the richest man in atherstone

I've just finished reading a fantastic e-book about investing in UK property. I've always been a bit wary of investing in real estate for two main reasons; firstly, I thought it required a lot of cash for a deposit and secondly, if it went pear-shaped there's an awful lot of equity on the line. After reading this book, I feel a lot more comfortable about the risks.

Carlton Johnson's UK Property Success is a detailed textbook that teaches budding property developers/traders/investors about this complicated market.

It is very comprehensive, describing just about everything a beginner would need to know about investing in real estate from spotting potential properties and researching the market to financing purchases and the legal requirements of landlords.

A whole chapter is devoted to finding properties that are below market value (BMV). including leafleting and auction techniques. Similarly another chapter is devoted to financing property purchases (sometimes using none of your own money). Even credit cards are discussed as a short-term finance option.

Also included is a chapter about emulating successful people - basically it's more about success in general than specifically about the property industry - and a detailed bonus chapter about Lease Options (a contractual agreement between a landlord and tenant that means the tenant can buy the property they live in at a set price at a specified future date).

Putting your own professional team together of a solicitor, leasing agent, tradesmen etc. is also discussed in detail.

The book is easy to read - I read all 130 pages in a shade over 2 hours - and every paragraph has relevant information about the subject matter. There's no waffling and very little repetition. In fact the points that are repeated are essential foundations to the reader's understanding of property investment.

I felt that the principles Carlton Johnson teaches are all ethical and that he despises unethical behaviour.

I really enjoyed reading this book and felt as though I learned an awful lot about investing in property. The author's methods of buying property with no money down were of particular interest to me and I am now convinced that the risks associated with property investment are not as high as I previously thought (as long as I get my sums right). Buying real estate is now something that I am very seriously considering as an investment vehicle.

UK Property Success costs $35 USD (around £18) and could easily be worth 100 times it's price by helping the reader earn more from their property investments or preventing the reader from falling into the many pitfalls that are rife in this investment strategy. It gets a thumbs-up from me.

Click here to get your copy of UK Property Success.

This evening I had a rare few hours to myself and tried out a money-making experiment I've been meaning to test for a few weeks.

I've read a few articles on the Internet about making money from Online Casinos. The basic idea is to sign up with a Casino Website that is offering a 100% matched bonus on your first deposit - this means if you deposit £10 they give you a free £10 or if you deposit £50 they give you an extra £50 for free.

Unfortunately it's not as simple as signing up, accepting the free money and withdrawing it. Casinos are wise to that, so they insist that you gamble your free cash many times over before you can withdraw it - I'll explain this in a bit more detail later. However, there is a tactic to reduce the risk on the roulette table.

Anyway, I decided to sign up with 888.com to test out the ideas I'd been reading about. I deposited $50 (around £25) via my cashback credit card - as this was my first time, I didn't want to risk spending the maximum $200 - and I got another $50 of bonus money making a total of $100 to play with. The process was relatively painless and I did my due diligence by reading the terms and conditions. 888.com explain that the bonus money must be gambled at least 20 times before it can be withdrawn. That means I had to gamble $1000 ($50x20) before I could withdraw the free money. Although this sounds a lot - this can be got through relatively quickly using the method I am about to explain.

My strategy is based on many other roulette strategies I have read on the Internet, however I chopped and changed it a bit to suit my own preferences. The theory is that if the colour you pick hasn't come up in a number of spins, it is more likely to come up in the next one.

The roulette table allows you to take free spins (i.e. you can spin the wheel without making a wager). My strategy was to keep spinning the wheel - without any money down until either the Red or the Black had not been selected for three spins in a row. On the fourth, I bet $1 on either Red or Black (whichever the ball hadn't landed in for the previous spins). If the ball picked my colour, I won a dollar. If it didn't, I would make another bet of $5 on the same colour. If I won this time, I earned $4 profit ($10 winnings minus 1$ and $5 stakes). If again, my colour didn't show I would keep doubling my stake on the same colour again and earn $4 profit if my colour eventually appeared - the alternative being I would lose all my money.

As I only had $100 in my account, I could only double my stake up 5 times ($1 + $5 + $10 + $20 + $40 = $76). Fortunately, the colour I needed always popped up before I lost all my money. Knowing my colour had not already appeared three times before I made the first bet increased the odds that it would appear within my 5 chances.

