I subscribe to a few Motley Fool Newsletters - Rule Breakers, Stock Advisor, Options and Pro. Our portfolio for individual stocks is > $300k; the expense is under 1% annually.
I am learning to use options to generate income off a cash balance, and it has been fascinating and fun.
It is hard to measure returns. My scorecard at the Fool shows that I am under the S&P by about 0.84%, but that does not include both my options profits and dividends. I think if I included those returns I would be matching the market or doing just a little better.
My goal is not to beat the market. My goal is to invest so that I will make money and beat inflation every year, and avoid losing capital -- regardless of the market direction. I want my money to grow every year. This means I am starting to learn about shorts and hedging in addition to long stocks and options. Most of this learning is by following the Pro service, which is a $2M real money portfolio model with 3 advisors and about 30 positions.
I've only been subscribing to paid Fool services for about 9 months, so it is hard to say how it's going so far, but I am satisfied with the experience and I like being involved with managing my money. I am a Kiyosaki fan and I do like his advice to spend time learning about investing. He recommends that if you are investing in the stock market, to learn about options -- and that has led me to the Fool's Pro and Options services.
I am also interested in real estate investing.
Hope that helps. I also like Vanguard index funds very much and think that's a very good option too.