We examine The Motley Fool, the stock research platform known for its blend of education, stock recommendations, and market analyses, weighing its pros and cons to help you decide if it’s right for you.
Quick Summary:
The Motley Fool is a comprehensive financial services company offering a range of resources, including
stock recommendations, stock analysis tools, and educational content for investors of various skill levels.
With its focus on long-term growth through well–
researched stock recommendations, and a wealth of financial knowledge, they empower individuals
to take control of their financial future and confidently navigate the investing world.
Overall Rating:
Stock Analysis:
Tools & Features:
Ease of Use:
Price:
Best For:
Buy and hold investors
Capital appreciation-oriented investors
PROS
- Outperformed S&P 500 4X
- Reasonably priced
- Community engagement
CONS
- Constant upselling
- Limited portfolio analysis
Price:
$99/yr first year for new members
Returns:
+926% as of February, 8th 2025
Features:
2 Stock Picks Per Month
Detailed research reports
Stock analysis tools
Daily trading commentary
Mobile App?
Yes, through the Motley Fool app
Current Promotions:
$99/yr for first year
In this review, we dive into one of the top investment newsletters of all time, The
Motley Fool, the revered investment research service, exploring its offering’s depth and
breadth—from stock recommendations, educational resources, and customer service to its overall
effectiveness—to evaluate its worth in the crowded landscape of financial research platforms.
What is The Motley Fool?
Over the years, The Motley Fool has evolved into a comprehensive investment service, expanding its portfolio beyond traditional written content to offer many services to investors of all types. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or a newbie looking to understand the stock market basics, The Motley Fool has resources that cater to your needs.
The platform works straightforwardly. Members gain access to various financial resources, including podcasts, books, a radio show, and, most prominently, their highly sought-after stock recommending service, Motley Fool Stock Advisor.
The Motley Fool is a widely recognized financial services company based in Alexandria, Virginia. It was established in 1993 by brothers David and Tom Gardner. Their goal was to provide ordinary individuals with uncommonly good financial recommendations, dispelling the myth that only Wall Street insiders could profit from the stock market.
How Does The Motley Fool Work?
The Motley Fool provides an extensive investment resources, like Stock Advisor and Epic, which offer stock recommendations and investing tools.
This breadth of resources, focusing on long-term investing strategies, caters to novice and experienced investors, aiming to equip them with the knowledge and tools needed to make informed investment decisions.
Stock Advisor
The “Stock Advisor” is The Motley Fool’s flagship service and claim to fame.
Launched in 2002, Stock Advisor offers 2 monthly stock picks The service recommends stocks from established companies with proven track records and strong growth potential. Stock Advisor also advises when to sell, a feature that differentiates it from many other stock-picking services.
Who Should Use The Motley Fool?
The Motley Fool is Good For…
- DIY Investors: For those who prefer to manage their own portfolios, The Motley Fool provides a wealth of resources to make informed decisions.
- Lifelong Learners: The Motley Fool fosters a community of lifelong learners. Subscribers have the opportunity to continually learn and grow their financial literacy through an array of resources.
- Long-Term Investors: The service particularly benefits those focused on long-term wealth growth. The Motley Fool encourages a buy-and-hold strategy, which could potentially lead to substantial returns over time.
The Motley Fool is Not Good For…
- Passive Investors: If you’re a passive investor or prefer robo-advisors to manage your investments, the service might not align with your investment style.
- Short-Term Traders: If you are a day trader or swing trader seeking short-term gains, The Motley Fool’s advice may not align with your strategies. The platform focuses primarily on long-term investment opportunities, which may not provide the quick returns that short-term traders seek.
PROs and CONS Explained
PROS
- Comprehensive Tools: The platform offers a wide range of research and screening tools, including stock screeners, financial calendars, watchlists, and detailed financial data, which can help users to conduct thorough analysis and make informed investment decisions.
- Community and Learning Resources: With its community boards and extensive educational resources, The Motley Fool fosters a community of traders and investors and provides ample learning opportunities, which can be highly beneficial for both beginners and more experienced users.
CONS
- No Portfolio Import Functionality: You can’t link your brokerage account, which means manually flipping between platforms. You can manually add your positions, but I found that somewhat annoying.
- Not all picks are winners: Even Motley Fool has its misses, like their 42% loss on Oceaneering International, or a 90% loss on their bet on Stitch Fix. While you usually only here about their huge wins, there are losses too, so that is something to keep in mind.
