't have you waiting around for the
U.S. mail to reach you.

SECOND, I'll send new recommendations as soon as I spot new opportunities.

You'll get at least 8 recommendations per year and perhaps as many as 15.

Right now, interest-sensitive options are my main focus because major fortunes
are going to made here relatively soon. But interest rates reach into many,
many investment areas, so my next recommendations may be quite different.
Whatever the investment field, you will get my TOP, number one recommendations.

For instance, interest rates often play a major role in the

gold and silver markets. Right now, indicators I watch are telling
me to expect a big move in the near future. But most investors will
be on the wrong side of the move, and lose big. I'll show you how
to take wonderful profits out of gold and silver -- on both sides
of the market.

And, as soon as interest rates begin to rise, there will be other fantastic
opportunities in the stock market. If you've been a subscriber to Martin's Safe
Money Report, for any length of time, you know that I took excellent profits
out of the collapse of IBM. I turned about $40,000 into close to $200,000.

A similar -- only better -- situation is coming up soon in a huge

interest-sensitive company. This company is so revered on Wall Street, that its
stock has almost doubled this year ... despite the fact that it is essentially
bankrupt!

There's one critical interest-rate signal I'm waiting for, before recommending
options to sell this stock. I'm not sure exactly when it will come -- the
marketplace doesn't defer to my wishes. But as soon as the signal comes, I'll
send this recommendation, by fax, to subscribers of my Interest Rate
Speculator. I believe this investment has the potential for 60% greater profits
than the IBM play.

THIRD -- timing. You get my recommendations precisely when -- and only

when -- I see a MAJOR, first-rate opportunity for you. I believe that when an
opportunity pops, you have to grab it then and there.

That's why my service does not conform to a regular publication schedule. The
market doesn't open up opportunities according to any calendar. You could go
two months before you get another recommendation, and then I may send you two
recommendations in one week. The recommendation will be sent to you by fax,
complete with a detailed explanation of why I'm recommending it, how to buy it,
how much to pay for it, what special warnings -- if any -- are necessary and,
of course, when to take profits and sell.

Interest rates are not going to hang around for you.

Right now, the interest-sensitive options I am recommending are still way

underpriced. But that could change any day.

Fed Chairman Greenspan has just testified to Congress that you shouldn't expect
interest rates to go any lower. The only way you're going to see lower interest
rates is if Clinton drops everything he's been fighting for: his gasoline tax,
his health plan, his entire budget; and does the exact opposite of everything
he's ever done since he's gotten into politics.

That's just not going to happen! The T-bill rate has begun to inch up a little
bit each day. I think it's ready to blast off at any time. When that happens,
these interest-sensitive options will move up FAST.

In 1980, it took only 7 months for the Treasury-bill rate to

 surge from 6% to 17%. Likewise, today, interest rate moves that
normally take years will be over in a matter of months.

To take advantage of the situation, you have to have your options in place,
sitting there BEFORE the market starts to move. I told you about my friend who
dilly-dallied just for a few days. And he had to pay 75% more for his options.
He still tripled his money. But it could have been a 600% return if he had
moved fast, when I told him to.

Once the 2,000 slots are gone, that's it!

Martin is mailing this letter to his 50,000 subscribers; another 50,000

customers of his financial safety ratings; and to the subscribers of a few,
select publications such as "The Financial Privacy Report." I fully expect that
more than 1% will want to subscribe to my Interest Rate Speculator. All 2,000
slots will be sold out very soon.

Once these are gone, that's it. Unless you want to be placed on a waiting list,
any additional checks will be sent back.

I don't want to disappoint you. If you want to become a subscriber, it's

critical that you send your annual fee in now, before we run out of the
available slots. To make sure, I suggest you pick up the phone and
call -- right now.

Yours sincerely,

Irving Weiss

Oops. It's no longer 2,000 slots. Now it's 1,999. We sent a copy of this letter
to a top professional in the industry for his comments. He called back within
half an hour and said: "My comment is I want to make that interest rate
investment myself. Just a 2 percent increase in the interest rates, and I can
make over $100,000? Count me in right away; I'm your first subscriber. You're
going to sell out very fast."