Kevin Flynn

Stansberry Investment Advisory Newsletter Review – Is it Worth the Cost?

Kevin Flynn
October 27, 2020

When you take pride in something, you put your name on it. That’s what Porter Stansberry did in 1999 when he formed Stansberry Research, a private publishing company that distributes newsletters on investments, investment theory, real estate, and stocks.

Financial writing is a fairly crowded space, with a plethora of both free and paid information available to investors. Stansberry’s newsletter is in direct competition with the likes of Seeking Alpha, Business Insider, and the Motley Fool.

In this article, we’ll review Stansberry’s Investment Advisory Newsletter and other products that are currently offered by Stansberry Research as well as provide some background information on Porter Stansberry himself.

What is Stansberry’s Investment Advisory Newsletter?

Notice the small “Ad” tag and grand prediction.

If you’ve ever cruised the headlines on Yahoo or Yahoo Finance you’ve probably come across a sponsored headline by Stansberry Research that may have appeared like an editorial piece – usually with a grandiose or doomsday type headline. This is how they bring many new customers into the newsletter offering.

So what is Stansberry’s Investment Advisory Newsletter?

The home page of Stansberry Research claims that they provide “actionable investment recommendations and research for individuals self-managing their portfolios.” And that they “aim to bring subscribers the safest, most profitable investment ideas in the world, no matter what’s happening in the markets.”

In other words, they’re stock promoters.

Stansberry claims to have predicted trends in the market with “uncanny accuracy” since 1999. They also position themselves as somewhat of a maverick, bucking the establishment at every turn and often betting against what the Wall Street establishment is disseminating.

The rest of the website reads like a sales page. There are claims of long-term success and the initial description of what you get with the service is somewhat vague. They recommend the following if you’re considering a monthly subscription:

You should have $1000 in investable money to get started
You should be committed to buying stocks only
You should be prepared to hold stocks for a minimum of one year

The basic subscription, which is $199 per year, gets you twelve monthly issues of the newsletter, “special” readers-only reports, and “The Stansberry Digest,” which is basically a daily blog post in which they report on their successes and strategies.

Stansberry advertises their subscription as “risk-free” for thirty days. That does not mean you get the first thirty days for free. They charge you the full $199 up front and claim they’ll refund it if you’re not satisfied. Online reviews on their refund process are not good.

The free information that Stansberry publishes under the “Investor Resources” tab of their website might be the most valuable service they offer. There’s an education center, newswire, and weekly stock tips that you don’t have to subscribe to get.

Stansberry’s Research Advisory has over half a million subscribers, including 70,000 lifetime subscribers. Their analysts boast a cumulative 175+ years of investment experience and have been featured on CNBC, Fox Business News, and CNN Radio.

What products can you choose from and what do you get?

Stansberry Research does offer much more than just their standard monthly newsletter. On their “Products and Services” page, you can choose model portfolios, specialized monthly newsletters, and research packages designed for investors, brokers, and advisors.

Their model portfolios are:

The Capital Portfolio: Basic US Stock and ETFs
The Income Portfolio: Designed to Generate Monthly Income
The Total Portfolio: Hedged with income, growth, and emerging markets.

Recommended minimum investment for all portfolios is $100,000. Investing in one of Stansberry’s model portfolios also gives you free lifetime access to all newsletters.

Their specialized newsletters are:

Stansberry’s Investment Advisory
True Wealth (Alternative Investments)
Retirement Millionaire
Extreme Value (Discount Stocks)
Stansberry’s Gold & Silver Investor
Commodity Supercycles
Stansberry Innovations Report

All newsletters are $199 per year each. There are bundled packages available which bring that price down to $99 per newsletter, but the website lists those as “Invitation Only.”

Specialized investment research packages are:

Retirement Trader
Stansberry’s Big Trade
True Wealth Systems
True Wealth Opportunities: China
True Wealth Real Estate
Stansberry Venture Technology
Stansberry Venture Value
Stansberry’s Credit Opportunities
Income Intelligence
DailyWealth Trader
Advanced Options
Cannabis Capitalist
Crypto Capital
Gold Stock Analyst
Ten Stock Trader

Stansberry’s research packages cost several thousand dollars each. They’re designed for the savvier investor with a higher net worth and professional financial advisors/brokers. Their top competitor in this area is Morningstar Research Center.

What value does the analysis offer?

