"make money, save money, grow money"

Bowser Buckaroo Tom Koziol has drawn on his experience in the financial industry to help others learn to make, save and grow their money. On October 17, 2017, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Koziol about his site, moneyferret.com. Below is a transcript of the interview:

Rice: Can you begin by providing a background of yourself, and how you came about founding Moneyferret.com?

Koziol: I am a retired Air Force officer and I have always been interested in the stock market. I became a stockbroker with Dean Witter and A.G. Edwards and that’s how I met Max. He even put me on the September 1993 cover of The Bowser Report. Over the years, the Internet happened and I said, “Geez, money is an evergreen topic. I don’t see how this thing is ever going away.” I had a website called cashclick.com, where I sold a book that taught people how to manage money, get out of debt and how to grow their money. Then, I became disinterested in the Internet until my son came along and said, “Let’s revive your interest in the Internet and start something called Moneyferret.com. It’s a catchy name, people will read the articles, and then we’ll just take off from there.”

R: Moneyferret.com is an educational site that teaches people how to manage their money. Is that right?

K: Yeah. What I like to say is make money, save money, grow money. I don’t want people running of to make an investment because someone said ETFs are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Some people don’t even know what an ETF is, so why would they do that? That doesn’t make any sense. Options are great, they provide leverage, they provide risk reduction, but if you don't know what a put or call is, why are you even looking at an option. I try to explain these things to people and say, “hey, if you’re going to do it, here’s what you need to know.”

R: Your website doesn't only focus on the stock market. What other topics do you cover?

K: We talk about credit cards, finance definitions so you can understand what X versus Y is, we tell you how to start a business. We also have 10 free eBooks on the site. One of them is how to start a window cleaning business. What I learned owning an insurance agency was everybody isn’t going to be interested in starting an online business. There are people who are excellent in the “get-your-hand-dirty” business. I wrote a business plan, showing people how to prospect, how to charge, what they can expect to make, what they can expect to earn. I can give that away because I want people out there making money. That’s what makes the economy go.

R: The eBooks are free? Where can you find them on the website?

K: They are right on the front page. It’s under the term “Free Books” and there are ten of them. And then I put together a little manual called “10 ways to make $10,000.” It’s actually 10 ways (I’ve done four of the personally) to make $10,000/month. Does it require getting out and working and talking to people? Yep. Are you going to make that kind of money? Yep. They are all legitimate businesses. You can get bombarded by those “you can make money at home, just sit at home and the money will flow in?” Sorry, we don’t do that. “10 ways to make $10,000” is still up for $0.99 on the site, we are doing a bit of a promotion.

R: The site is updated often, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. Where do you come up with the content for posts?

K: There are actually two sources. One is my brain that’s spinning all the time. And, two, there are a few sites that I go to and when I see a topic that’s in the news, I’ll look at that article and see what they’re saying about it. Then I say, “Hmm, they haven’t told the people everything. Let me fill in some of the gaps, some of the holes.” That’s where my inspiration comes from.

R: What is the connection between The Bowser Report and Moneyferret.com? How can Moneyferret viewers benefit from The Bowser Report and vice versa?

K: People that use Moneyferret.com to make money can turn to The Bowser Report and say, “Wow, $59 a year. You can’t beat that.” You look at the the large publications of the world, they want $89-$149 a month, and they don’t give you the type of information that The Bowser Report will give you. The Bowser Report has $2 stocks  that could be $5 tomorrow. Moneyferret’s audience is made up of the people who are going to buy those $2 stocks. My idea is for the investors not to go out there and buy the Apples and Berkshire Hathaways of the world, but look at The Bowser Report with its list of stocks that are about $2 and have the chance to double your portfolio.

R: How did you come up with the name Moneyferret?

K: My son and I were sitting around and we were thinking of names for the site. He said, “you just are always saying that people are ferreting out ideas on how to make money, where to invest it, what to do. What’s wrong with Moneyferret.com.” I said, “Nothing—thinking about it." And that’s how it happened.

R: That's all that I have. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

K: We try to update it. I’ve got 20 articles waiting in the wings. If people will just check back when they’re comfortable. I’d ask that they check it a couple of times a week. We’re going to be putting up a free newsletter as well, where we’re going to email folks 2 or 3 times a week with stuff that we’ve found. Will it always be how to make money? No, that's impossible. Will it be investment ideas? Oh sure. Will it be how to keep your money safe? Oh yeah. So, there will be various financial oriented information that people are going to receive from us at no cost. We’re just working on putting the “Subscribe” button up on the site.

This piece is intended for informational purposes. For more information, visit www.moneyferret.com.