The Motley Fool UK Reviews 183

The contributers make up a narative to push there view. it is nothing but a wild guess based on the narative. if they new anything they would not be doing this reviews for a fee.

I was an original member of their Hidden Winners project and I lasted until last year. The tips are monthly and on the whole pretty useless, with follow ups, like Hold or Sell coming too late to avoid heavy losses. Some tips were good but some were pretty awful and if you kept choosing the awful ones, well on top of fees, thats just one expensive mistake after another.

Well, I’m a total newbie when it comes to investing and there’s probably an argument for leaving my review until I see the performance of my portfolio in a few years but I’m loving the site so much I wanted to write my review immediately.
The thing is, they only recommend the company…the final choice is mine. If I like what is written I then head over to the company’s website and check them out thoroughly before googling them for a second or third opinion and then make my decision. The beauty of it is for me as a total noob is that I wouldn’t have the faintest idea of which companies to initially look at and that’s the reason why I find this site invaluable…all the information on lots of companies right there at my fingertips…then verify…google for more opinions and hey presto I’m an investor with a well diversified portfolio and a deep understanding that investing is for the long term.
I strong recommend this site…just remember, the final decision on where to invest is yours!

Unbelievable poop,I have been studying the markets for the last 5 years and you contradict yourself so many times,it’s like your being paid to get people to invest in company’s,people should pay no attention to what you say,please keep you opinions to yourself for you are a true fool

I wrote a review a while back (summer 2021) and now want to update it. I said then that Motley Fool was a ripoff and at the time I put their various recommendations on a watchlist. I have just looked again at the watchlist. One of their recommendations is -92% and one or two seem to have gone out of business. Out of a list of 19 just 3 of their recommendations are showing a profit. Does that say it all? I think so. So long as you don't want to chuck your money out of the window, don't go there

Keep repeating the name Warren Buffett over and over again. It will make all our financial dreams come true. Don't forget to include a photo of the great man, to add extra weight to your article. I'm sure many of the Motley Fool analysts subscribe to this mantra. It's getting monotonous.

These people are a bunch of snakes. It's all sales pitches and costly upgrades.

I watched their 'free' video on how to invest. It was basically a 'no information' sales pitch.

They spout absolute garbage

Enough said !

There's so much cobblers to wade through to find good info on this site it makes you wonder if it's worthwhile. Things such as recommending you spend £18k on one stock for a passive income of £1k per year are quite common. They must think everyone is a bored millionaire wondering where to throw their money. And don't get me started on the 'if I bought £2k shares in (insert company name) five years ago this is what I would have now' BS stories lol.

Just read a poor article from Motley fool about the space sector and specifically about mobile phone connectivity with satellites. Poorly informed. One might come to the conclusion it was a paid article to push a particular company mentioning no names.

You would be crazy to take their advice. It's a hybrid of value investing(time in market beats timing of market) with betting on stocks that have massively pumped(and are therefore likely to correct). Typical losses on a best buy now pick are 50-80%(they include crap like skillz and luckin coffees)Halfway through my subscription I resorted to betting against their advice and recouped some of the damage. This was just their stock advisor service. I'm sure they'll try and do damage control and allege I'm a robot but this is the gospel truth, stay away.

If you are fairly money-savvy you likely already know that you really ought to be looking into equity investments, and for the long-term too. However, the question is where can you find qualified, well-researched investment propositions, and moreover, ones you can afford? This is where Motley Fool's premium services have provided me with excellent value. As a busy professional, I simply don't have time to pore over businesses' accounts details (and it's not really my core skill either!) so paying the annual subscription gives me access to easy-to-read insight into some sensible potential investments. I really like how each potential equity investment is evaluated for potential upsides and risks, and all expressed in simple buy/sell alerts along with ongoing progress check-ins. This has helped me create a balanced ISA portfolio plus also gave my partner a few ideas for her SIPP. Of course all that research cannot guarantee every one will be a winner but overall we're up and doing rather nicely.
So, if you're looking for crypto, meme stocks, or short-term trading ideas then move along, HOWEVER, do try it out if you're looking for long-term buy-and-hold of equities in primary markets such as UK and US.

I signed up to the Share Advisor annual subscription for £69. There is some decent research in amongst their recommendations with good analysis of company fundamentals.... here comes the 'BUT'..

The overall total return of their recommendations as of the 30th of June, 2022, however is MINUS 2.95% compared to the benchmark, so you would have been better off investing in a tracker fund!

As is found with many actively managed mutual funds, it is hard to beat the market and here is just another example.

What I particularly dislike is the constant barrage of emails offering you 'new and exciting' packages for huge amounts more money... 'Blast Off UK' for the bargain amount of £699!?

I keep most of my investments in low fee tracker ETFs, but I do enjoy stock picking. To that end, I will be keeping my MoneyWeek subscription, but I won't be re-subscribing to Motley Fool.

I needed some unbiased advice
I started trading and needed some unbiased advice. I think TMF provided that. However I didn't find any real value in their analysis for short term trading which seemed a bit like explaining the weather after it had happened.
They took a 2nd year of subscription when I didn't really want it, and then a 3rd ! My bad and to the credit of TMF they refunded that renewal straight away on request. Bottom line - TMF is a straight operator but like all investment advice, it's a gamble.

Sadly, Motley Fool tried to have this review removed, which I think is unfair as it's a truthful experience, and balanced. Here it is again.
Such manipulation of reviews seems to be typical of the well guarded online reputation that Motley needs.

Update 1 June 2022

In fairness to Motley Fool I see that they have now published a series of articles about Woodbois that take a balanced view looking at positives and negatives.

A good response to my concerns.

Original Post

A few days ago this site wrote a balanced article about a company, Woodbois. On 9 May they wrote an article without balance and without any apparent knowledge of Woodbois. The 9 May article effectively attributed a rise in share price to a fake article. Inexplicably the 9 May article makes no mention that a few days before the price went up there was a very positive news release from the company. It makes no mention of the very significant value that the company has in biological assets. In addition it makes no reference to improving sales and that Woodbois are moving towards beginning their first carbon sequestration project. It appears that the Motley Fool has some journalists who display balance in their writing and others that fail to do so and evidently there is no editorial control to ensure that any particular article presents a balanced view. Did the writer of the 9 May article even bother to speak to anyone from the company to seek their input? I doubt it. This is poor journalism and with the lack of balance it could be viewed as an attempt to manipulate the share price.

I suggest they do some research and write a corrective article that is fact focused and crucially, balanced.

I've been a member of Share Advisor and Hidden Winners services for over 5 years. I've learned a lot and made some rewarding investments. They find opportunities that I wouldn't find alone, they are responsive to questions and comments, and there is a community of members to discuss with. Their assumptions and strategies are logical and clearly set out. Glad I joined.

I suppose with financial advice it'll always be based on whether you make money or not, with Motley Fool I have had success and failure. As a whole the company provides good advice and customer service. They will contact you before renewal, in case you forget to cancel and they are always quick to respond to any issues.

Investing is a tricky business and there is no guarantee of success, but as a company Motley Fool offers a good service at a reasonable price.

For long term minded investors, there's value to be had with the service. I have been with Motley fool for 9 years and had some real good recommendations and financial gains from it. Do they get them all right, no, but who does? Can purchase as and when on their recommendations to suit me. Good value when you compare it to a % cost for buying a fund

Great insights and I am around 25% up overall. A few are down but thats par for the course. Some recommendations are on the dear side so I stick to the shares up to around £10. Overall very happy :)