There’s always value in well-researched financial information and Stansberry appears to offer that. The question I would ask is whether or not that value justifies the cost. The answer is situational. Novice investors don’t need this. Higher end investors might.

From a financial advisor perspective, I spent nearly a decade in the field and never once heard a peer mention that they used Stansberry as their source for financial research when doing portfolio construction. I also don’t personally know anyone who uses their models.

I don’t say this to discount the work they are doing over at Stansberry. A look at their team page will show you that the editors and analysts are all experienced and capable of providing solid research and stock recommendations. I’m just not sold on the cost.

For those who do invest in this service, the insights are pretty in-depth and some of the unique perspectives shared by Stansberry cannot be found anywhere else. They look at undervalued and discount stocks that some of the larger publications ignore.

Options traders could definitely gain an advantage by subscribing to Stansberry. I’m more of a fan of technical analysis through chart patterns, but finding the right companies to watch is always a challenge. Stansberry does a good job of identifying potential movers.

How does this compare to other services or free information?

The free information on Stansberry’s website is fairly comprehensive, but not something you can’t find in a dozen other places. I like the education links. They are fairly basic, yet good for novice investors. The investment glossary is useful and “Tip of the Week” could definitely be worth gambling a few dollars on. For information, they compete with:

Seeking Alpha: Personally, I consider Seeking Alpha the clear leader in the stock market information and research space. Their basic subscription is free and comparable to Stansberry’s newsletters. The premium package is $240 a year, but they give you a monthly option for a slight markup ($29.99 a month). They also offer a legitimate free trial on all of their products, which are more diverse than Stansberry’s offerings.

Motley Fool: I wrote a review on the Fool a few months ago and I am a genuine fan. Their rates are slightly higher than Stansberry and they don’t offer the research component for financial advisors, but their education component and reputation are better. I have to say a choice between them and Stansberry would be a draw. Neither is significantly better than the other, so you might want to go with the better price.

Business Insider: If you know what to look for, you can research new trends and get insights on companies worth investing in by reading Business Insider. They offer monthly ($12.95) and annual ($99) subscriptions and are always running promotions for first-time subscribers. They’re not specific to stock analysis, but they are a valuable resource for investors and traders. I’d recommend this over Stansberry for newbies.

For my friends in the financial advisory community, I wouldn’t cancel my Morningstar subscription to use these guys. A premium membership at Morningstar is just $199 a year. Stansberry’s research packages start at $4000. I’m not seeing anything to justify that.

About Porter Stansberry

Porter Stansberry is a financial writer and a somewhat colorful character in the financial services world. He was sued by the SEC in 2003 for insider trading and fraud, a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. He’s also been part of a mysterious murder investigation.

The SEC case garnered national attention as a threat to the first amendment rights of stock tip publishers. Stansberry lost the case, but he managed to gather support from multiple newspaper publishers who filed an Amicus Brief stating their fears over the outcome.

In 2006, Porter’s childhood friend Rey Rivera was murdered under mysterious circumstances at the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore. Suspicion fell on company employees, but Stansberry provided an alibi, claiming they were all at a “company retreat.”

In 2011, Porter Stansberry produced a video titled “The End of America.” This 77-minute promotional video predicts the fall of western democracy and the end of the United States. Its credibility is questionable, but it certainly helped him sell more newsletters.

Final Thoughts

Due to his somewhat sordid history, I tend to be skeptical about anything Porter Stansberry says. His tips are decent, and his research is excellent, but his win/loss ratio isn’t higher than any other publication, including some of the free offerings you can get.

The website reminds me of sales pages I see for info-commercials on late night television. It’s a bit over the top, which to me takes away from its credibility. That was my first impression. Doing a deeper dive revealed some real value, but cost is somewhat prohibitive.

All that being said, I am impressed with the information side of Stansberry Research. If spending the $199 for Stansberry’s Investment Advisory won’t hurt you, do it. Any smart investor should be able to make that back fairly quickly using the information they provide.

Digit Review – Everything You Need to Know About the Savings App

Kevin Flynn
September 16, 2020

Though not new by technology standards, Digit is still fairly unique in the realm of personal financial tools. Described by many as a “passive savings” tool, this app is the non-investor answer to the current trend of automating personal finances.

Digit is a micro-savings app. Think of it as an electronic piggy bank where you take small increments and deposit them into a savings account. This is similar to what Acorns does with its “round up” approach, but digit uses a spending algorithm to determine deposit amounts.