After I'd won enough cash to get 6 chances ($1 + $5 + $10 + $20 + $40 + $80 = $156), I did actually need that extra chance. I was very glad I didn't need it when I didn't have enough in my account to pay for it!

Towards the end of my experiment I had over $230 in my account but ended up losing some of it when my colour didn't show up for 6 spins (9 spins if you include the three that I didn't wager on). I was down to around $85 after 6(+3) spins had come up as Black and decided to just put it all down on red again and, luckily, I won. This bought my total gambled up to over £1000 and I decided to call it a day and withdraw the $175 in my account.

I played roulette for three and a half hours and came away with $175 (around £87). I deposited $50 (around £25) so I more than tripled my money and earned around $40 (around £20) an hour. A nice little earner.

Most of my time was spent spinning the wheel waiting for the ball to pick the same colour three times in a row, which was very tedious. Also, on occasion - perhaps once per hour - the applet would stall and I'd have to restart and log in again. Annoyingly, this seemed to be after I'd got three of the same colour and was about to make a bet.

Needless to say, this strategy is not 100% risk-free. It's not impossible to get the same colour ten times in a row resulting in a loss of all your money, however by using this method you do reduce the risk somewhat. I would recommend that if you try this, you use only money that you can afford to lose. I would also advise keeping a note of amount of bets you have made so you know when you can take your money and run.

I enjoyed this experiment and the profit I made was worthwhile for the time I spent. However, it did get quite boring at times waiting for the ball to spin round the wheel and for same colours to show up. Also the risk of losing money is always there and it is imperative to stick to the plan, even when things look bad. There were many times I'd wagered the last of my money and sat praying for my colour as the ball went around the wheel. Luckily, it always seemed to come up when I needed to but it could easily have gone the other way.

The Doubler's Den has become a hive of activity just lately and I'm very pleased with the way it is turning out.

I originally created The Den as a forum for Doublers around the world to get together and discuss money-making ideas, share experiences and offer morale support to one another. It is achieving these goals very well and is a very friendly place to visit thanks mainly to its fantastic members. The community spirit is unbelievable and people really come together to help one another out in their various projects.

I would like to say a big thank-you to all the members of The Doubler's Den for their untiring support for one another, interesting ideas and entertaining banter. A forum is only as good as the members it has and I feel The Den has got some of the highest calibre members in Internet Land. Thank you.

I would like to give a special thanks to Xinfinitum (DTAMP), who has been running The Den virtually single-handed and has taken it in the direction described in the original plans. Thank you, X.

I believe The Den has the potential to help thousands of people in their quests to become millionaires in much the same way as Napoleon Hill describes a "Master Mind" group in his book 'Think and Grow Rich' (a great read, by the way). By creating mutually beneficial partnerships, we can achieve more together than we ever could alone.

This series of articles was inspired by a wealth-building strategy created by Stuart Goldsmith. It is called 'Double Your way to a Million' and you can sign up for your free copy on this webpage.

Another Doubler has come to my rescue to help me advance to step 12 of my Doubling Plan.

Flip from The Double Challenge was in need of some web hosting for a future project and I offered him a deal that was too good to refuse. In exchange for him helping me reach step 12, I gave him 12 months web hosting.

Now this may have bent the rules a little because my Doubling Money shouldn't really use personal resources. However, I seldom sell the hosting - I use it for my own various web projects and those of a few friends. Because I have plenty going spare, I figured that the hosting is of no real value because it would only go to waste if not used and could be allowed for my Doubling Project. Besides, the hosting has already paid for itself with the few clients I do have.

In fact, the way I think of it is that I have received a donation to my Doubling Project from a friend and I've given my friend 12 months hosting I had going spare for free

Flip gave me $12 for 12 months hosting, which converted to £5.88 in British money. The 88p is taken away for myself leaving £5, which added to my existing Doubling stake equates to £10. I should point out that this is a one time deal for a fellow Doubler and I'm not selling hosting - unless someone wants to spend £10 helping me to step 13!

Thanks, Flip.

Step 11 Complete.
Cumulative Cash: £10