What is The Motley Fool?
The Motley Fool is a financial services and media company that offers a mixture of free news and a wide variety of premium content.
It is one of the largest financial media companies today, and has greatly expanded its services, and now offers news, blog posts, and educational content, as well as stock picks, newsletters, and financial guidance.
The Motley Fool has been around for a long time – the company was founded in July of 1993, and they’ve successfully navigated the markets ever since – with the exception of the dot-com bubble.
The company currently employs over 500 people worldwide, and their reputation as a great place for beginners and intermediates to find recommendations is well-deserved, as its track record speaks for itself.
Who is Behind The Motley Fool?
The Motley Fool was founded by brothers David and Tom Gardner in 1993. In the following year, they published a series of online messages about a nonexistent sewage-disposal company – lampooning the ever-controversial topic of penny stocks. This drew a lot of attention to the brothers and their business.
A short while later, the brothers negotiated a partnership with AOL, which would last until 1997, when they moved to their own domain. Their irreverent, humorous approach to investing soon netted them a large and quite loyal following – which remains to this day. Their signature style hasn’t changed much, as all of the multimedia material that they produce is geared toward the layperson.
The Motley Fool Investing Style
Motley Fool’s products are diverse but have one thing in common: they recommend a well-diversified buy-and-hold strategy. Motley Fool asks its investors to build a portfolio of at least 25 stocks they are prepared to hold for five years.
This makes the Motley Fool’s research appropriate for most people who have an investment horizon of at least five years. Even its riskier picks are meant to be bought and held. When the outlook of stock significantly decreases, Motley Fool does issue sell guidance as appropriate.
The Motley Fool Subscriptions
Not long after moving from the newsletter format, the Motley Fool introduced its flagship investment service in 2003, Stock Advisor, a stock-picking service bringing you two new stock picks per month as well as other stock services. About a year later, Motley Fool introduced Rule Breakers, a similar service but focused on hyper-growth, breakout stocks.
The Motley Fool’s newer subscriptions include Rule Your Retirement, Everlasting Stocks, and two real estate-focused options, Millionacres Real Estate Winners and Millionacres Mogul.
Subscribers to the Motley Fool’s services get more than just stock tips; they also receive the necessary tools to understand the dynamics of the stock market better. This includes stock pick recommendations and explanations about why the analysts believe in the potential of these picks.
Pros and Cons of The Motley Fool
Here are the pros and cons of Motley Fool:
Pros
- Premium Investment Research – The Motley Fool does an excellent job gathering information and packaging it in a usable way. You’ll get not just analyst recommendations but also the right kind of tools to help you make your decisions. Motley Fool also publishes analyses contradicting its recommendations to enable you to see both sides of the investment thesis.
- Multiple Targeted Subscriptions – Unlike some investment research firms, Motley Fool doesn’t include unrelated information in the same product. With each of its subscriptions and bundles, you know exactly what you will get. And there are a lot to choose from, making it easier to find at least one that will fit your needs.
- Low Prices – Especially with its first-year promotions, Motley keeps investment research affordable. Making products like Stock Advisor available for discounted prices, Motley Fool is betting that you’ll willingly pay the full fee for second and subsequent years. They’re often right.
- Transparency – Tom and Dave Gardner are completely transparent with their stock picks. They, along with their analysts are upfront with the stocks they own, so you can count on the fact that they believe in their advice. This is not a pump and dump.
Cons
- Newer Products Lack Establish Track Records – If there is one drawback to Motley Fool, its newer products have only been around for two or three years, which is the case for the two Millionacres subscriptions.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor
If you’ve dipped your toes into the pool of investment advisory services, chances are you’ve heard of The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor. As the oldest and arguably the most successful service offered by The Motley Fool, Stock Advisor has earned a reputation for its insightful and profitable stock recommendations.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s Monthly Stock Picks
At the heart of the Stock Advisor service are its monthly stock picks. Released at 1 PM on the first and third Thursdays of each month, these selections are the result of intensive research and careful deliberation by a team of expert analysts led by David Gardner.
Over the years, these stock picks have achieved an impressive cumulative return of 394%, attesting to the accuracy and effectiveness of the service’s stock selection approach.
Each pick is not just a name and a stock price; it comes with a detailed analysis that provides a comprehensive understanding of the chosen company. This analysis includes the company’s current position, its future growth prospects, and the reasoning behind its selection.
This comprehensive approach ensures that you, as an investor, are not just blindly following recommendations, but are gaining a deep understanding of why a particular stock could be a valuable addition to your portfolio.
The Learning Journey
Investors, especially those new to the stock market, may initially feel tempted to invest in every stock that Stock Advisor picks. While this is a testament to the service’s consistent track record, The Motley Fool encourages individual learning and decision-making.
As you journey through the world of investing with Stock Advisor, you’ll gradually learn to develop your discerning eye, assessing the suitability of each pick based on your individual investment goals, risk tolerance, and portfolio composition.
More Than Just Monthly Picks
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor offers more than just twice-monthly stock picks. Subscribers also get access to “Best Buys Now,” which features timely advice based on the current market situation, “10 Timely Stocks” which are set to make short-term gains, “10 Foundational Stocks” that are intended for long-term growth, and “5 ETFs” for those who prefer a diversified approach to investing.
Furthermore, for those starting on their investment journey, Stock Advisor provides a list of “Starter Stocks.” These are carefully selected stocks that are considered good foundational pieces for a new investment portfolio.
Pricing and Subscription
While the regular price for the Stock Advisor service is $199 per year, The Motley Fool frequently offers promotional pricing for new members.
The introductory price for the first year of service is often discounted to just $89, making this wealth of financial advice and stock recommendations even more accessible. Please note that this discounted rate applies to the first year only, with subsequent years billed at the regular rate of $199.
Click here to read our full review of Motley Fool Stock Advisor Service.
If Stock Advisor sounds interesting to you, you can sign up here to get the price lowered from $199 to only $89 for the first year.
*Billed annually. Introductory price for the first year for new members only. First year bills at $89 and renews at $199.
Is Motley Fool Worth it?
If you’re planning on taking up long-term buy-and-hold investing, Motley Fool Stock Advisor is well worth the money. It might seem like a large sum to just fork out upfront, but the returns that the stocks which the Fool picks provide more than make up for the cost of the subscription.
Even if you have a small amount of money to invest, you could make up for what you’ve paid. Knowing how to research stocks is a skill that takes some time to develop – and the software needed to analyze stocks has a learning curve of its own. If you don’t currently possess the skills needed to research stocks on your own, The Fool’s Stock Advisor can definitely be worth it.
Conclusion
The Motley Fool has successfully stood the test of time. It is run by industry veterans who have assembled a team of expert analysts who are often on the right track. The returns that Stock Advisor has managed to net investors speak for themselves.
Stock Advisor is far from perfect. Two new stocks per month isn’t a lot, and not all of the stocks that the company recommends end up being winners. However, those that do win, more than make up for the (admittedly rare) bad calls.
Even if The Motley Fool is a bit heavy-handed with marketing and upselling, the service they offer brings actual value to customers. The price of Stock Advisor might seem a bit steep – but it could pay for itself many times over.
If you’re a DIY investor looking to learn more about stock analysis and want to diversify your portfolio with a selection of expertly-picked stocks, we think there’s no better way to spend a hundred bucks.
If you take the time to really get into the huge amount of educational material and the research that their team publishes, you’ll gain a lot of value – value that will stay with you for a long time, even if you choose to eventually unsubscribe.