The Motley Fool Stock Advisor Review: Subscription Based Stock Advice For (Almost) Everyone
Ranking
7.5/10
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is a stock-picking program managed by the founder of The Motley Fool, David Gardner. After you sign up, you get two stock picks every month. Each of these picks goes in-depth on why The Motley Fool chose it, why it may generate a return, and any additional information you should need before you invest.
Best for:
- Investors moving to individual stocks
- Newer (but not BRAND new) investors
- Time-constrained investors
Often, it makes sense to invest in individual stocks instead of things like index funds, mutual funds, or ETFs. The problem is that picking individual stocks can be time-consuming and incredibly complicated.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor gives you two curated stock picks every month with an in-depth analysis of each of those stocks so you can invest in them right away.
In this review, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of the program and how it works so you can decide whether or not this is the right service for you.
What is The Motley Fool Stock Advisor?
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is a subscription-based service that gives you two stock picks every month. Each stock pick will come with an in-depth analysis of why The Motley Fool chose that stock and why you should invest in it, and you can invest on your own from there.
This is not a robo-advisor service that will manage investments for you; instead, it gives you access to expert-curated stock picks.
In addition to two stock picks every month, you get access to all of The Motley Fool’s historical stock picks within this service.
The Motley Fool does all of the research for you, and it should only take you about five minutes every month to tune up your portfolio. You’ll also get expert analysis of any new investing trends.
How does The Motley Fool Stock Advisor work?
Signing up for The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is easy. All you need to do is go to their stock advisor page and click Join Now.
From there, you’ll sign up with some basic information, and your membership includes a 30-day refund period. So if you’re not happy with what you see within 30 days, you can ask for a refund.
You’ll enter your first name, last name, billing address, and credit card information on the subscription page. You will be charged right away, but again, if you’re unhappy with the service within 30 days, you can get a refund.
Once you’re a member, every single month, you’ll get new stock picks from The Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner. Each of these stock picks will be meticulously curated. The Gardners have done an extreme amount of research on the picks that they release every month.
In addition to the monthly picks, you’ll get Best Buys Now, which are ten stocks you should buy today based on over 300 stocks’ research. You’ll also get a list of Starter Stocks, a list of recommended stocks for you to begin a portfolio with, for both new and more seasoned investors.
Finally, you’ll get access to the community and investing resources. So The Motley Fool will provide access to educational materials and things to help you improve as an investor.
And as I stated earlier, you’ll have access to all of their previous picks. Even though the window of time to invest may have come and gone, you can still see what their historical picks have been and how they have fared.
How much does The Motley Fool Stock Advisor cost?
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor doesn’t mess around with pricing. It’s all transparent, and it’s straightforward.
Right now, new customers can get a full year of access to Stock Advisor for $99, and that’s backed by their 30-day membership fee back guarantee. Special Stock Advisor offer: 55% off – now only $89/year! Promo offer expires 4/30/22. So, if you’re not happy with the service or if you decide it’s not for you, all you have to do is cancel within 30 days, and you’ll get every single penny of your membership fee back.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor features
While the service is pretty straightforward, you must be aware of some unique features. Let’s dive into some of those.
Stock tips
You get stock tips every single month. Tom and David Gardner still do all of the stock-picking.
They’ll send you a detailed report about each stock, including the company’s risk profile, why they chose the stock, and, best of all, 24/7 monitoring of that stock.
So, if they recommend the stock to you and they sometime in the near term future think that you should get out, they’ll send you an alert.
The monthly stock tips are the bread and butter of this service. So having access to expertly-curated stock recommendations is what you’re going to pay for, mostly.
Instant alerts
There is an instant alert feature to add your favorite stocks to the platform and keep an eye on how they are trending. So if there are large price fluctuations, opportunities to buy or sell, or other situations, you’ll be alerted so you can know what action to take.
News
The Motley Fool will curate investment news for you to be aware of and put it right on the main screen of Stock Advisor. This allows you to keep up on everything that you need to know in the world of investing.
Historical stock picks
Once you sign up for a membership, you’ll get every stock pick they have ever made since 2016. Now, most of these stock picks will no longer be viable because that opportunity has come and gone.
Still, you can see how some of the historical picks have trended and potentially formulate your stock picks based on some historical recommendations made by the Gardners.
