Michael D. Burke is a retired professional investor. He started in the financial business as a Securities Analyst with Waddell & Reed Mutual Funds in Kansas City, Missouri. He then became a Portfolio Manager and Options Trader with The St. Paul Fire and Marine in Minnesota. He worked for a private family hedge fund as an equity options and futures trader in Dallas, Texas. He then moved on to Houston where he created, managed and traded a very large bond options and futures fund for The American Capital Funds Group, now a part of Van Kampen/Morgan Stanley Funds. After retiring for 13 years, he re-entrered the business as a stock broker with Smith Barney. He worked for five years and discovered he is an investor and not a salesman. He is a graduate of California State University, Hayward (now Cal State, Eastbay) and did postgraduate study in Finance and Insurance at The Wharton School. Mike is an Army veteran, serving as a Russian Linguist in Germany, and also worked as a civilian employee of the U.S. military in Germany and England. He has written several articles in "Gambling Times Magazine" and has been either featured or mentioned in articles in "Individual Investor", "Futures", "Kiplinger's" and various newspapers.