The Digit app also gives the ability to save for and pay off debt. You can connect credit cards and have the money withdrawn automatically to gradually get rid of high interest credit card balances. You can even set up a “rainy day” fund which can double as overdraft protection.

Retirement savings (IRAs) are also available in Digit. It appears to be a fairly new feature because there’s very little chatter about it online, but my research shows it to be a solid investment option. I’ll cover more on that below.

Founded in 2012 by Ethan Bloch, a former product manager at Intuit, Digit has passed the test of time for a personal finance app. The company has raised $63.8 million over four funding rounds since then and currently employs over two hundred people.

Who is Digit Designed For?

Digit is targeted to millennials. According to a report released by the Federal Reserve in 2013, roughly 60% of millennials, aged eighteen to forty, have saved little or nothing towards their retirement. Ethan Bloch was twenty-nine years old when he developed the app.

This app is also a decent option for others who have difficulty saving, regardless of age. The increments deposited are small enough to be almost unnoticeable and balances add up over time. This works for those who won’t spend what isn’t right in front of them.

For those with outstanding credit card balances, Digit can be a tool to get those paid down and stabilize spending, but only if it’s coupled with the discipline to stop using those cards. If that happens, automated withdrawals from a checking account will cover the monthly bills.

Don’t look at Digit savings as a long-term “investment” account. The funds deposited into their accounts earn no interest for the depositor. They do, however, offer a 0.5% “savings bonus” each month, which is higher than the national average interest rate on savings.

Setting Up and Funding the Account

Setting up for the first time is simple, easy to understand, and quick. Digit uses Plaid as a data aggregator and the data connectivity is seamless. My credit union account connected in less than a minute and balance data was populated inside the app immediately.

There are a series of security protocols built in that some may find bothersome, but they are no different from what everyone else is doing. I was asked to do code confirmations that were sent to me via text message. This two-step authentication can also be done by email.

One of the clever innovations that impressed me during this process was the messaging “bot” that Digit uses to communicate intent to the user. The first message, originating from a 628 area code (San Francisco) started with the words, “Hi, this is Digit.”

My new friend the Digit-bot tells me they’ll send savings and checking balance updates from the same number and to make sure I log that number in my contacts. It does not state what the frequency of those updates will be, so I’m assuming they’ll be daily.

I connected Digit through my MacBook and then added the app to my iPhone. I used the “suggested” password on the computer, but instantly wished I hadn’t when I connected the mobile app. For simplicity, I’d recommend choosing your own password.

The mobile app itself is intuitive and well-laid out. The color scheme clearly separates each function and the app is full function, so you don’t have to go to a desktop version to make changes. That includes account updates, resetting goals, and cancellations.

Setting Goals and Safe Savings Level

Digit’s algorithm learns how you spend and calculates how much is safe to save each day.

This part was simple, but a little scary. By setting goals, you are essentially telling Digit how much you need to save. That’s great. What isn’t so good is that Digit never really clarifies what the amounts are that they’ll pull from your account. Here are the categories for goals:

Rainy Day Fund
Credit Cards
Student Loans
Travel Near or Far
Save for a Cause
Splurge on Gifts
Create Your Own Goal

Like most Americans, I have credit card debt, so I tried out the goal to pay those off. The app easily connected to my credit card company and informed me that an automated payment would come out on the 29^th. How much? They didn’t say.

By agreeing to the Terms of Use, you authorize Digit to electronically withdraw money from your designated deposit account in amounts determined by their algorithm. Those amounts begin at $2 – $5 per day and go up from there. It’s not clear if goals will increase them.

After doing a little research, I learned how to keep a cap on Digit withdrawals. Before setting up a goal, utilize the Safe Saving Level feature to protect your deposit account. This will create a threshold balance on your deposit account under which Digit is not authorized to withdraw.

Setting goals and saving for them seems like a useful exercise, but the degree of uncertainty makes it a leap of faith to engage. I’d recommend using Digit for a few months before setting goals so you can get a feel for how much you’re actually putting into the app.

Digit Retirement Option

In addition to simple savings (with no interest), Digit now offers a retirement option. I signed up for this and now have a Roth IRA to deposit my savings money into each month. For more serious investors, this makes Digit a better option with an opportunity to earn.

The investment portfolios for their IRAs are determined by the age and income levels of the user. Mine is heavy on US and international stock, with a smattering of bond funds mixed in. There are other options available when you set up your retirement account.