Starter stocks
Suppose you’re just starting to build a portfolio and want something to build your portfolio’s foundation. In that case, once you sign up for Stock Advisor, you’ll get a list of 10 stocks that will be an excellent foundation for a new portfolio. This list changes monthly, so you’ll know that it’s fresh once you sign up.
Live customer service
Suppose you have questions about the product itself and not investment-related questions. In that case, you can contact their customer service through the toll-free number and speak to a live person.
Message boards
This is a unique feature that I love. While there are tons of investment message boards out there, this one is specifically for The Motley Fool Stock Advisor members.
So you can feel welcome to ask questions and give opinions within the scope of The Motley Fool Stock Advisor because you’ll be speaking directly to other members.
Stock screener
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor has an easy to use stock screener. You can enter the stock or sort by asset class, sector, dividend yield, volatility, and other filters. It’s not as robust as something you might see through E*TRADE, for example, but it’s relatively intuitive and easy to use.
Access to more newsletters
Stock Advisor costs $99 per year for new members. Special Stock Advisor offer: 55% off – now only $89/year! Promo offer expires 4/30/22. But as a new member, you’ll have access to three of their other newsletters, which all have a different angle.
Those are:
- Rule Your Retirement, which costs $149 per year.
- Rule Breakers, which costs $299 per year.
- Cloud Disruptors, which costs $1,999 per year.
You can learn more about these additional newsletters once you sign up for Stock Advisor.
Who is The Motley Fool Stock Advisor best for?
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is right for you if you fit into one of these categories:
Those who don’t want to do stock research
I think The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is best for someone who wants to invest in individual stocks but doesn’t quite know where to start with their own independent research. Research can be time-consuming, especially if you don’t know what to look for.
Fund-investors
If you’re someone who has traditionally only invested in things like ETFs or index funds, but you want to start picking individual stocks, the idea of doing that can be overwhelming. The amount of research you have to do is extensive. So by signing up for a service like this, you get curated expert picks each month.
Those who want an investment community
The message board within Stock Advisor is an excellent place to ask questions and bounce ideas around with other, like-minded members. If you want a group of people to talk investments with, especially those getting the same information as you, Stock Advisor is a great option.
Hedgers
I think The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is also suitable for people who want to hedge their investment portfolio. Meaning, if you have mostly ETFs and index funds, and you want to take a little bit more risk by picking a handful of individual stocks, you can do this without going way too off-course in the stocks you’re choosing.
Experienced investors who don’t want to spend a lot of time
If you’re a more experienced investor, you still might find value from The Motley Fool Stock Advisor, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t have the time to go in-depth and analyze individual stocks.
To genuinely get good at picking stocks, you have to understand the ins and outs of the companies that you’re looking at.
So not only does this narrow the pool of the investments to look for, but it serves up two picks every single month, so you can invest in those stocks and do nothing more with your portfolio if you want to. It’s a great time-saver for busy investors who still want to invest in individual stocks.
Who shouldn’t use The Motley Fool Stock Advisor?
While The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is great for some people, others may not get as much value out of it.
Brand new investors
If you have never invested before, I wouldn’t recommend starting with The Motley Fool Stock Advisor because you will pick individual stocks right away. For brand new investors, you’re better off sticking to an ETF, or a mutual fund, or even going with a robo-advisor until you learn the ropes of investing.
People who want a lot of control
Suppose you’re someone who likes to go in and make stock picks by analyzing different companies or finding companies that nobody else knows about. In that case, this product will be frustrating for you because you are getting the same two picks that everyone else who subscribes to the service is getting.
Those who can’t invest the same amount each month
The way you’re going to get the most value out of The Motley Fool Stock Advisor program is to invest in both stocks that are recommended each month. You should generally invest the same amount in those stocks every month.
So, for example, if you choose to invest $1,000 in each of the stock picks every single month for the entire year, you’re going to be better off than you would be picking and choosing which of the investments you want to invest in or doing it at different dollar amounts.
The point of a program like this is to follow the expert picks. So the more you deviate from that, the less your results will mirror what others are getting.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Expert stock picks — The best feature is that you'll get expert-curated stock picks from The Motley Fool founders every single month with an in-depth analysis of each stock.
- 24/7 monitoring — You'll get 24/7 monitoring with The Motley Fool Stock Advisor. So if you decide to purchase a stock that they've recommended and something happens with that stock, for example, it becomes apparent that it's time to sell it. You'll get a notification on what's happening with the stocks, and you can make that decision right away.
