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Gumshoe Gives Back, 2017-style

Stock Gumshoe's "Memberships for Charity" Campaign runs through Midnight on Friday!

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, December 4, 2017

We do things a little differently at Stock Gumshoe — we love our free readers, we don’t have sales, we don’t offer “limited time only” promotions or trial periods to get you in the door as a paid member, and we don’t try to upsell you every ten minutes. Every once in a while we raise our prices to keep up with expenses, but that’s about it.

But once a year I do run a new membership campaign — I jump out in the middle of the crowd and start yelling and trying to get new paid members to sign up… and that’s what we’re doing today. So if you’ve been thinking about maybe joining this most exclusive club of premium Stock Gumshoe members, well, right now is a good time.

So what’s the urgency? Why the limited-time-offer “must sign up by December 8!” stuff?

The urgency is that Stock Gumshoe will donate your membership payment to some worthy causes if you join us as a Stock Gumshoe Irregular this week.

If that’s all the inducement you need, then I’ll let you get right to it — Click here to sign up now.

If you don’t know what the Stock Gumshoe Irregulars are, you’re not alone (everyone suggests that we change it to something simpler, but I’m stubborn). The Irregulars are our premium members who pay to keep Stock Gumshoe going, and the name was inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars, who helped gather clues for Holmes’ cases.

They were also what we euphemistically would have called “street urchins” back in those days, so if you’d prefer to associate the name with something more glamorous, like the swashbuckling Irregulars British spy ring in 1940s Washington (with Roald Dahl the most famous of that group) or something else, well, have at it. And no, we are not trying to endorse any of the many “Irregular” military groups around the world.

What do you get for being a premium member?

What the Stock Gumshoe Irregulars get is, well, mostly more of what the free members get.

And, sometimes, less.

Probably the most valued feature for our paid members is the “Irregulars Quick Take” that I post at the top of all of my articles — not all of you have the time to appreciate my verbosity when I’m slogging through the solution to a newsletter teaser pitch, and that feature gives you the instant ID of the stock being teased (or whatever else the article might be about), and a quick summary of my thoughts.

Irregulars also get access to my musings on my personal portfolio, which I share with them as the Real Money Portfolio. That’s perhaps a lovely benefit at times when my portfolio is clobbering the market, though that’s not the case today (I’ve more or less been even with the S&P 500 for a few years). This probably won’t be a millionaire-making series of stock picks — though I hope my portfolio will continue to do well over time, and that sharing my thinking about buying, selling, and analyzing those holdings will be of some benefit to you.

And the Irregulars get Fridays… on the last day of the work week, I write something just for our paid members that I call the Friday File. Sometimes that’s another teaser solution article if one catches my attention that day, and sometimes it’s more of a “big picture” article or some commentary on my portfolio. I’m likely to comment on any big news that impacts the 30 or so stocks I typically own, and I keep a “might buy someday” watchlist and write from time to time about some of my non-stock holdings as well, including mutual funds, options speculations, and the like. I also share more of my opinions and big-picture blatherations with the smaller group of Irregulars from time to time… some love that, some ignore it — your call.

And as a paid member, you’ll also get access to any guest articles we might feature from other authors… though that might change a bit in the future (for example, we’re trying to help our most active columnist, Dr. KSS, form his own paid membership group so that he can be more fairly compensated for his efforts… you’d still have to be an Irregular to join that group, as tentative plans now have it, but there would also be an additional cost).

And there are other benefits, of course — you get to start your own discussion threads if you’re interested, which can occasionally turn into sharing pretty long and involved commentaries… some of our readers write more than I do from time to time.

Finally, though, there’s the best benefit of all — the warm feeling you get in your belly from knowing that you are an important part of keeping Stock Gumshoe going. I’ve been solving teasers and writing for you for more than a decade now, and we’ve been investing heavily into expanding and improving our community for the benefit of investors… and our paid members make that all possible (yes, we also host some advertisements, which allow us to keep offering valuable articles even for free members, but members like you pay for more than half of our operating expenses).

And this week, you get a bonus warm fuzzy feeling: the knowledge that you’ll be supporting a worthwhile charity. I haven’t decided which groups will receive our Stock Gumshoe largesse this year, but in the past we have generally focused on disaster relief, education, hunger, medical relief and similar causes, both in our local area and around the world, and that’s not going to change.

