What The Hell Is Up With "The Motley Fool"?

[Dicey]

Has anybody seen this article? WTF? I thought The Fool was a trusted source on the road to financial fitness, but something must have changed drastically whilst I was hanging out here.

BTW, you don't have to read the article. It's total clickbait, pushing stock in a single company, disguised as a great financial success story. Looks like total fabricated bullshit. Are they totally off the rails?

I'm mostly asking because there are a lot of people here trying to figure out how to invest the money they've learned to save through MMM. Egads! This is a classic example of what NOT to do!

http://www.fool.com/ext-content/one-couple-33k-into-1-million/281/?psource=erbyho7410860030&utm_campaign=applecouple&campaign=rb-wearable&paid=8485&waid=8485&utm_medium=contentmarketing&utm_source=yahoo&wsource=erbyhowdg0860011&cellId=0&testId=apple-couple

[nereo]

TMF was my first introduction into personal finance.  I loved that they used to stress index funds as perhaps the best way of building wealth, and liked their "get rich slowly" and "buy-and-hold" strategies.  They used to feature a whole series of articles front-and-center on their home page about how to get wealthy buying index funds and holding them for decades.

Unfortuantely, they seem to have slowly shifted their focus a great deal, with the latest change being a very big one. They seem to be pushing their stock-picking services very aggressively, and altered their basic "investor series" to focus more on buying and selling individual stocks.

It's too bad...

[singh02]

Check out Morgan housel's articles on the motley fool.  They're some of the best financial articles out there.  Also very simple and entertaining to read.

http://www.fool.com/author/1611/index.aspx

Otherwise it's all known click bait.

[soccerluvof4]

I dont even have to read the article as I was expecting something like this. What i mean is its all about the money now. Articles are written to capture more the big numbers than as to content. Lately I have seen alot of great headline articles that turn out being shit.

[nereo]

Check out Morgan housel's articles on the motley fool.  They're some of the best financial articles out there.  Also very simple and entertaining to read.

http://www.fool.com/author/1611/index.aspx

Otherwise it's all known click bait.

+1 to Morgan Housel, IMO the best financial writer they have.  It says something that they've moved his articles off the main page into a back corner where you now have to search specifically to find them.  That's probably because he rarely mentions individual companies or stocks, and when he does it's just to highlight them as an example of some macro-economic trend.

All other articles, almost without fail, finish with a paragraph about how you can take advantage of (whatever the subject of the article was) by looking at these three key companies for your portfolio, one of whom was recently discussed in our pay-for stock picking service.

[Travis]

If I remember correctly, the guy who started TMF sold it and retired and whoever owns it now mostly publishes sponsored click-bait.

[Mr.Tako]

Indeed, they've gone downhill over the years.  Their best writers left years ago, and now it's just this scammy crap you see most of the time.  Sad, it used to be a great site, with a few fantastic writers.

All good things must come to an end I guess.

[arebelspy]

Indeed, they've gone downhill over the years.  Their best writers left years ago, and now it's just this scammy crap you see most of the time.  Sad, it used to be a great site, with a few fantastic writers.

All good things must come to an end I guess.

+1 to all of this.

[Geekenstein]

I drop by the site every so often and usually find one or two interesting articles, but like many investment porn sites, there's a lot of click bait and garbage.  It has seen better days.

[Kris]

Indeed, they've gone downhill over the years.  Their best writers left years ago, and now it's just this scammy crap you see most of the time.  Sad, it used to be a great site, with a few fantastic writers.

All good things must come to an end I guess.

+1 to all of this.

+ 2.

Sadly, TMF is DOA these days. They are no longer anything but worthless click bait.

[faramund]

I look at motley fool moderately often, but my rule is:

1) Does article mention individual stocks -> treat as entertainment
otherwise -> expect a thoughtful article.

[faramund]

Check out Morgan housel's articles on the motley fool.  They're some of the best financial articles out there.  Also very simple and entertaining to read.

http://www.fool.com/author/1611/index.aspx

Otherwise it's all known click bait.

Just a thanks for this - I've bookmarked it, and now I know what I'll be doing/reading with the rest of my rainy Friday afternoon.

[runningthroughFIRE]

Check out Morgan housel's articles on the motley fool.  They're some of the best financial articles out there.  Also very simple and entertaining to read.

http://www.fool.com/author/1611/index.aspx

Otherwise it's all known click bait.

+1 to Morgan Housel, IMO the best financial writer they have.  It says something that they've moved his articles off the main page into a back corner where you now have to search specifically to find them.  That's probably because he rarely mentions individual companies or stocks, and when he does it's just to highlight them as an example of some macro-economic trend.

All other articles, almost without fail, finish with a paragraph about how you can take advantage of (whatever the subject of the article was) by looking at these three key companies for your portfolio, one of whom was recently discussed in our pay-for stock picking service.