One aspect of the retirement plans on Digit that seems to set them apart from other apps is that they are not composed strictly of ETFs. Investing in individual stocks usually produces a higher upside, though it can also mean more significant losses.

For those who already have a 401(k) or pension fund, opening an IRA on top of that isn’t a bad idea, particularly when it’s being funded by what is essentially disposable income. The investment funds Digit is using are managed by Vanguard, so it’s a fairly safe investment.

It’s important for you to know that the Internal Revenue Service sets contribution levels each year to limit how much you can invest annually into an IRA or Roth IRA. In 2020, that limit is $6000, but you can increase it to $7000 if you’re over age fifty.

Cost and Potential Fees

Digit costs $5 per month, $2.99 per month for legacy customers who signed up before July 23, 2019. They offer a free thirty-day trial and cancellation is a simple process that you can do on the website or on your mobile app. You don’t need to call or email to cancel.

There are no other stated fees to use Digit, but there is an additional cost. The 0.5% savings bonus is meant to take the place of an interest rate, but it’s only a simple payout, not a compounded rate. That distinction means Digit pays out less than traditional savings accounts.

Another drawback to the savings bonus is that it’s only paid on balances remaining after the close of the month. If you’re paying out money for credit card or retirement goals, you make nothing off your savings principle that month. That’s not a fee, but it does cost you money.

Digit Cost vs Competitors

Qapital: Offers a basic membership for $3 per month, but that doesn’t include spending analysis and investment tools. For those, you need to pay $6 per month. If you save over $5000 a year, that cost goes up to $12 per month.

Chime: This online banking app requires no minimum deposit and charges no monthly fee. They offer round-ups on debit card purchases to build savings and provide an ATM card that accesses funds at locations on the MoneyPass and Visa networks.

Acorns: The basic membership is just $1 per month for an ETF investment account, with an increase to $3 per month if you add checking (with ATM card) and retirement options. Their family plan is $5 and includes “Early” accounts for children.

Pros and Cons

Overall, I’d rate Digit as a great personal finance app, but it’s not without its drawbacks. So far, based on my experience and everything I’ve read about it, the app deserves a thumbs up. I’ve broken down the various reasons for that recommendation below.

Pros, Perks and Features

There are some definite perks to using the Digit app. One of them, the savings bonuses, we’ve already discussed. I’ve included it here in pros because I do believe that it’s a pro for those who wouldn’t normally open up a traditional savings account.

Another perk is the way that Digit handles overdrafts. They offer overdraft protection to prevent your deposit account from going into the negative and overdraft reimbursement up to two times per year if they overdraft your account and you get charged a fee.

Since this is a mobile app, support is twenty-four hours, seven days a week by email. Your access, obviously, is the same. You can check accounts, make changes, or add goals at any time during the day. Balances update in real time, even on weekends and holidays.

I like the potential for deposits to scale up, but that can also be dangerous. I’m listing it here in pros because I believe you can build a significant nest egg using the Digit algorithm. You’ll see it in the “con” section below because there’s potential to over-extend certain users.

Cons and Potential Downside

There are very few cons that I can see with this app after researching it and using it myself.

Acorns and Chime, and their “round-up” features, offer a more controllable way to allocate money into savings. Digit advertises their system as an “unnoticeable” way to channel money into savings, but the monthly allocations can add up quickly. That could be an issue.

The biggest downside that I see is uncertainty. Digit is too vague on projecting deposit amounts and should have a better system for capping them. The “Safe Saving” thresholds are good, but they don’t provide any real protection to the user. Digit could conceivably take too much.

Customer Sentiment

Digit App has a 4.7-star rating on the App Store and 4.6 stars on Google Play. The Better Business Bureau has them listed with a “B” rating, but Digit is not “accredited” with them (which is a paid status), so that could be the reason for the low grade.

There are only twenty-nine reviews on the BBB website. Google Play shows over one million installs. The App Store has compiled over 200,000 reviews. Sample size is important. I’m more inclined to listen to the mobile app reviews than the Better Business Bureau.

Customer service is email or in-app only. That will generate complaints from people who prefer phone support. It’s fairly common for fintech apps. Digit does not seem to have an inordinate volume of complaints because of it. Most issues that I am reading about involve user error.

All in, I’m seeing a general sense of satisfaction with this app. I plan on using it myself going forward and taking advantage of their retirement option. I already have something similar with Acorns, but I honestly believe this one will add up faster.

