First off, I refuse to purchase any service that does not offer a full refund after a trial period. I’ve seen the BS from these pitchmen who claim that ‘If we gave refunds then everyone would sign up, take our recommendations, then ask for a refund. We’d go broke.’ From my point of view, I need enough data to judge whether or not a service is worth the money; if I don’t have visibility into their performance then I can’t make an informed decision. To break this impasse, I would like to see all investment advisory services offer a paid but inexpensive, limited-time, trial membership that provides the following MINIMUM information: full data on all CLOSED positions since the service began, including name of the asset, dates of recommendation and close, price at recommendation and close, and year-to-date, 1 yr, 3 year and lifetime yields if available. Also, the service should provide the following information on all OPEN positions: type of product recommended without identifying the product, date of recommendation, current yield, and, if they exist, the year-to-date, 1 yr, 3 year and lifetime yields. I’m willing to pay a nominal, non-refundable price for this limited-trial information as it allows me to make a more enlightened decision before committing to a full membership that is non-refundable. Also, if the service is either brand new or rebranded so that it looks new, It should provide the same trial information on the advisor’s previous product that is most similar to the new one. To me, this seems like a logical extension of ‘truth in advertising’, and would benefit anyone considering a subscription to one of these very expensive newsletters.

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