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What is The Privateer?
The Privateer is a "bi-weekly" (25 or 26 issues per year) financial newsletter published in Australia and read by subscribers all over the world. Our reputation rests on the quality of our analysis and our service.
How long have you been publishing The Privateer?
Our first issue (#1) was published in October 1984. On May 2, 2004, we reached a milestone issue #500 and we celebrated our twentieth year of publishing in October 2004. We have been "web based" since 1995.
Who Publishes The Privateer?
The same person who maintains The Privateer website. My name is William (Bill) Buckler. You can find a short autobiography here.
Does The Privateer give individual specific investment advice?
No we don't. You will not find a list of specific investments in The Privateer. Our focus is on global political, economic, and financial analysis. Specific investment advice must be just that - SPECIFIC. Every individual has specific needs and requirements based on financial understanding, age, financial status, risk tolerance, income, goals, and many, many other factors. An investment "portfolio" which suits an elderly and comparatively wealthy individual would not suit a young single person just starting out or a small business owner with family responsibilities. Investment advice is a specialised task which cannot be undertaken on a "one size fits all" basis.
Can I get a sample of The Privateer?
Of course. You can request a free issue (the issue prior to our current issue), by filling out the short form on this page and sending it to us. For a better opportunity to judge our work, we also offer a low cost five-issue trial subscription.
What is Gold This Week (GTW)?
Gold This Week (GTW) is published online as an adjunct to The Privateer itself. Full details can be found here.
How do I access Gold This Week (GTW)?
There are two ways to do this. First, if you subscribe to The Privateer, your subscription automatically INCLUDES access to GTW. That lasts for as long as your Privateer subscription is current. The second way is to subscribe to Gold This Week (GTW) itself. GTW subscriptions are substantially less than Privateer subscriptions and may suit if you are specifically interested in the precious metals.
Why Gold?
Rather than re-invent the wheel here, we refer you to Gold pages which goes into this subject in detail. All of our Gold section - except our current daily and weekly analysis which forms Gold This Week (GTW) - is freely available without subscription. So are our weekly commentaries which are archived back to 2001.
Are charts included in Gold This Week (GTW)?
Yes, extensively. You will find regularly updated daily/weekly/monthly bar charts and also point and figure charts. These charts cover Gold in various currencies (including the $US, of course). They also cover such vital aspects as the relationship between Gold and the US Dollar, examples of previous bull and bear markets in Gold, and (Australian) Gold stocks.
How Much - and where do I subscribe?
All the information you need, plus links to our subscriptions forms, can be found here. Here are our subscription rates.
How do I receive my issues?
You download them from the "Subscribers' Pages" at this website. We publish every second Sunday throughout the year (except around Chistmas/New Year when we take a three week break).
How do I access the "Subscribers' Pages"?
With the username/password you choose when you subscribed to The Privateer.
What do I do if I forget/lose/delete my username/password?
On our home page and at the entry page to the Subscribers' Pages, there is a form or link which you can use to look up your username/password. When you fill in your email address (the one you used when you subscribed to The Privateer), the form automatically sends an email with your username/password back to you.
Why do you need my email address? - You don't email The Privateer
To authenticate you as a Privateer subscriber so that you can access the Subscribers Pages. To contact you regarding the status of your subscription and/or items of special interest. To alert you that there is a new issue of The Privateer ready for downloading. And to send you your username/password if you forget/lose/delete them.
Why do you offer different formats?
To cater for as many computer users as we can. Some people like fully-formatted text, some are indifferent. Some people print their copies of The Privateer, some don't. Most people use Windows - but many don't. By offering The Privateer in ASCII (plain text), HTML, and PDF, we make sure that anyone running any combination of computer and operating system is fully catered for.
Which format is the most popular?
PDF is by far the most popular. Between 85-90% of subscribers download their issues in PDF format.
Why don't you include the charts with the newsletter?
Two reasons. First, The Privateer is available in different formats. Including charts in an ASCII (text) file is impossible. We could do it with the HTML file, but that would require you to set up a directory structure on your hard disk to merge the charts with the body of the newsletter. The other reason is the size of our downloads. We could put the charts in the PDF file but the size of the file would blow out. Many of our subscribers still have (slow) "dial-up" connections.
When I download the charts from your Subscribers' Pages, how do I view them?
If you want to save the charts for viewing later, download and unzip the chart file. All the individual charts are "gif" graphics files. You can view them in your web browser or in any paint/drawing program or graphics viewer. We use an excellent freeware graphics viewer called Irfan View.
You ask 'em. We'll answer 'em! -