Acorns App Review – Everything You Need to Know

Kevin Flynn
September 8, 2020

There’s a plethora of mobile applications on the market designed to help consumers build a nest egg for e

Walter Cruttenden and his son Jeff came up with one of those innovations in 2012. Acorns, a platform to promote incremental, passive investments, is now used by 3.7 million people worldwide and manages over $1 billion in assets. Their market value passed Betterment in 2018.

Walter Cruttenden didn’t just come out of nowhere. He previously founded two successful investment banks, Cruttenden Roth and eOffering (formerly iBank). He’s the chairman of the Binary Research Institute in California, where they investigate the causes and consequences of solar system motion. On top of all that, Walter is also a best-selling author and filmmaker.

Walter’s son, Jeff Cruttenden, who is just twenty-nine years old, is a fintech entrepreneur who has already founded a second company called SAY, a platform where shareholders in companies can communicate with each other and access their full ownership rights. The idea came from insights he gained while developing and managing Acorns.

In addition to the Cruttendens, Acorns also contracts with Harry Markowitz, a Nobel Laureate, to build investment portfolios, and has attracted some serious star power for investors. Jennifer Lopez, Bono, Kevin Durant, Alex Rodriguez, and Ashton Kutcher are all on the list. The company’s current valuation, last assessed in January 2019, is $860 million.

What is Acorns and How Does it Work?

The simplest explanation is that Acorns is an investment platform that uses passive-investment ETF portfolios to build wealth for their clients. An ETF, or exchange traded fund, is a pool of stocks in a specific sector or industry. The ETF portfolios are constructed by financial professionals either employed directly by Acorns or working as paid consultants.

The reason they call it Acorns is the way in which those investment funds are deposited by the users. When first launched, Acorns described it as investing your “spare change.” What they do is “round up” any purchases you make and then deposit those funds into your account. If you buy something for $11.25, the round-up makes it $12.00, putting 75 cents into Acorns.

The concept of “pennies add up” is not new, but the technology Acorns introduced to do it with is. Acorns came to market with it in 2014 when they launched a mobile app on both IOS and Android. Since then, they’ve added a number of new features, which now include Invest (the original product), Later, Spend, and Early. We’ll review each of them for you here.

Acorns Invest

You’ll be asked some questions about your annual income, investment goals, and financial knowledge when you first sign up to use Acorns Invest. These questions help the application choose which type of portfolio to invest your money into. All Acorn portfolios are composed of ETFs, but you can choose conservative, moderate, or aggressive, based on risk tolerance.

Connect a credit or debit card and Acorns Invest will start tracking your spending. Each time you make a purchase, the spare change will be marked for deposit into your investment account. The change isn’t taken out each time you buy something. It needs to accumulate to increments of at least $5.00 before Acorns will transfer money from your credit card or bank account.

You can withdraw money from your investment account at any time, but it takes several business days for Acorns to sell your holdings and make the transfer. In my experience, it will be roughly a week from the time you initiate the withdrawal until the time you see money in your bank account. Obviously, Acorns does not recommend withdrawing if it can be avoided.

Users are not limited to depositing only spare change. You can add one-time deposits at any time, and you can set the app to do regular weekly deposits of set amounts if you like. The mobile app will notify you of this option periodically when you log in, but the communication is definitely non-invasive. Acorns does a good job of not badgering their customers.

Pro: Ease of use. It’s basically set it and forget it.

Con: It takes a week to withdraw money when you need it.

Acorns Later

For those looking for a simple individual retirement account (IRA) to save for your golden years, Acorns Later is a good fit. You can set a recurring deposit for a weekly or monthly cycle and Acorns will invest it in an IRA for you. The IRS currently determines retirement age to be 59 ½, at which point you’ll be able to take disbursements from your account.

Acorns Later is a duly registered and legitimate IRA, so certain guidelines apply. The IRS maximum IRA contribution for 2020 is $6000 per year, $7000 if you’re over fifty years old. There’s also a tax penalty if you withdraw the money early, despite it being post-tax income that you’re depositing. To avoid that, keep your contributions at a level you can afford.

Pro: No minimum deposit amounts and ease of use.

Con: Your money is tied up until retirement.