I've read through some of his articles, and I think you can actually see the point in time they started doing this.  Somewhere along the line in those last 50 articles he stopped advertising their CEO's two stock picks of the week at the end of his articles.  It struck me as odd when I first noticed him doing it, since his articles essentially proclaim that stock picking and timing the market is for fools followed by a suggestion to check out stock picking advice.

I wonder if they moved his articles to make them harder to find and he stopped caring about plugging their services, or he stopped advertising for them first and was moved for it.

[nereo]

I've read through some of his articles, and I think you can actually see the point in time they started doing this.  Somewhere along the line in those last 50 articles he stopped advertising their CEO's two stock picks of the week at the end of his articles.  It struck me as odd when I first noticed him doing it, since his articles essentially proclaim that stock picking and timing the market is for fools followed by a suggestion to check out stock picking advice.

I wonder if they moved his articles to make them harder to find and he stopped caring about plugging their services, or he stopped advertising for them first and was moved for it.

Noticed that too.  I'm somewhat surprised that Mr Housel hasn't jumped ship and been snatched up elsewhere, but I guess the big question is "where would he go?"  Most of the other locations for financial writers are just as unscrupulous, and the few sites that aren't have very high bars and relatively low pay from what I understand (editorial board for places like the WSJ, for example). If you're not generating clicks and linking readers back to the 'ecosystem' you're not wanted.  I know he recently had a child, so big life changes might not be in the cards.

now I'm just speculating....

[mathlete]

This ONE company is completely DISRUPTING China!

Click here to sign up for an insider account!

Yeah I used to really like TMF too. I don't blame them for going clickbaity. That seems to be the only way to make money on the Internet these days. Especially when "dollar cost average the market with index funds" is advice that is available everywhere for free.

[nobodyspecial]

The Canadian site is much much worse.
Their only stories are:

Why RBC bank is a better pick than TD bank, then next week, why you should pick TD over RBC.
Alternate with our duopoly telcos. Ditto for the only two airlines.
Why we weren't really wrong about promoting Blackberry or Bombardier when it dropped X% immediately after we recommended it.
Sign up to be told which oil sands or pipeline stock will rebound in 2015/2016/2017/....

     

[Doubleh]

Wonder if the Canadian version and uk site are written by the same team? All our articles are the same but with RBS and lloyds instead for the banks

[nereo]

One other significant change I've noticed in TMF - several years ago they pushed the envelope for transparency and accountability.  Every article ended with a statement saying "Author owns shares in ____ and ____ but has no financial interest in anything else mentioned in this article.  The stocks _____ and  ____ were Motley Fool recommendations on (date).  You can see the date and purchase price, plus a our Fool Disclosure Policy here (link)"

They also "moneyballed" (or at least tried to) every one of their calls.  Now they put up some ticker showing how they are doing relative to the SP, but it leaves out time, individual stocks, etc.  Sad. 

[rosarugosa]

Robert Brokamp from TMF used to do a great guest post series for Get Rich Slowly, another site that's really gone downhill although for different reasons.  He explained financial fundamentals with an engaging and extremely entertaining approach.

[GuitarStv]

Garth has been predicting an imminent housing crash in Canada for about 20 years now . . .

One of these years he's probably going to be right.

[Dicey]

Robert Brokamp from TMF used to do a great guest post series for Get Rich Slowly, another site that's really gone downhill although for different reasons.  He explained financial fundamentals with an engaging and extremely entertaining approach.

I used to enjoy Brokamp's posts and GRS too. Since he (RB) hasn't been heard from lately, is it too much to hope that he's FIRE now? I guess all good things have to come to an end. Usually when a site is sold, it's the kiss of death. Apparently the Fool is no exception. Thanks for filling me in. I guess that tasty low information diet means occasionally I miss something. Meh.

[obstinate]

[Ricky]

You usually see these tidbits at the end of their legitimate articles but I always ignore them. I still find the actual content to be just fine. I think they've made it pretty clear that their nonsense stuff is nonsense by using hyperboles and sensationalist words.

Like everything else in life - you have to know how to look past the bullshit and recognize the good stuff.

[Dicey]

Like everything else in life - you have to know how to look past the bullshit and recognize the good stuff.

I agree, but I always thought they were worthy of a high level of trust. Thanks to everyone for their responses. I knew I could count on the Mustachian community.

I see TMF has floated away from their original principles. Since they're a monetized site and big changes have clearly been made, I will treat them with far less reverence in the future. I suspected as much, but opened this thread to confirm my suspicions and so that others might also see that apparently the emperor has a new wardrobe.

[TomTX]

TMF wrote some good books something like 20 years ago. Early on their site was good. It has been shit for years.

[Dicey]

TMF wrote some good books something like 20 years ago. Early on their site was good. It has been shit for years.

Since I swore off buying individual stocks, I've had little interest in TMF. I just didn't realize how low their ship had sunk. Thanks for the input, TomTX.