You probably haven’t read a legal disclaimer like this before…

Despite the name, none of what is published on TheGoldAdvisor is intended, nor should be considered, as personal advice to you.

All websites say that, but do you know why?

The obvious reason is because I’m not a licensed financial advisor, nor is TheGoldAdvisor a registered advisory service.

The bigger reason—and why the personal finance industry is heavily regulated—is because I don’t know what would be good advice for you.

Just imagine this scenario. You’re an online fashion advisor. In your industry, it’s well known that if you “buy straw hats in winter” you’ll get them at a cheaper price. The same logic applies to winter coats—buy them in summer when no one is interested. It’s summer now, so you advise your readers to buy their winter coats because they’re on sale. But that would be bad advice for me… I live in the low desert and never need a winter coat. You didn’t know that about me, so your advice would be a waste of my money. I would suffer a total “loss.”

It’s the same with buying mining stocks. Even gold. I know nothing about your age, health, income, net worth, risk tolerance, retirement horizon, employment stability, investing experience, mining knowledge, research skill—you get the idea.

I can’t possibly know if any stock is a good investment for you.

Which means I don’t, won’t, and can’t give individual stock picking advice.

You gotta make your own decisions. And don’t rely on someone that knows nothing about you.

The brutal truth is, it’s your decision whether to invest in any company that appears on this website.

• Nothing on this website is personal investing advice or a recommendation to buy.

We don’t give advice. We offer information. And that’s not a bad thing. It can be liberating to take full control and responsibility for your own investing choices.

Information, education, and knowledge. Those are the ingredients that make better investors. That’s what we are offering.

So, here’s the official disclaimer…

• The information and opinions offered by TheGoldAdvisor and any related content is for educational purposes only and should NOT be construed as personal financial advice.
• We recommend that any potential decisions and actions you may take in your investment portfolio be conducted under the guidance and supervision of a professional financial advisor in good standing with the securities industry.
• All investments involve risk and may result in partial or total loss.
• While we believe our commentary to be true, it is always dependent on the reliability of sources. You are strongly encouraged to confirm facts on your own before making a financial commitment.
• I own shares in the companies that are sponsors. They support the site financially. Jeff Clark and any associates may buy or sell any security discussed at any time.

DISCLOSURE

Well, this was a nice surprise…

As you know, I invited Westward Gold (WGLIF; C.WG) to TheGoldAdvisor site after I saw it met all my criteria. It’s an early-stage gold explorer with a compelling setup: two land packages on major Nevada gold trends—the Cortez and Carlin trends—surrounded by working mines and other active projects, spearheaded by a highly experienced and very successful geological team. If they’re ultimately successful, the potential in the stock is enormous, especially from current levels.

We recommended the company on February 14, when the US stock was at 6¢. It closed at 9.8¢ on March 23, an increase of 63%. That’s not all us of course, but management tells me our write-up likely helped drive interest in the story.

As a result, management contacted me last week to offer me some share options. It was a thank you, they said, a “token of our appreciation” for the work I’ve done that brought attention to the company.

And to be fully transparent with you, I have accepted them. However, a few things for you to know…

First, the options amount to less than what I had already bought with my own cash. I personally own a lot more shares than this gift. Further, I was unaware the options would be offered. So, this doesn’t really change anything for me; I’m still an investor with an overweight position in this company, who positioned himself before being aware of any options.

Second, to be clear, I did have the “option” of turning them down. But when my Grandma served homemade chocolate chip cookies after dinner, I took some even if I was already full.

Third, most important, I will tell you this makes no difference to my analysis of the company. I’m not here to “promote” companies; I remain fully independent from Westward and all other companies, and I only invite those I truly feel are the best-of-best speculations.

As evidence of this, did you know…

• I recently recommended one of our sponsored companies be put on Hold? You normally wouldn’t do this and jeopardize your revenue.
• Many companies ask to be sponsors. I get anywhere from 5-10 requests for every company I invite. To many I simply say thanks for the interest (though some could be invited at some point).
• Those who follow the GDXJeff portfolio will notice I haven’t invited half of those companies. I still own them all, so it would obviously be better for me financially if I did so.
• One CEO of a sponsor company publicly joked about how much due diligence I put him through.

Bottom line, if they don’t meet all my criteria, they don’t get invited to the site.

Last, this doesn’t make me an Insider or part of management or anything like that. I’m an arms-length entity and am not privy to any insider information. I’m still a private investor who, based on his experience, sees a very compelling opportunity in this gold explorer.

If this bothers you, feel free to pass. I'm just being transparent with you; I’m not here to talk anybody into anything. I’m here to provide newsletter-quality analysis on the companies I like most. That includes Westward Gold.

Will Westward be a big win for us? Well, it’s part of our basket, but I sure like our odds. Stay tuned.