Acorns Spend

Acorns Spend is a personal checking account that comes with a metal debit card. It’s FDIC insured for up to $250,000 and it’s connected to both Acorns Invest and Acorns Later. Use it and your spare change will automatically be invested for you. Acorns Spend even allows you to set up direct deposit, so you can get paid and invest money all in one application.

Mobile check deposit is available on the app, so you can deposit checks from anywhere. The debit card is made of tungsten metal and is virtually indestructible. It comes with an FID chip and an engraved image of your signature, so you’ll never have to worry about smudging. It’s accepted at over 55,000 fee-free ATMs globally, making it an ideal travel companion.

Pro: A complete mobile banking app that does it all

Con: Maximum balance limit of $250,000.

Acorns Early

For parents with young children, Acorns Early is a UGMA/UTMA account. UGMA, which stands for Uniform Gift to Minors Act, gives a minor the authority to own securities without a prepared trust document. UTMA, aka Uniform Transfer to Minors Act, allows for wealth transfers to be made through inheritance to their UGMA account. Got it? Let me explain.

Acorns Early is an investment account for your child. Funds are invested and placed in trust so the child essentially owns them, though they can’t do anything with them until they’re of legal age. These accounts are similar to 529 education accounts, but the funds are not earmarked for a specific purpose. By opening a UGMA/UTMA account, you’re giving your child a head start.

A subscription to Acorns Early also gives you access to a financial wellness system and is part of a family option that includes Acorns Invest, Later, and Spend. You can add multiple children with no additional cost per child and watch financial literacy content sponsored by Acorns and CNBC. Acorns Early is also connected to Acorns Partner Network, which we’ll review below.

Pro: You’re giving your child a head-start in investing

Con: Money is tied up until the child reaches adulthood.

Acorns Partnerships: Found Money

Presented as Acorns Earn on their website, the Acorns Partnership Network gives you opportunities to earn additional funds to be invested into your Acorns Invest account. Simply shop at one of the merchants listed on the partnership page and you’ll be awarded “found money.” On top of that, Acorns periodically runs promotions where you can earn bonuses.

This might be the cleverest of all the Acorns features we’ve reviewed here. The network partners are all major names, like Macys, Walmart, Nike, and Chevron. They’re basically places we shop at regularly and Acorns is giving us a chance to pad our investment account when we spend money at these locations. It’s cashback reinvented.

The drawback, of course, is that you have to shop at specific merchants. That works for Acorns, because they no doubt have some kind of revenue sharing agreement in place with their partners. It works for the user also, but an article of clothing at Macys can typically be found for less somewhere else. Is the tradeoff worthwhile? That’s up to the individual consumer.

Pro: Instant investment dollars earned from shopping.

Con: You’re limited to shopping only at specific merchants.

Subscription Pricing and Competitors

What is the best feature of Acorns? I would have to say the pricing. Anyone can afford to use this application, which is no doubt the reason why they have been able to build their subscription base so quickly. The “Lite” option, which is just Invest, costs only $1 per month. Add Later and Spend, it goes up to $3 per month. The Family Plan is $5 per month.

How does this compare to Acorns’ competitors? Betterment (.40%), Wealthfront (.25%), and Personal Capital (.89%) all charge advisory fees. Robinhood is free, but nothing is automated. It’s purely a trading platform. No one, outside of bank and credit card cash-back programs, is giving you investment dollars in return for consumer spending.

Another advantage Acorns has over their competitors is the absence of a minimum deposit requirement. Betterment will open a basic account for $0, but you need $100,000 to access premium features. Wealthfront requires $500 to open. Personal Capital wants $100,000 just to get started. Robinhood wants nothing, but if you’re an investment newbie you’ll likely lose money.

Learning with Acorns Grow

Financial freedom comes from making the right investments and learning from others. As an aside from feature and price comparisons, I’d like to point out a section of Acorns main website titled “Grow.” It’s a compilation of free articles and information about investing and personal finance. I’ve delved into it pretty deeply and find it to be extremely valuable.

Final Thoughts

It’s difficult for me to come up with anything negative to say about Acorns. I’ve been a user for several years now and I’ve never had any issue with it. Even during recent volatility in the market, my accounts have remained fairly stable. Before writing this article, I looked at the balances and was pleasantly surprised at how much has accumulated from my spare change.

Active investing will always have a higher ceiling when it comes to big gains, but passive investing with ETFs, which is what Acorns does, has no downside and very little risk. I like that. As a long-time investor and part-time day trader, I deal with losses all the time. With Acorns, I don’t worry about that. My money just continues to grow, with no help from me.

