Motley Fool books and services
 

In general, how is the quality of information provided by Motley Fool? I didn't see any of their books in the reading list stickie. I am still in college and am very new to investing. I do enjoy the way they write. It is easier to understand than most stuff I read on the web. Also, are the services they sell on their website worth the money (e.g. Stock Advisor, Hidden Gems, etc.)? At this point in my life, I probably won't be doing much active trading, but once I graduate and start my job, I will be investing a lot in my 401k. I want to have a solid understanding of everything before I get started. So, if not Motley Fool, what is the best material to get me started?

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

I've been using the Stock Advisor for some play money for a couple of years, and I'm pretty happy with it. Some picks are up and some are down, but overall I'm up more than I'd have been with an index fund and much better than I'd have done picking individual stocks on my own.

It might not make sense for someone who really understands stocks and wants to put in the time to do the research, but for my situation it's pretty good.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

You are paying $200 a year to use it for PLAY money stocks?

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

[ QUOTE ]
You are paying $200 a year to use it for PLAY money stocks?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I'm using it for money that I wasn't worried about losing. I figured I'd take a little bit of my money and see what I could do with it if I took on a little more risk than the mutual funds I can get in my retirement account at work.

I may be stupid, but I'm not THAT stupid.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

How about their books? I'm most interested in the Personal Finance book and maybe any other good ones for evaluating and picking stocks.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

I like their forums and discussions. Well worth the $20 or so per year subscription fee.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

[ QUOTE ]
I like their forums and discussions. Well worth the $20 or so per year subscription fee.

[/ QUOTE ]

What do you get with this subscription, just access to the forum? All the news on fool.com seems to be free, but all the other services are pretty expensive.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

i believe it's just access to the forums. in fact, i think you can read the forums for free, but it costs $20 or so to post.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

How about Intelligent Investing by Graham? Is that good for a beginner or is it more advanced?

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

I have been a subscriber to Hidden gems for almost 2 years now. I like it. I use it for my IRA, most of my retirement money is in my 401K and my normal trading accounts so I use the hidden gems to invest my IRA in small caps. It is very volatile, but I am happy with my results so far.
My only problem is that they give 24 recommendations a year and they are mostly buy and holds. I think they have only recommended 2-3 sells so far, and a couple of the pics were bought out. I can't put enough money in my IRA to buy more than 4 of those picks a year. Hopefully next year I can start buying 4 more with my wife's IRA.
The info they provide is great, but for $200 a year you need to at least be investing a decent amount of money. You do get access to all the forums as well.

Pancho

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

ive been getting investment ideas from their new caps thing (im still probably subscribed to stock advisor but will not be renewing the subscription this year)
however caps.fool.com is a place where everyone picks stocks and its great for picking up ideas from some of the really good investors.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

I always loved the message boards, but figuring the amount of discourse would drop dramatically, I didn't continue when they went to a subscription format for the boards.

Maybe I should revisit...

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

Their message boards are top notch.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

They have nice boards, and CAPS is good, but I didn't like their books (I rented em from the library.) Peter Lynch's books were a pretty good read. I am reading the Intelligent Investor atm.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

The Little Book that Beats the Market would be an excellent place to start, value investing/semi-longterm buy and hold is the way to go

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

Dear Duck Rabbit,

"The Four Pillars of Investing -- Lessions for Building a Winning Portfolio" is probably a must for you.... The author is William J. Bernstein via McGraw Hill. This book has been recommended by a few other guys on this Internet site. I'm sure there are a few other good books out there, but other guys will have to recommend them. Also; Author Larry E. Swedroe's books are written by a guy who recommends no-load funds and an asset balanced stable of funds.

For guys starting out in IRA or preferably Roth IRAs; it would be best to buy no-load asset balanced mutuals funds -- funds like "Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 (VTIVX)." When you are young and only have a relatively small dollar amount in IRAs, it is best to start out with asset balanced funds -- the reason is obvious (it's hard to divesify when there is a minimum amount that can be invested in specific funds). Also when you are young; you want to be agressive as possible because you have time on your side (discounting all the factors and Monday morning quarterbacking -- if I knew 25 years ago what I know now --I conservatively estimate I would now have at least twice my current assets -- easily).

Say after 5, 10 years down the line; and your Roth Ira has a lot more $$ in it -- you can diversify with more individual specific funds such as the European, Pacific, Emerging Markets, etc, etc.
Duck, you are lucky to have some very smart guys on this Internet site who know the ropes. Good Luck

Carl

PS: Also learn about ETFs -- they can be a great asset to your investment methods. Use good extreme brokerage houses; and about the spreads (bid & ask) to minimize the somewhat hidden expenses when buying and selling shares.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

PS: Also learn about ETFs -- they can be a great asset to your investment methods. Use good extreme discount brokerage houses; and about the spreads (bid & ask) to minimize the somewhat hidden expenses when buying and selling shares. Be your own man -- salesmen usually just take your money.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

I like the Fool stuff for the teaching aspect. They are good at teaching beginners about the ins and outs of how markets operate. What I'm not a fan of is some of their investing philosophies. Like finding undervalued stocks and hoping the rest of the market notices them someday some way. What's going to compel that stock to make a move? Anything you can see now has been visible to the market all along. I'd rather play stocks that are already in motion.

So read their stuff to learn about how stuff works, but take their investing advice with a grain of salt. I would buy their book(s) and read their free stuff on their site but I wouldn't pay for a subscription.

Re: Motley Fool books and services
 

uhhm wow thats so flawed I dont even know where to start

trying mentioning IBD, CANSLIM, etc

Best performing stocks in the long run are value small cap. There are inefficiencies in the market all the time. Irrationality rules in the short term. Swing trading just utilizes that to the upper-upside. Value Investing takes irrationally beaten down stocks and allows time for them to balance back to rational levels.