The world of "HYIPs" as a very concentrated reflection of reality. Concentrated in the sense that, here, everything is bigger and faster. The returns are bigger than in "real-life" economy (make 30% a year instead of 3% at your bank), program closures happen faster than companies close in the real world (most programs last days, weeks and months, very rarely years).
As in every other type of investments, the higher the potential returns, the higher the risk. Mathematically, a program that gives "only" 20% a month will last longer than one promising 100% a month (these tend to last a couple of months at most).
This arena lies somewhere between playing at the casino and investing on the stock market. You will win more often than at the casino if you adhere strictly to the following rules. You will make more money (with notable exceptions) than on the stock market (especially since the beginning of the "post-bubble" era in which we are right now and promises to last for a good time).
If you're not the type of person who would go to the casino with a free mind and a total acceptance about losing a pre-determined amount of money as well as the opportunity of winning big, don't invest in HYIPs.
I see this domain as a very good accelerated investment course. Please, don't rely on this (or any other kind of unique type of investments for that matter) as your sole financial base for your future. Diversify.
Many of the so called HYIPs are nothing more than pyramidal and Ponzi Schemes.
Don't invest more than 10% to 20% of what you make with your day job.
Don't expect to be rich in a few months.
Take your time.
Learn. Grow. Share.
1- Don't enter this arena if you're not ready to spend a strict minimum of 5 to 10 minutes a day to see what's happening with your investments, record data in a Excel-like database (the interest you made during the day for example), look for new paying programs, read (on websites like this one, e-told, High Yield Crusaders, etc. - hone your skills - learn to discern the truth and the logic underlying these plans), etc.
Most of the "programs" you're investing in WILL CLOSE someday. You dramatically increase your chances of making money if you put all or a good proportion of your money in programs that allow you to withdraw your principal at any time.
By regularly checking these programs (number of days online, number of new members, signs that something may be wrong, etc.) maybe you will be able to discern when it is time to withdraw your capital.
Give yourself goals. For example: when I will have made 25% profit with this program, I will withdraw this 25% profit. This way your interests will increase more slowly but, by doing this, you will "protect" your money and be quite glad you've done so when a program closes.
Sometimes you will have received only a fraction of what you had invested before a program closes.This is better than losing all your money.
Sometimes, you will have received the equivalent or more of what you had invested. When you do that, you are a true winner and, from then on, if you decide to stay in this program (to let your original capital grow even more) you are playing with the "house money", not yours.
2- DIVERSIFY. Don't put all your money in one or two programs. From personal experience I can tell you that, over the last six months period, more than 50% of the programs I invested in have closed, nonetheless, I am in profit, and well on my way to make more than 25% this year.
A minimum of ten different programs seems to be the best. Some people invest in as much as twenty or thirty. If you invest 2000$ in 20 programs and 5 of them close, you have lost only 25% of your money. If you had invested in only one program and it closes before you were in profit, you lose 100% of your money.
3- Keep a cushion. Always have money left in your e-currency accounts. You never know when you will need it (to invest in a new program or if you need cash for any reason). Doing this also reduces your stress level, as if you had "money in the bank", not your last penny invested in those high-risk-high-yield investments.
4-Re-invest a part of your profits in HYIPs and another part in more classical investments. Investing in gold, silver and precious metals companies may seem to be a good idea presently (as of August 2002). Do you know, for example, that one of the best Precious Metals Fund (Royal Bank of Canada) has returned a marvelous 132% profit over the last 12 months. The gold mining industry as a whole has returned 24% over the last year.
Diversify. Diversify. Diversify.
5- Invest in programs that use well known gold-backed and more secure e-currencies (like Goldmoney, e-gold, E-Bullion). I personally stay away from programs that use Evocash, Netpay, Osgold (this one having recently suspended its operations - end of July 2002). Osgold is presently as worthless as Monopoly money.