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor Review – Read This Before Signing Up

Kevin Flynn
September 4, 2020

In Shakespearean lore, the motley fool is the court jester who can openly speak the truth to the duke without getting his head chopped off. In 1996, David and Tom Gardner adopted the name for a series of messages promoting a fictitious online sewage company. Their intent was to poke fun at penny stock investing. It was really just two guys publishing a little satire.

What started as a joke turned into one of the most influential investment newsletters of our time. The Gardner brothers formed a partnership with America Online in August of 1994, giving them a national audience. They published an investment guide in 1996 that made the New York Times Best Seller list. Shortly thereafter, they expanded internationally.

Despite early criticism from industry insiders, the young company thrived and grew throughout the late nineties and the first decade of the new century. They nearly collapsed in 2001 when the dot-com bubble burst, but managed to survive and expand into the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan in 2002. They also switched to a subscription model that year.

Once described by PBS Frontline as a “group of twenty-somethings” giving “so-called” advice, representatives from the Motley Fool have testified before Congress on a number of issues, including mutual fund fees, the collapse of Enron, and the process of launching an IPO. Their writers also influenced the passing of the SEC Regulation Fair Disclosure Act in 1999.

What is The Motley Fool and Who is it For?

Today, the Motley Fool has over 600,000 subscribers worldwide. They position themselves as an educational resource for investors, but realistically the platform is more of a stock promotion engine. Subscribers to their “free” package are deluged with emails recommended the “next big thing” or projecting continued growth on already existing market trends.

The Motley Fool is a good read for newbie investors. The “Investing Basics” section of the website is solid. For new investors or folks who just want to learn more about how the stock market works, I’d definitely recommend it. The information is fairly basic and won’t earn you accreditation of any kind, but it’s definitely a good place to get your feet wet.

The “Retirement 101” section is fairly comprehensive. It won’t replace professional financial planning, so don’t look at it as an alternative. Once you get through that and the investment basics, you’ll need a premium subscription to delve deeper. Not recommended unless you’re a serious investor or trader. You’ll get good information if you subscribe, but it’s expensive.

The Motley Fool has a branded product, titled “The Ascent,” which is presented as a helpful resource in the “Personal Finance” tab. It’s legitimate. It’s also a cleverly disguised lead generation engine. Once you sign up, expect your inbox to blow up with offers to subscribe to premium newsletters. Read this entire review before you sign up for one of those.

Who is the Motley Fool for? It’s marketed as being for serious investors and professional traders, but that didn’t get them to 600,000 subscribers. The folks in the marketing office have created a platform that can be utilized by everyone, even those with limited knowledge of the stock market. The free package is a good resource to learn if you’re a newbie.

The Motley Fool is also a good resource for professionals. Day traders don’t typically use it because they rely more on technical analysis and chart patterns. Long term investment professionals and financial advisors make up a significant portion of their paid readership. There are multiple “premium” packages available, which I’ll review in the next section.

Services and Track Record

David and Tom at TheMotelyFool HQ. Image credit: fool.com

David and Tom Gardner aren’t just publishing gurus. They are professional investors with a track record of success in picking high-yield stocks. That’s where the real value can be found at the Motley Fool. Of course, no one is going to share money-making advice for free. If you’re looking for stock picks, you’ll have to pay for them.

According to their website, the cumulative return on stock recommendations by the Motley Fool has been 523% since the inception of the site back in 1994. The S&P has managed just 105% in that time period. Those are big numbers. Temper your enthusiasm a bit before you subscribe though. Market conditions have produced some of those gains for them.

On September 29, 2008, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 778% in a single day’s trading. It was the worst day in stock market history and it essentially reset the market. Stocks have rebounded since then, with historical highs in 2020. That massive, long-term uptrend has been largely responsible for the gains that most stock promoters have been boasting about.

That said, it’s hard to argue with a 5:1 ratio on beating the index. The Motley Fool does appear to be picking winners and they offer a selection of premium subscriptions to share some of their insights. Those include the following newsletter publications:

Stock Advisor: $199 a year

Stock Advisor is the premium subscription for new and experienced investors alike. With a track record of five times the annual returns of the S&P, the stock picks provided each month are chosen to give investors a solid foundation and ongoing success with their portfolio. This subscription also offers ten “timely buys” and access to an investment community.

