Publisher
AAII
Description
AAII tries to provide unbiased financial education, including a variety of model portfolios based on different strategies. Also publishes an investment journal.
Overall Rating
Rating: 3.5/5. From 72 votes.
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3.9
Rating from 299 votes
If you’ve subscribed to American Association of Individual Investors, please click the stars below to indicate your rating for this newsletter, and please share any other feedback about your experience using the comment box below.
Investment Performance
Rating from 90 votes
Rating: 3.8/5. From 90 votes.
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- 5 Stars 28 Votes
- 4 Stars 39 Votes
- 3 Stars 12 Votes
- 2 Stars 3 Votes
- 1 Stars 8 Votes
Quality Of Writing/Analysis
Rating from 68 votes
Rating: 4.0/5. From 68 votes.
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- 5 Stars 34 Votes
- 4 Stars 16 Votes
- 3 Stars 8 Votes
- 2 Stars 2 Votes
- 1 Stars 8 Votes
Value For Price
Rating from 69 votes
Rating: 4.2/5. From 69 votes.
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- 5 Stars 47 Votes
- 4 Stars 7 Votes
- 3 Stars 6 Votes
- 2 Stars 3 Votes
- 1 Stars 6 Votes
Customer Service
Rating from 72 votes
Rating: 3.5/5. From 72 votes.
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- 5 Stars 17 Votes
- 4 Stars 31 Votes
- 3 Stars 8 Votes
- 2 Stars 5 Votes
- 1 Stars 11 Votes
AAII Performance Ratings for over 50 different stock strategies by various authors (newsletter and otherwise) and other criteria. Go to:
http://aaii.com/stockscreens/performance.cfm
While even a blind pig finds a truffle now and then, the best way to evaluate newsletters is their performance over time.
The AAII people take what the newsletter writers indicate are their criteria for picking stocks and compile the actual performace, based on close of business of the stocks as of Friday every week.
This is the only FREE site I know of which gives unbiased data since 1/1/98, year by year and cumulative. It also gives info on turnover percentage, etc. When compared to the indexes, some strategies are profound.
While I appreciate GREATLY what you are doing, I encourage you to also educate your reader about how to evaluate newsletters over time.
Any blind pig can find a truffle. Snoutless pig, not so well.
(yes, aware ‘snoutless’ was not a word. Is now …)
Pigs actually have poor sight. And find food with olfactory guidance.
I have been to a pig farm. Hard to believe they can discern food in that stinky place. WHEW!
A wealth of advice and education. The only newsletter I never regretted subscribing to.
This is the single best value I have found in 50 years of investing because it is based on a consistent, transparent methodology. Definitely for the long term investor. Organization is not-for-profit. Monthly magazine (no ads) keeps up with recent academic and industry research. Has been around for over 20 years and I believe has 170,000 subscribers. You may not always agree with them, but their integrity is unquestionable. I have purchase subscriptions for my kids and sister. They may not read the AAII Journal, but they can’t say they didn’t have the opportunity. Very inexpensive and great value. Website is free with great resources, including model portfolios, and paid membership gives access to many types of screens. Highly recommended.
Have found their stock screens to be of value when my own nuance is added.
I was probably a little harsh with my ratings since I don’t spend a lot of time with the newsletter . I’m a lifetime member of AAII and do not regret paying for it. In general AAII offers a lot of interesting resources.
I always thought they sounded good, then I subscribed only to find out the info I wanted upped the price. Maybe I misread something, but I cancelled because it is deceiving to find out it’s not what you thought you purchased. Some day I may give them a try again.
Agree with that assessment
On top of this, they apparently are free to change what they give a lifetime member at their own whim. I paid per year for two years, was pleased with what I got for the price. A little over a year after signing up for a lifetime membership, they modified what you could see in the stock screens, making it basically useless. Having said that, one may get occasional ideas from the journal, which in my opinion is at least better than most of the popular financial magazines.
No longer subscribe
Today I reviewed the “non-profit” status of AAII on Guidestar.org and noted that they consistently pay their officers a good 40 to 50% of revenue while other expenses (advertising, mailings, etc) account for most of the rest of expense leading to negative profit. So it makes me wonder if a company that seems to be consistently in the red while spending 90% of it’s income on officer salaries and advertising/mailings/etc. really has our interests at heart. Or, is it simply a way to provide basic investment info (that is available at no cost elsewhere on the web) while making healthy salaries for the top 5 to 8 officers/managers.
All, or at least most, “nob-profits” pay nice salaries to the top execs. Many pay MILLIONS like American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Shriners Hospitals for Children, American Heart Association, United States Olympic Committee, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, United Way International and Boys Town, to name just a few. In addition, the information AAII provides to members is NOT “basic” and most certainly is NOT “available at no cost elsewhere on the web”. As to wether the info is worth the cost, or as helpful in achieving an individuald goals, that can only be answered by each member.
I was a club member 1000 years ago in Denver, too young and dumb to apply myself. I now need to learn how companies are cooking their books by learning solid fundamentals from cash flow analysis, etc. Will AAII show me the way?
The free service is fine, the paid service that is another story. I cancelled and i asked for a refund, which they did provide but after 3 emails.
There are two services I like here; one is suprisingly free and i say suprisingly because they offer really good advice when it comes to ETF’s. The service is run by Ulli Niemann . It is discussed in this thread
https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/no-load-mutual-fundetf-tracker/
I find it very informative and am still suprised such good data is going for free. There are host of other shoddy newsletters that charge a fortune and provide 90% less than this free service
The other service is by the Tactical Investor, unfortunatley it is not free, but the sentiment data they provide is second to none and the analysis is spot on.
There are two other services I susbscribe to but they are not discussed on stockgumshoe.
Did any of the newsletters give a SELL order in Jan Feb or the first week in March
The content and advice is ok but their customer service department is absolutely awful. I will not give them any more of my money because of their customer service.
I paid to become a “lifetime member” about 15 years ago, and used it primarily for its stock screening service which was quite good. There would be a page describing their methodology, and then a page showing “passing companies” that passed the screen. The data was always a month late because I wasn’t subscribed to their “Pro” service, and that was fine. Then, as another commenter has noted, overnight they stopped showing “passing companies” to their members, with only a couple of exceptions for their “screen of the month” or somesuch. I called them on it and they admitted that it was a “management decision,” and the customer service rep I talked to was powerless to change the decision on a case-by-case basis. Then I emailed Wayne Thorp to complain, saying the fact that they’d done it in such a furtive manner confirmed that they knew it would be an unpopular decision. He said, “All things in life change. We amortize ‘lifetime members’ over 20 years, so you can get 5 years’ worth refunded if you want, but we’re not changing the policy.” I agreed to the deal and asked for my money – and never saw a dime. Since I don’t invest in companies that pull such shenanigans, I don’t advise anyone to invest in AAII.
It is wrong to take the AAII portfolios as investment recommendations. Rather use them as instructive examples from the rules that AAII developed to screen for examples that fit the concepts. From that perspective AAII is the best investment I have made. All others blather on and on about their latest “pick(s)” or the next 1000% winner, etc.