Our bottom line
Share Advisor is The Motley Fool UK’s flagship share-tipping newsletter business. The aim of the service is to identify and recommend shares that the investing team believes are poised to outperform the rest of the market. Since inception, Share Advisor picks on average were up 32.35%1 as of 31/10/2024. Since we’re long-term investors, the service aims to recommend a company’s stock and ‘hold’ for at least three to five years.
What kind of solution is Motley Fool Share Advisor?
An online stock-picking business, Share Advisor regularly recommends listed companies from both the UK and the US and maintains coverage until the service might decide to issue a ‘Sell’ alert. You choose which stocks to buy for yourself, so you can create your own unique portfolio with autonomy.
Motley Fool Share Advisor’s top features
Since inception, Share Advisor picks on average are up 32.35%1 as of 31/10/2024.
Indeed, many of our selections have not performed so well, and some have fallen in value. But our track record speaks for itself. What might surprise you is that shares that haven’t performed well are displayed right alongside those that have. Transparency is a key component of the Share Advisor service.
Every month, two new share recommendations are delivered to Share Advisor members. These are shares in two thoroughly-researched companies that the Share Advisor team believes can outperform the market. Subscribers receive an email alert letting them know when new recommendations are out, and they can read a full analysis of the new picks on the Share Advisor site.
Each set of two new recommendations comes with one growth share (Fire) and one income share (Ice). Growth shares are chosen due to their expected potential to show grow and increases in share price. Income shares are those that pay attractive dividends to shareholders. The split between Fire and Ice allows Share Advisor members to tailor their own portfolio towards growth, income or some mix of both.
‘Starter Stocks’ and ‘Best Buys Now’ are two features that can help new Share Advisor members jump-start their portfolios. These features can be particularly helpful to new investors who are building a portfolio for the first time.
‘Starter Stocks’ are those shares that the Share Advisor team believe can provide a good foundation for a share portfolio. ‘Best Buys Now’ are more focused on opportunistic buying. These tend to be quality companies whose shares currently look like an appealing value to the Share Advisor team.
Finally, all Share Advisor picks, both present and past, are displayed in the service’s ‘Scorecard’. This allows members to not only see all of the picks, but also read all of the past recommendations and commentary — a great way for investors (new and experienced!) to learn how to invest better.
How do the fees work?
Annual membership is paid upfront, with no hidden “extra costs”. Alternatively, we also offer a great-value introductory two-year membership for just £249 – afterwards, your subscription will renew at our standard £149 per year (the same applies for buying a one-year membership).
Motley Fool Share Advisor’s platform
The core of the Share Advisor service is the website. On the main Share Advisor site, you can easily find everything that it has to offer.
Front and centre on the site are the Share Advisor investing team’s ‘Shares to Buy Today’. These share recommendations include the latest two service recommendations as well as three ‘Best Buy Now’ picks. Further down on the homepage, users can find further information about recent recommendations, educational pieces from the investing team, and ongoing coverage of the service’s recommended shares.
Via the site’s navigation, it’s easy to find all of the service’s current and historical recommendations and updates. The ‘Latest Recommendations’ section provides links to the investment analysis of the two most recent recommendations, along with links to past recommendations. The content in this section is split up between growth (Fire) recommendations and income (Ice) recommendations, so it’s easy to find the types of shares that you’re interested in.
The ‘Research & Updates’ section includes a wealth of information. You can find the recent ‘Buy’ recommendations here, but you can also read ‘Sell’ recommendations, company updates, educational pieces, and find the lists of ‘Best Buy Now’ and ‘Starter Stocks’. The latter are shares that the investing analysts view as great shares to form the foundation of a diversified portfolio.
The ‘Performance’ page is the section of the site that would make any stock picker blush. While some stock pickers tend to trumpet their successful investments and hide their losing trades in a dark corner, the scorecard for Share Advisor shows not only the highly profitable recommendations, but also the ones that haven’t done as well. We believe this transparency is important for our members.
Finally, the ‘Help’ centre is a place where users can find information about the Motley Fool Share Advisor team, how to use the service, and options to update your profile information.
It’s helpful to note that the Share Advisor site is ‘mobile optimised’. What that means is that the site toggles itself to the best experience whether you are visiting from desktop or your mobile. That means that you can check in on Share Advisor at home or while on the road, without having to mess around with a separate app for it.
While the Share Advisor site is the most comprehensive port of call for members, emails are sent weekly to member’s inboxes, containing links to the main Share Advisor site.
An important note about share dealing
Motley Fool Share Advisor is not a share-dealing service or robo-advisor. By providing thoroughly researched share recommendations, Share Advisor can help make it a lot easier to build a quality diversified portfolio. But you will need to have a share-dealing service separate from Share Advisor.
Luckily, The Motley Fool has ratings and recommendations for a selection of the top share-dealing services in the UK.
Depending on your investing needs, we have reviews covering:
- Online share-dealing services in general
- Stocks and Shares ISAs, to allow you to invest tax free
- Trading apps, for investing straight from your mobile device
- Robo-advisors, for those who don’t want to deal with choosing individual investments
What are the risks?
You won’t find an investing product that guarantees a return. If you are truly looking for guaranteed return, then you may well be better off with a savings account and the relatively low interest rates on offer there.
Funds in a savings account are secure, however, its important to remember when investing in stocks and shares that their value and the value of any dividend income may fall as well as rise, and is not guaranteed so you may get back less than you invested. That’s as standard. But unlike investing in managed portfolios, there’s no obligation to buy shares in any of our recommendations if you don’t want to.
How accessible is Motley Fool Share Advisor?
We’re confident that Share Advisor’s site is extremely accessible and easy to navigate. The Motley Fool aims to strip out the jargon from investing that can deter the average Brit from looking to grow their wealth with shares; similarly, we strive for all information to be easily found on the Share Advisor site, including up-to-date performance figures for previous recommendations as well as the most recent research and commentary.
Service and support
Help is available via email and telephone. Members are also welcome to post questions and comments on the Share Advisor site, with the analysts themselves replying publicly to posts.
Is Motley Fool Share Advisor right for you?
The majority of us won’t have the time on our hands to put hours and hours each day into in-depth research across the myriad sectors and listed companies in the UK or America. But a Share Advisor subscription gives access to our team’s research. Our team is working around the clock to provide members with what they believe are the most attractive opportunities to buy shares in. Plus, ongoing coverage means that when our experts think it’s finally time to sell, you’ll hear about it first.
1 Motley Fool Share Advisor has delivered an overall return of 32.35%. The S&P UK Broad Market index has delivered an overall return of 33.17%. Returns are calculated using a time-weighted rate of return (TWRR) methodology that includes dividends reinvested and excludes trading costs. The returns on investments made in overseas currencies are calculated without adjusting for changes in exchange rates, so these may not accurately reflect actual returns for a sterling-based UK investor. The S&P UK Broad Market returns include dividends reinvested. Returns are measured from the date of each recommendation to the close of trading on 31/10/2024. 2 recommendations per month have been made since 27/02/2012.