Motley Fool

The Motley Fool is the name of a financial web site that began in 1993, although it is now a lot more. From its humble beginnings as the brain-child of two brothers in Alexandria, Virginia, the Motley Fool has developed into a multimedia financial services organization which spreads its message throughout the investing community via its web sites in the USA, the UK and Australia; books, newspaper column, TV appearances and newsletters.

The blurb on their web site says that the company took its name from Shakespeare, who said that the king's fools were allowed to tell him anything, in an amusing way, without fear of being beheaded. The Motley Fool may fall short on the comedy aspect.

For while their business and investing advice is as sound as anything else you are likely to get anywhere, the humour can be a bit tortured.

Nevertheless, the advice is sound and the structure of the site with its community discussion boards leads to many exciting, topical debates by well-informed (and much less well-informed) investors all anxious to speak their minds.

There is information on most aspects of personal finance on the site, ranging from loans to investment vehicles like stocks, shares, bonds, retirement funds and mutual funds.

The web site abounds with hints, tips, advice and suggestions on how to both make and save money. You will find recommendations on things like finance software, dividend stocks, stock options, how much you should be saving from your monthly salary and how much of it should go into stocks and how much into a cash savings account et cetera.

There are regular features on other aspects too like which is the best electric or gas company. Getting out of debt and credit repair also feature highly in the articles that appear on the Motley Fool's web sites. Another feature is their interest in shares. There are professional income investors and stock advisors too - look for the section called Hidden Gems.

The team at Motley Fool are managing a 'million dollar portfolio' of their own real money live on line and members of the web site are allowed to watch, discuss and copy every transaction. Only a certain number of people are allowed in at any one time, so you may find this feature closed to you, but you can register to be informed when a space comes up.

In the meantime, you could join one of the CAPS Contests which simulate gambling on the stock exchange with pretend money in dummy portfolios. That is, you play with pretend money, but the prizes are real enough. These contests are great fun and the best way of being able to learn about the stock exchange and market movements without it breaking the bank.

All in all, it worth adding the Motley Fool to your list of Financial Favourites because there is such a wealth of free financial information there which seems to come from the heart of the managing, owner brothers. Sure they get commissions on everything and try to sell a Professional version of the site, but there is still a lot of free stuff there as well.

One word of warning though: while the financial advice and suggested links are all pretty good, do not go there expecting to have a good laugh, because the humour wears a bit thin after about five minutes.