Investors hope to cash in at show

Thursday, March 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

More than 7,500 investors will gather at Bally's hotel-casino Sunday through Tuesday for the eighth annual Las Vegas Money Show and Investment Masters Symposium.

Organized by Investment Seminars Inc., the show features more than 250 exhibitors and some 50 seminars led by investment experts and editors of investment publications. The third annual CNBC-ISI-sponsored Las Vegas Investment Masters Symposium will be conducted at the same time.

The symposium will be attended by some 200 of the investors and the cost is $545 for the three days for one person, said Samantha Hudson, spokeswoman for the Sarasota, Fla.-based Investment Seminars Inc.

The symposium is a separate program, but includes mostly the same speakers that will address the Money Show.

"We're just dealing with smaller numbers. There's a limit of 200 people (for the symposium) as opposed to thousands of people (at the Money Show)," Hudson said. "They (symposium attendees) stay in one room and the speakers come to them."

The keynote address for the Money Show will be delivered by Richard Thomas, chief economic correspondent for Newsweek. Tuesday's concluding program will be presented by William O'Neil, chairman and founder of Investor's Business Daily, who will speak on "What's Going on in the Stock Market Now?"

Seminar topics include global investing, on-line investing, investing in the post-election economy 1996-2000, picking growth stocks, technology investing, profiting in the pre-election environment and investing in utilities.

Attendance at the Money Show has increased by 25 to 30 percent each year since its inception eight years ago. Hudson attributes the increased attendance to people taking a more active interest in their investments.

"People are interested today in their own information instead of turning their money over to a broker and not having any experience at all," Hudson said. "A lot of investors are managing their own portfolios."

On-site registration can be done Saturday from 5-7 p.m. or Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the convention area at Bally's.

The $99 fee includes eight workshop tapes featuring 16 speakers and up to two tickets for attendance at the Money Show. There still are vacancies left in the more exclusive symposium, which costs $545 per person or $820 per couple for the full three days.