- Additional reports — When you sign up, you'll get other reports with your subscription to help supplement the program's value. This includes the Best Buys Now report, which gives you ten stocks to buy to start your portfolio, Starter Stocks, a list of foundational stocks to build from, and other community and investing resources.
- Access to previous picks — When you sign up, you'll have access to the current month's picks and any future months' picks as long as you're a subscriber. Still, you'll also get access to every pick they've ever made since 2016, which is nice to be able to go back and analyze what picks were made and why they were made.
- Additional tools and resources — Things like the message boards, deals that you get from David and Tom as they watch the market, news feeds, and live customer service are just some of the additional features folded into the annual subscription of The Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
Cons
- Everyone is getting the same picks you are — By subscribing to The Motley Fool Stock Advisor, you are in a smaller subgroup of the population that's investing, getting access to more expertly picked stocks. However, every other single person on that list is getting the same recommendations as you.
- You have to do the work yourself — You have to make the investments yourself. No one will make them for you. There's going to be a time-lapse from the time you receive the report to the time you can make the investment, which means that you may have missed the ideal opportunity to purchase the stock.
- Additional upsells — After you join, you'll be given the option to purchase three other newsletters, which I mentioned above. While those might be valuable, they are an upsell and cater to different types of stocks and audiences.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor versus competitors
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor Morningstar Premium
Cost $99 the first year for new members. Special Stock Advisor offer: 55% off - now only $89/year! Promo offer expires 4/30/22. $199/year
Stock pick access 2 per month, plus historical picks back to 2016 A vast array of both stock and mutual fund picks across a variety of categories
Primary focus Narrow; individual stocks Broad; stocks and funds of all varieties and categories
Best for Individual stock picks Stock and fund research
The primary competitor of The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is Morningstar premium.
Morningstar Premium
Morningstar Premium
is similar to The Motley Fool Stock Advisor in that it gives you access to detailed investment research.
In a nutshell, the main difference is that Morningstar gives you more information and more stocks to look at, but it’s not updated as frequently. For example, you can look at specific stocks that they recommend, and there will be an in-depth analysis of that stock from someone at Morningstar.
However, that analysis might be three to four months old, and it still might be useful, but it might not be the most up-to-date information.
Morningstar works a lot like equity research firms. They have a core number of funds and individual stocks that they look at and analyze in-depth and give you information so you can still make your own independent decision.
So it’s a lot broader, and it’s a lot looser in terms of guidance. So for someone who always likes to make their stock picks, Morningstar might be a better option. For someone who wants to have more guided recommendations, The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is going to be the better pick.
Robo-advisors – another option
Another option that’s different from what The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is offering is to utilize a robo-advisor instead. Here are two to look at (plus why you might want to):
M1
M1 is a robo-advisor that works slightly differently than others. It allows you to pick individual investments as a part of your “pie” of total investments – regardless of whether you can purchase a full share or not.
You can add and remove “slices of the pie” and whatever is in your “pie” (your investment portfolio) will have automatic rebalancing, built-in tax efficiency, and automatic recurring investments (if you choose to set that up).
Theoretically, you can use both Stock Advisor AND M1 perfectly together, but if you’re looking for something far more hands-off, signing up for a free M1 Account might be worth a look.
Betterment
Betterment is what I’d consider to be a true robo-advisor. The process is easy – you answer a few simple questions, choose your strategy (i.e., what you’re saving for) and risk tolerance, and Betterment will construct a portfolio for you that’s totally hands-off.
From there, Betterment will automatically rebalance your portfolio of curated, low-cost ETFs, and you can set up recurring deposits so your balance consistently grows with time. Plus, Betterment now has a cash and checking account so you can essentially do most, if not all, of your banking with one streamlined robo-advisor.
Summary
Overall, The Motley Fool Stock Advisor is an exciting product. It’s affordable in that it’s only $99 the first year for new members. Special Stock Advisor offer: 55% off – now only $89/year! Promo offer expires 4/30/22. You’ll also get no less than 24 stock recommendations throughout the year, plus a bunch of additional tools and resources.
However, there are some limitations because you can’t necessarily customize the type of recommendations you want. Everyone else who subscribes is getting the same information you are and sometimes a lot faster.
Suppose you’re ready to invest in individual stocks, and you have a good understanding of how the market works. In that case, The Motley Fool Stock Advisor can be a great program to subscribe to at a reasonably low cost.
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