- Constant upselling: After I signed up for Motley Fool, I was immediately bombarded with promotions to upgrade my account, which I found quite annoying.
for new members.
Motley Fool Stock Advisor
The Stock Advisor service is The Motley Fool’s flagship product and one of the most widely recognized investment services in the industry.
The service operates on a simple premise: each month, members receive two new stock recommendations.
Every stock recommendation comes with a comprehensive report, providing a detailed analysis of the company, its financial health, competitive position, risks, and potential for future growth.
Beyond the monthly recommendations, the service also provides a list of “Best Buys Now,” which are considered top opportunities from among all the stocks they’ve previously recommended. The service doesn’t just tell you when to buy; it also recommends when it might be a good time to sell, which is relatively rare among stock recommending services.
Key Features
2 Stock Picks per Month
The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor has earned a reputation for quality stock recommendations. It focuses on companies with strong financials, solid management teams, and compelling growth prospects. The stock picks typically span diverse sectors, allowing for natural portfolio diversification.
Motley Fool’s stock picks are generally known for focusing on long-term, buy-and-hold strategies. They are typically bullish on the growth potential of individual companies, and they often recommend stocks they believe could provide significant returns over a period of years.
Some of their stock picks have been very successful, and they are particularly well known for having recommended some high-performing tech stocks, like Amazon (2002) and Netflix (2009), very early on. However, past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Stock Advisor members get two new stock picks per month. Every stock recommendation comes with an in-depth research report explaining the proposal’s rationale.
Members also have access to a record of every recommendation the company has ever made. The information is laid out clearly in a table so members can see how past recommendations have performed.
Motley Fool offers full transparency by showing its track record of both winning and losing investments.
Access to the Latest Picks & Research
When Recommending a stock, Motley Fool provides an easy-to-digest analysis of the stock.
They provide stock details such as:
- Thesis why they are recommending the stock
- Reason for Recommendation [Buy, Sell, Hold]
- What could go wrong with the recommendation
- Alternatives
- Who the stock might be good for/not good for
Investing Tools
Motley Fool offers several helpful tools to make educated investing decisions.
Simulators
See the probability that a portfolio would have made money over time while holding a given number of stocks based on the historical performance of random Motley Fool stock picks. All stocks are of equal weight in their analysis.
Honestly, I think this is a bit gimmicky. It’s a simulator based on Motley Fool stock picks, and it seems like a marketing tool.
Allocators
Every portfolio is different. Motley Fool Stock Advisor Teams offer model portfolios based on various risk tolerances and time horizons to help understand how a portfolio can be constructed.
Using the selectors, sort through the available style teams. Read the description for each Style Team and pick which one most closely aligns with your interests.
Indicators
The Potential Growth Indicator measures the cash sitting in taxable money market accounts versus the total value of U.S. stocks. It tells us how hesitant or how eager investors are to have money into the stock market.
The PGI is designed to give a sense of investor sentiment for using their available cash to invest in the markets. The higher the PGI is, the less excited investors are to invest today.
This tells us that there could be better times ahead for stocks when investors eventually return to putting savings back into the market.
The Potential Growth Indicator can be somewhat helpful, but it’s just one of many, many metrics available, and this information can be found online for free.
Historical Performance
Historically, The Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor service has shown strong performance.
As of this writing, Stock Advisor’s average stock pick has significantly outperformed the S&P 500, returning 904.7% vs. 176.87% for the S&P 500 as of December 2nd 2024.
Note, that The Motley Fool may make recommendations more than once.
Since its inception, Motley Fool Stock Advisor has made 176 Stock Recommendations with 100%+ Returns.
Some picks, such as Amazon, Netflix, and Tesla, have yielded exceptionally high returns for subscribers who held onto those stocks.
Returns as of October 30th, 2024.
Price
When you subscribe to the Stock Advisor service, you receive two new stock picks each month, complete with comprehensive reports that provide an in-depth analysis of the company, its financial health, competitive position, risks, and potential for future growth.
In addition to these monthly recommendations, subscribers also gain access to a list of “Best Buys Now” – top opportunities among previously recommended stocks.
- Retail Price: $199/yr with a 30-day Money Back Guarantee
- New Subscriber Promotion: New subscribers can get a full year for just $99
*$99 is an introductory price for new members only. 50% discount based on current list price of Stock
Advisor of $199/year. Membership will renew annually at the then-current list price.
Moreover, The Motley Fool is not just about stock recommendations; it’s a platform designed to educate and guide you. You gain access to a wealth of investing resources, including investment guides, articles, and podcasts, helping you better understand the investing landscape and make informed decisions.
