Consumers Digest

Anyone with opinions, good or bad investment experiences from Motley Fool Inside Value Special Reports?

Just wondering if the Motley Fool advice for investing is worth spending money for a subscription for their special reports.

Public Comments

1. I have used the Inside Value service for almost a year. Generally, it is what I would expect, lots of stock ideas in out of favor sectors that we hope are out of favor temporarily. There is no sugar coating when things go wrong. Disappointing earnings or revenue numbers are addressed frankly and in updates. Intrinsic value calculations are modified to reflect new realities. What you have to decide for yourself is whether you are prepared to live with value stocks at times when they are unpopular and therefore cheap. Do you have the personality and patience to "hold your nose" and buy? These tend to be long holding period stocks that may or may not get recognized by others. The recommendations are very direct and generally well-written. Just to give you a bit of flavor, recent recommendations have included a large, well-known insurance brokerage firm as well as a large retailer of coffee (tough guess!). Both international and domestic stocks are featured. I like the service. It is reasonably priced, keeps you out of trouble with expensive stocks, and provides valuable insight and discipline. They sell "a way of thinking" as much as a recommended list of stocks. A good read at a reasonable price . Good luck with your investing!
2. This is not a put-down of The Motley Fool and their services in particular, but of ALL stock picking in general. Please, before you pay money to anybody who claims the ability to pick stocks that are going to go up in the future, read A RANDOM WALK DOWN WALL STREET by Burton Malkiel and CAPITAL IDEAS by Peter Bernstein. Myself, I don't think the market is efficient in the same sense that I think of "efficiency" -- however, I'm convinced it's unpredictable. And even if it isn't -- 100% -- reflect on this . . . There's a HUGE amount of computing power, academic brains and proprietary formulas aimed at extracting excess money from the financial markets. Are you a PhD in Math and Finance with a basement full of servers with direct access to financial data? If not, how do you think you're going to compete against those who are? If you're not the smartest quant on Wall Street, you're going to lose money to the man/woman who is. Do yourself a favor and profit by making yourself a partner in good businesses that value their shareholders -- that is, pay them dividends. Or else put your money in an index fund. If you buy individual stocks because you -- or anybody -- thinks they're going to go up in value in the future, you're gambling. If you can afford to gamble, go to Vegas . . . at least you can see a show and have some fun while you lose your money.