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Newsletter Review Score:  65/100

There are several premium services available on Motley Fool for you to subscribe to.   I decided to try out two that are on different sides of the spectrum.   The Income Investor newsletter and the Hidden Gems newsletter.    I have belonged to both of these services for a few months now (I bought the year subscription) and I have to admit I wish I bought it monthly, so I could have cancelled by now.   Let me describe how the information is, in these two paid services.

First, the Income Investor newsletter.     This one is designed for people who want to own some stable stocks, and basically do very little trading.   Frankly, after getting the information (which is only one update per month), I felt like I already knew everything they were saying.   They give you their portfolio of 5 buy now stocks and about 20 other buy stocks, which they recommend that you add to your portfolio as you can afford to.

The problem with the Income investor is that there is no reason to join for more than 1 month.   You get the 5 stocks, which are no surprise SO, JNJ, PEP,WM, and DEO.  Whoopee after you get those 5 obvious blue chips, you can cancel.   I felt so stupid for buying the entire year.    Yes, you do get an occasional intent to buy or sell on something new, but the bulk of this whole service is about owning those 5 stocks.     I see no reason to subscribe to this service, with such lame information.

Second, the Hidden Gems newsletter .   I joined this one because it focuses on small cap stocks which potentially can be very profitable, and require frequent alerts in the newsletter to make sure you are buying and selling at the right times.   Or so I thought

The problem with the Hidden Gems newsletter is that practically all of the stocks they pick LOSE money.   I kid you not.   They had one winner which was Boston Beer.   They also had FOSSIL.    But they had another 30 stocks that were BIG LOSERS.   If I had followed their portfolio as they recommend you do, I would have been down, huge.     Here is another problem you dont get fast enough info.   Again, the updates are few and far between 2 per month or so.    There is no way that you can make consistent money on small cap stocks with such infrequent updates to follow.  You are getting beat to the punch on most of the plays here.

Based on the reasons I state above, on both the Income Investor and the Hidden Gems newsletters from Motley Fool, I can not recommend subscribing to them.   There are much better services on the market, with more frequent updates and information that can be much more profitable.