The price of the service also includes the potential peace of mind that comes with getting advice from seasoned professionals, making the world of investing less intimidating and more accessible.
While the cost of the service might be a deterrent for some, it’s important to remember that investing in reliable, high-quality advice could potentially lead to substantial returns in the long run. After all, the ultimate goal of investing is not to save on advisory fees but to grow your wealth.
Best Alternatives
If Motley Fool Stock Advisor isn’t right for you, several other subscription-based investing services may be a better fit.
1. Alpha Picks by Seeking Alpha
Overall Rating:
- Why it Stands Out: Alpha Picks is an investing group run by in-house quantitative analysts at Seeking Alpha. Every month, subscribers receive 2 new stock picks backed by the analysts’ research. Since 2022, Alpha Picks has returned 174.57%, vs. 59.17%, outperforming the S&P 500 nearly 3X.
- Best For: Investors looking for diverse perspectives and those interested in a broad spectrum of investment types.
- Pros: Outperformed S&P 500 3X, 2 New Stock Picks per month
- Cons: Requires familiarity with the Seeking Alpha Rating system
- Price: $449/year
- Current Promotions: $50 off full price of $499
or read our complete Alpha Picks Review.
2. MorningStar
Overall Rating:
- Why it Stands Out: Robust portfolio management tools offer investors the ability to track performance, conduct risk analysis, and create detailed reports, making it a versatile tool for effective portfolio management.
- Best For: Investors focusing on mutual funds and ETFs and those who appreciate detailed analysis.
- Pros: In-depth fund analysis, robust portfolio management tools, and comprehensive financial data.
- Cons: Might be too complex for beginners; some premium content requires a subscription.
- Price: $34.95 per month, $249 annually (41% savings)
- Current Promotions: Free for 7 days
Read our complete Morningstar Review.
Is The Motley Fool Worth It?
The Motley Fool provides more guidance than I’ve seen with other services, and I like to use them as the anchor in my portfolio.
Yes, The Motley Fool is worth it.
That said, don’t expect to sign up for The Motley Fool Stock Advisor and expect your portfolio to skyrocket in 6 months, that’s just not how investing works.
The Motley Fool should be considered a tool in your toolkit, not an investing panacea.
I also combine my research and use their monthly recommendations to add to positions I may already own. What makes the service worth it to me is the live streams so that I have a pulse on what’s going on and learn about businesses I would need more time researching.
*$99 is an introductory price for new members only. 50% discount based on current list price of Stock
Advisor of $199/year. Membership will renew annually at the then-current list price.
Review Methodology
Investing in the right financial products is crucial for achieving your financial goals. That’s why our review methodology is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of various investing platforms and tools. Here’s a breakdown of what we focus on:
Tools and Features
We dig deep into the suite of tools that each platform offers. Whether it’s automated investment features, tax-optimization, or specialized charting tools, we evaluate how these features contribute to smarter investing decisions. We ask questions like:
- Does the platform offer portfolio diversification?
- How effective are the risk assessment tools?
- Are there any value-added services like educational content?
Price and Value
Price matters, especially when it comes to investing, where every penny counts. We analyze:
- Subscription fees
- Hidden Charges
- Price compared to the overall value received
We’ll let you know if the platform gives you the most bang for your buck.
Ease of Use
User experience can make or break an investment platform. We assess:
- Interface Design – Is it intuitive and easy to use?
- Mobile app availability and functionality
- Customer Support – where applicable.
Nobody wants to navigate a clunky interface when dealing with their hard-earned money.
Stock Analysis
Good investing is rooted in great research. We examine:
- The quality of stock analysis tools
- Availability of real-time data
- Depth of research reports
We check if the platform provides actionable insights to make informed decisions.
How We Do It
- Hands-On Testing: We sign up for accounts and put the platform to the test. This is how we give our nuanced opinion.
- Customer Reviews: What are other users saying? We look at reviews and customer feedback to gauge public opinion.
- Comparative Analysis: Finally, we compare each platform against competitors in terms of features, pricing, and user experience.
We take a comprehensive approach so that you don’t have to.
Why You Should Trust Us
Our reviews are unbiased and data-driven. While we may receive a commission if you purchase a product through our link, it does not impact our editorial integrity. In addition, all articles are independently reviewed by individuals who have extensive experience in the investing and personal finance space. Lastly, for further validation, we often refer to authoritative financial sources like Morningstar, The Wall Street Journal, and Kiplingers, to name a few.