Having subscribed to this newsletter myself, I can attest that it provides sound financial advice and that the Fool is right more than it is wrong. I recommend this subscription, but caution against using it as your only source for investment decisions. The subscription price is reasonable, and is deductible as a business expense, so go for it.

Rule Breakers: $299 a year

Rule Breakers is published by founder David Gardner and is designed for investors interested in high growth stocks. These have a higher risk factor than income stocks, so the wins and losses tend to be larger. David’s cumulative return on growth stocks is 262% since 1994, compared to 89% for the S&P. That’s roughly a 3:1 chance of beating the index.

The subscription price is obviously higher, so I wouldn’t recommend this newsletter for newbie investors. Growth stocks are more of a gamble than income or value stocks. Anyone with an aversion to risk should stay away from this. If you’re experienced and have other sources for evaluating growth stocks, I give this newsletter a big thumbs up.

Rule Your Retirement: $149 a year

For $149 a year, Rule Your Retirement might be worth the money if you’re going to read it. This newsletter is more of an educational tool than an investment resource. It offers model portfolios, advice on mutual funds and ETFs, and social security tips. It’s also well-stocked with information on retirement topics like estate planning and insurance.

Are you constructing your own retirement portfolio or just relying on a 401(k) or pension fund? If you’re building your own, subscribe to this newsletter. For more traditional, company-funded employees, it’s not worth the money. You can get all the information provided in this monthly publication for free on sites like Yahoo Finance and Investopedia.

Other Member Packages

The three premium newsletters above were created for investors seeking advice and information to construct winning portfolios. The Motley Fool has other premium subscriptions available that are specialized and, not surprisingly, more expensive. I’m not going to go too deep into the weeds on those. Here’s a list with brief explanations:

Cloud Disruptors 2020 – $1999 per year: Stock picks, advice, and information on the projected $3.2 trillion cloud computing market.
One Access – $13,999 per year: Unlimited access to all Motle5y Fool services including Tom Gardner’s real money Everlasting Portfolio.
Premier Pass – $3999 per year: An access pass to a combination of Motley Fool services, including Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Marijuana Masters, Crypto Society, and Options.
Market Pass – $1499 per year: Recommendations from Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers, along with Motley Fool research on market trends in AI and biotech.
Options – $999 per year: Billed as “Options University,” this subscription is highlighted by a weekly email providing news, commentary, and updates on options trading.
Supernova – $2999 per year: Access to David Gardner’s portfolio models and investment strategies, including historical stock market plays.
Total Income – $1999 per year: Also includes access to Options, this selection outlines high-yield, dividend growth, low risk, options, and bonds strategies.
Everlasting Portfolio – $2999 per year: Access to Tom Gardner’s personal model portfolio. Buy and sell guidance from Tom to duplicate his success.

The following subscriptions are listed as “Extreme Opportunities” and are each $1999 per year. The titles are self-explanatory, so there’s no need to elaborate. These are also all currently not accepting new members, as of the writing of this review.

Global Partners
Marijuana Masters
Augmented Reality
Artificial Intelligence
Future of Entertainment

Other subscription options include a “Discovery” section that has Warren Buffett portfolio suggestions in a newsletter called Moneymakers, a Rising Stars option for investing in new companies, and access to IPO Trailblazers. You can subscribe to each individually for $1999 per year or spend $4999 per year (titled: Boss Mode) to get access to all of them.

Pros and Cons

There are a lot of positives in subscribing to the Motley Fool. There are also some negatives to consider, particularly if you’re going for one of the higher end packages.

Pros:

Access to comprehensive stock market research
Current source for market news and information
Free educational resources
Experienced company with a thirty-year track record of success
Multiple subscription options

Cons:

Subscribers become too reliant on recommended stock picks
Specialty premium subscriptions are too expensive
Research data is available for free elsewhere

Final Thoughts

If you’re going to embark on an investment or trading career, or even do it as a part time source of income, make sure you educate yourself and don’t rely strictly on stock promoters to make you successful. The Motley Fool is a good resource, but they are not infallible. Treat them for what they are, and you’ll reap rewards from subscribing to them.

As for the so-called “specialty” subscriptions, don’t waste your money. Start out with the free platform to learn the basics, then subscribe to Stock Advisor. The $199 per year that will cost you is a worthwhile investment. If you’re a financial advisor, ask your custodian or broker dealer if they offer similar resources. It should be included in your agreement with them.