If you're looking to buy into an investment advisory service then it'd be best to find one that adheres to your political values. If you're a hardcore conservative you probably don't want a service that leans too far to the left, and vice versa.
Motley Fool is one of the largest independent publishers of financial information out there. They have a number of investment advisory services and because of this people have been asking... is The Motley Fool liberal or conservative?.. which is what I'm going to try to answer here today.
It seems to usually be conservatives looking to possibly buy into one of the Motley Fool's subscription services but are hesitant to do so because they don't want to get caught up investing money and supporting liberal companies/ideas.
Now there are much better options if you are looking for strictly conservative investment guidance, and it's true that the Fool's customer base does seem to be mostly liberal, or at least to a good extent, but do the recommendations that The Motley Fool makes themselves lean towards the liberal side or that of the conservative? This is the question.
Their Policy on Political Talk
Whenever you purchase one of The Motley Fool's subscription services, such as Stock Advisor or Rule Breakers, you automatically become a member of their discussion board. This is just a forum where members are able to ask questions, give tips, and discuss whatever they want to, with topics preferably being investment-related.
The reason I bring this discussion board up is because, as expected, there are moderators that filter the content being published and you can't just post whatever you want to.
When it comes to politics they aren't too accepting. They don't want discussions to turn into heated arguments between liberals and conservatives and so they suppress political talk from both sides... if they feel it goes too far.
That said, you will find some heated political talk between members at times, such as a post I found titled "TMF is disappointingly liberal" that talks about how The Motley Fool didn't credit Trump at all for the bull run after being elected in 2016 and claims they had harsh words against his lowering of tax rates and federal spending on social programs, just as a few examples. Of course when I say they had "harsh words" against some of his policies, they did very indirectly, but I can see how someone could interpret their publishings as leaning to the left. But... it's definitely a bit of a reach.
Liberal Bias Possibility
Suppressing political talk on an investment-focused discussion board is somewhat disappointing to see because we all know that politics can have a huge influence on investment opportunities. However, I can see the reason for it and as long as they are fair with what the suppress it is okay with me.
However, there are other arguments as to why The Motley Fool might lean a bit to the left side of the spectrum.
During my research I was able to find some complaints from Motley Fool readers about how the company spoke of Obamacare back in 2014, which came off as biased in support of the new healthcare plan. This received some complaints from conservative subscribers, but really not all that much.
No Clear Answer
It's hard to say whether or not The Motley Fool is liberal or conservative to be honest. They don't want to get involved in politics and do a great job at keeping out of it. However, as we know, politics have a big impact on investment opportunities and because of this they have to do a balancing act with the information they put out.
There are some things they put out that might come off as biased in one way or another, but this is just something that's going to happen at times, and is nearly impossible to avoid. As a subscriber you are just going to have to deal with what they give you. You might not agree with everything, but that's okay. You don't have to. The main focus is on making good investments and they have a decent track-record at doing such.
However, if you are a conservative looking for a strictly conservative investment advisory service, there are much better options than The Motley Fool. The Motley Fool has the largest and broadest customer base of any publisher of independent financial advice that I know of, and this is because they try to appeal to everyone, regardless of political affiliation. This is great... but because of this they have to keep things politically correct and whatnot at times, which in of itself is more of a liberal thing to do.
The Bottom Line: There Are Better Options for Conservatives
If you're a liberal then I'd say Motley Fool's services are probably a good choice. They don't really fall in with either side of the political spectrum, but I don't think anyone would consider them conservative and there really aren't many liberal-focused investment advisory services to choose from. All in all, they do seem to provide very fair and balanced information.
If you're a conservative then the good news is that there are a lot more options available to you. Most investment advisory services seem to cater to the right, and this is likely because the conservative demographic seems to be more heavily involved in securing their nesteggs and prepping for potentially difficult financial times in the future.
However, you have to be careful with all the marketing out there. There are lots of advisory services that claim to want to help you out and say all the right things to make them seem like some savior for people on the conservative side looking to invest smart, but turn out to be overly-hyped and only lead to disappointment.
Here at Green Bull Research we actually expose misleading investment advisory promotions on a regular basis, such as Teeka Tiwari's "Tech Royalty Retirement Plan" teaser and Paul Mampilly's "America 2.0", and so we're very familiar with the types of misleading teasers that exist.
Our Recommendation:
Feel free to choose whichever investment advisory service you want, but if you do want to follow our advice then we strongly recommend Capitalist Exploits' INSIDER service. It's great if you lean more to the conservative side or if you're just looking for a solid investment advisory service that performs well and isn't hyped-up to no-end.
You can learn more about INSIDER here.
I’d say this review is no longer relevant. I’ve noticed a recent trend of right leaning political “financial” articles. IMO, Motley Fool used to be as described here, not as of 2024 however.