The details? We’re trying to set a new record this year for our charitable donations, so I’m making this deal count: WE’ll DONATE EVERY MEMBERSHIP PAYMENT WE RECEIVE THIS WEEK, including both renewals and new memberships… no gimmicks, no exclusions, no expenses taken off the top (well, except for refunds). So if you’re going to sign up, please do so by midnight on Friday.

It’s simple: if you join up with an annual payment of $59, we’ll donate $59. Hopefully you’ll stick around next year and renew, as most of our readers do, and then we’ll enjoy your support into the future… but this year, your membership payment will go to support our local food bank, or disaster relief in Puerto Rico, or literacy programs… or, well, you get the idea.

Good deal? I hope so. It will make our books a little tight at the end of the year, perhaps, but no one here at Stock Gumshoe is missing any meals, and we’ll be delighted to write those checks. And, of course, I look forward to having you join us (or stay with us) for many years into the future.

Thanks for indulging me with a few minutes to pitch our “Gumshoe Gives Back” campaign, and thanks so much for being a Stock Gumshoe reader and helping to build the finest community in cyberspace!

Cheers,

Travis

Travis Johnson
Founder and President, Stock Gumshoe

P.S. Sometimes it gets a little hinky when folks are trying to upgrade or sign up, particularly if you’re a free member from long ago but don’t remember your login credentials, so here’s the lowdown:

If you are a free member and already logged in (It would say “Bob Jones, Free Member” at the top of the page), then you can just click here to upgrade to a paid membership in the Irregulars. You’ll keep the same username and email address, everything will be easy and simple.

If you’re already a member of the Irregulars, and you want to know whether your membership is renewing soon, you can click here to see your membership details.

And if you don’t have a username or password, well, then it’s easy as pie to get going — just start here.

If the system tells you that your email address or username is already in our records and you don’t remember your password, you can request a password reset via email… or if that doesn’t work for any reason, you can always contact the redoubtable Lynn (email payments@stockgumshoe.com) and she’ll help you get everything cleared up.

Thanks again!

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Steve Marshall
Steve Marshall
December 4, 2017 6:20 pm

Heck Travis…I’ll join just to enjoy reading what you post!! And sometimes there are even good recommendations therein – LOL! Contributing to charitable cause(s) makes it even better,. Count me in!!

biodude56
biodude56
December 6, 2017 11:52 am

Thanks Travis I want to become a Lifetime Member and upgrade from a yearly membership, so , please let me know how to do that …..I noticed the disaster relief charities being a focus …. My house burnt down in Santa Rosa on October 8th in the No Cal wildfires … we are okay, living with Mom in Law and expect to rebuild in three years.., Thank God for insurance !!

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Lynn Clark, Stock Gumshoe
December 6, 2017 1:58 pm
Reply to  biodude56

So sorry to hear about your house. I’m glad to hear that no one was hurt, but I’m sure the whole thing has been horrible. We’re thinking of you here at Gumshoe. I just canceled the auto-renew on your annual subscription so you can join the lifetime Platinum membership at any time by going to “Edit Profile” in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and then choosing “Add/Renew Subscription”. I’ll send you an email as well. All the best to you and your family.

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looking_behind_the_hype
December 8, 2017 4:55 pm

Your articulate, low key, self-deprecating “Gumshoe Gives Back” narrative must have reached my warm fuzzy receptors because I just signed up as an irregular and feel good about doing it. I might have done it anyway, but when the amount goes to a worthy cause, how can you not? So thank you for your ongoing insights.

Allan

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Happy Investor
December 8, 2017 6:29 pm

Travis tried to sign up. Not sure of my status but count me in. I only use debit card now (not cr cards) so don’t know if this a problem – otherwise count me in and I will give you details.

Lynn Clark, Stock Gumshoe
December 9, 2017 4:18 pm
Reply to  Happy Investor

Hi- I’m sending you an email with details about subscribing. Thank you so much!

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jtkacc
December 8, 2017 6:59 pm

What cause did I give to?

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Bob M
Bob M
December 9, 2017 12:19 pm

Would be very interested in knowing where the donations go. Thanks.

jtkacc
December 9, 2017 5:49 pm

I think people are asking is there are some organizations they are not willing to
support even though the money is really your generosity. I know I feel that way.
Sincerely,
Al Coburn

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