# MOTLEY FOOL STOCK ADVISOR - any good?



## Horatio (10 Jul 2009)

Motleyfool.com is an investments / financial advisory service for paid up members.

I've been getting email flyers from these guy's for years & i've always resisted signing up for their subscription but it seems to be a lot of good news with hi rates of return on their picks.

Has anyone on here signed up for their "Stock advisor " service if so what was your feeling about it?


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## elcato (10 Jul 2009)

So ask yourself .... Why do they charge people for a subscription and even bother running such an operation when they can simply just invest money in their 'sure things'.


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## Horatio (10 Jul 2009)

elcato said:


> So ask yourself .... Why do they charge people for a subscription and even bother running such an operation when they can simply just invest money in their 'sure things'.


 
Alcato good point, I had considered this question myself.
Answer: They charge people for advice because they have a strong track record in making sound investments - this gives their opinions weight. Why not make money on both angles? Investing & selling investment advice.

I still stand by my original question: If you've used their services, what was your opinion?


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## Marc (10 Jul 2009)

*[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]*
*[FONT=&quot]" it turns out for all practical purposes there is no such thing as stock picking skill. It's human nature to find patterns where there are none and to find skill where luck is a more likely explanation (particularly if you're the lucky [mutual fund] manager)." Mutual fund manager performance does not persist and the return of stock picking is zero." We are looking at the proverbial bunch of chimpanzees throwing darts at the stock page. Their "success" or "failure" is a purely random affair[/FONT]**[FONT=&quot] " [/FONT]*[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]William Bernstein, The Intelligent Asset Allocator[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


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## Marc (10 Jul 2009)

*[FONT=&quot]" If there's 10,000 people looking at the stocks and trying to pick winners, one in 10,000 is going to score, by chance alone, a great coup, and that's all that's going on. It's a game, it's a chance operation, and people think they are doing something purposeful... but they're really not. "[/FONT]*[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
  [FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Merton Miller, Nobel Laureate and former Professor of Economics, Univ. of Chicago[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]


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## Marc (10 Jul 2009)

and finally...........

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"All such [market beating] strategies have two things in common: First, they won't work. And second, the reason they won't work is that the anonymous investors on the other side of the trade usually have more on the ball than you imagine."[/FONT][/FONT]*[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]William Bernstein, Money Magazine Oct 22nd 2008[/FONT] 

Don't waste your money on tip-sheets.


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## Markjbloggs (10 Jul 2009)

Nail hit on head, Marc, but I'm sure you will get the "Yes but, No but" ripostes.


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## pjmn (10 Jul 2009)

Don't subscribe to the Motely Fool but do get their weekly email.

I invested a few euro in the top five tips for 2009 (given in late '08) - overall up by c. 40%, with the individual shares up between 13% and 122% - so I'm happy enough overall.

pjmn


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## Markjbloggs (10 Jul 2009)

pjmn said:


> Don't subscribe to the Motely Fool but do get their weekly email.
> 
> I invested a few euro in the top five tips for 2009 (given in late '08) - overall up by c. 40%, with the individual shares up between 13% and 122% - so I'm happy enough overall.
> 
> pjmn



So you equate this success to the weekly email Motley Fool send you and not to the market recovery that coincided with your investment timeframe???


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## pjmn (10 Jul 2009)

Markjbloggs said:


> So you equate this success to the weekly email Motley Fool send you and not to the market recovery that coincided with your investment timeframe???



You might be so kind as to point out where I said that ????

pjmn


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## Horatio (12 Jul 2009)

so the weekly e-mail highlights their current available reports & you decide whether or not to buy in on an ad-hoc basis, is that correct?


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## stevo999 (3 Sep 2009)

I was registered with The Motley Fool in the US back 2000 before they started charging a subscription. It had been started up by two ex wall st fund managers who started it up the web site as they realised that Wall st fund managers regularly underperform the value of the market and basically rip people off and charge exorbitant fees. It was a fun web site at the time and usually contained an awful lot of common sense and a huge amount of discussion boards. The guys who created the web site wrote a book about a 'Dogs of the Dow' investing method that had worked for them for many years, and it basically involved a formula whereby once a year you picked out the 4 worst peforming DOW companies eg Eastman Kodak, Exxon etc etc, and waited a year, sold the ones that had improved there fortunes and replaced them with the latest 'dogs'. This system apparently worked, but a researcher on the motley fool website eventually managed to point out that this strategy only happenned to work for the investment period between 1960 and 2000 approx, so the theory was debunked. I stopped subscribing when I had to pay a subscription (too mean)but I wouldnt poo poo it. It had some very good recomendations, the one I most remember being to understand company finances and how quarterly reports are written plus do rigorous research into companies that you want to invest in before investing, boring but common sense.


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## galwegian44 (4 Sep 2009)

Horatio,

I've used these guys for about 8 years now, originally it was a free service but once it took off they started to charge a fee for their various investment vehicles. From my own personal experience I've learnt most of what I know about stock trading from these guys directly and also indirectly as I researched some of thier recommended readings. They focus on long term value investing (investment) rather than short term day-trading investment (gambling) which is always a good start in my opinion.

Having said that I would always advocate a strong sense of scepticism with any service whose primary function is to make money for the owners. For example, my own position is that the market is going to fall heavily and this position will not sell too many subscriptions for the Motley Fool.

They have strongly recommended a high profile comic book company for a number of years now and the money I've made on that alone (they were taken over recently) should pay for my subscription for the next 180 years so I'm a big fan.

Always do your own due diligence but if you are looking for some good education and strong advice then it is a worthy investment. Feel free to PM me and I will send you a copy of their latest Stock Adviser to get a taste of what they offer.

I have no connection with this company other than being a VERY satisfied customer.

Good Luck.



Horatio said:


> Motleyfool.com is an investments / financial advisory service for paid up members.
> 
> I've been getting email flyers from these guy's for years & i've always resisted signing up for their subscription but it seems to be a lot of good news with hi rates of return on their picks.
> 
> Has anyone on here signed up for their "Stock advisor " service if so what was your feeling about it?


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