The Motley Fool: a great place to learn about investing
Written: Aug 19 '00
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Pros: honest no-nonsense approach to investing
Cons: the web site has a more "commercial" feeling than before
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| beartracks's Full Review: Motley Fool |
I've been using the Motley Fool as a tool to get investing ideas since December 1995. In those days, the best place to access "the Fool" was through AOL. Today, all internet users can access their free web site equally.
The Fool has come a long way since the days when AOL and Iomega dominated the "Fool portfolio". The Fool portfolio was started with real money by the brothers Tom and David Gardner, with their purchase of AOL on August 5, 1994. The name has since changed to the "Rule Breaker portfolio" and additional real money portfolios launched to reflect different investing strategies. The Rule Breaker portfolio has since sold off all pre-1997 positions except AOL. Some of the original AOL shares were sold over the years at a profit to raise money for new purchases such like Amazon.com in 1997. The 4020 AOL shares that remain were purchased for $1847.65. These shares were worth $219,503.60 as of 8/19/2000.
The Fool encourages free exchange of investing ideas among members, or fellow "Fools". They have been remarkably consistent in their no-nonsense approach to full disclosure of their investment decisions and performance. When the management decides to buy or sell a stock, the decision is often motivated by the collective opinions of fellow Fools. Stocks are bought and sold only after a complete report is posted explaining the reasoning behind the planned transaction. All of these reports are archived, and can still be viewed by anyone with an internet connection. The performance of each portfolio is shown clearly against the major indices (Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500). The conventional wisdom and practices of the established medium, or the "Wise" as they call it, is constantly challenged.
I haven't always agreed with the opinions of the Motley Fool. I shared some of their successes and failures in my own portfolio, avoided some of their mistakes, and also missed out on opportunities that they capitalized on. The point of the Motley Fool is not to mimic them, but rather to use the information they provide to learn how to develop a successful approach to investing. When I hear the rest of the world clamoring about the latest financial events, I now step away from the noise by asking myself, "what part of this story do I expect to change in day? How about in a month?" When I'm discouraged by the "long" correction (almost half a year, oh my!) of internet stocks, I sometimes look up the original 1994 buy report of AOL, and try to understand the general principles that might help me also uncover today's companies will be tomorrow's market leaders. I then turn off the TV, and try to focus on where I think the world will be in five years. This attitude is influenced to a large degree by the consistency of the investing approach taken by the Fool.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
beartracks
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Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 3 members
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