Friday, May 09, 2008

The danger of "financial astrology"

I have always felt that if the Universe wanted us to be able to predict the future, It wouldn't have given us a life of mystery.  The unfolding of the mystery and the ability to make choices every moment that affect the rest of our lives is a key part of our journey here.

CHARTWELL Enterprises used astrology to help predict stock market trends and profile investors, the Geelong Advertiser has learned.

The mystical learnings were explained as part of a system used for more than 20 years to global market trends, investors said.

The latest revelations follow a similar discovery on Tuesday that Graeme Hoy paid spiritual business planner Suzanne Goodchild an estimated $200,000 a year to help run the business.

Ms Goodchild confirmed she worked for Mr Hoy but refused to comment any further.

Open folders with investor details, seen by the Geelong Advertiser after staff rushed from the building following their sacking, showed a detailed analysis of star signs and what motivated an investor, from wealth creation to family and health.

"We were told it was part of the Gann investing system," said one investor, who fears she has lost $5.7 million from three generations of her family.

"They (Chartwell) just kept telling us it was all part of Gann and had worked for years throughout the rest of the world.

"We didn't understand it, but we trusted them."

Documents seen by the Geelong Advertiser show the Gann system was reportedly invented by an Indian trader who claimed to have discovered a correlation between lunar cycles and global market trends.

The walls of Chartwell's Ryrie St offices were covered in stock charts over two floors and were matched with lunar maps in a bid to align the moon's cycles to highs and lows on the world's stock exchanges.

Chartwell Enterprises, an Australian trading company, embodied the worst of the Pluto in Sag period - high risk trading in commodities that used investments of new recruits to pay off the older ones, a "Ponzi" scheme that offered returns of up to 70%.

It's hard to tell what kind of astrology was used by consultant Suzanne Goodchild, but it is nearly impossible to use astrology for successful trading for multiple investors. There are so many variables - the chart of the company being traded, the chart of the investment adviser and their current planetary cycles as well as those of the individual investors.

And then there's the Hubris factor, the danger of which in my mind cannot be overstated. Astrology puts us in touch with the gods, but it does not make us gods. To think otherwise is a very risky proposition!!
Posted by Lynn Hayes :: 8:19 AM :: |

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