TMF did use to make statements about “the wise” ( I think that’s how they referred to the Wall St types ), and the hidden ways that “the wise” can take a bite out of you.
And then TMF became “the wise”. But that’s ok, I’m glad I’m not having my feet held to the fire for statements I made when I was young.
I have to disagree with most of this thread. “The Wise” was, as I remember, a knock on the Wall Street types and mutual fund managers who took a slice of your investment - and usually underperformed the market to boot.
The Fool, you’ll recall, began as a DIY project, and to most onlookers remains so today. Their marketing hype aside (I’ll get to that) it’s still a “here’s what we think, do what you want” organization. This is entirely different from load mutual funds, which you cannot escape even if the fund manager changes (personnel, direction, everything). This is pretty different than going to an investment counselor who meets with you once-a-year, pushes you into “his” recommendations for which he is often compensated through kickbacks or vacation trips to ‘conferences’ or whatnot. It’s certainly different than the 2-and-20 hedge fund model.
I note that the Fool has weathered many complete changes to their business, something many companies never manage. They began with AOL, remember, on the “pay by the hour” model. Then that reversed, and while I don’t know the intricacies of the deal, presumably their compensation changed. Then they migrated to the web, complete with board strollers and “systems” (RuleBreakers! RuleMakers!) of their own. Then people asked for other boards for systems: mechanical investing and so on. Banner advertising cratered across the web, and they came up with paid newsletters, and along the way tried their own fund and I can’t remember what else.
The fact that they are still around (and thriving, by most reports. Wikipedia says they have 300 employees) is, I think, pretty remarkable given the sector they are in. Think about how much the web has changed in 30 years. Think about how much investing has changed! (Free commissions! TV ads! RobinHood!)
These boards are an artifact, a past history of the company which doesn’t hold the same luster as before. GE with lightbulbs. NBC with radio. It happens. I, for once, am grateful the boards are still around, clunky and disheveled as they are. <I*> <HTML!) </I*> I hope that this long heralded “upgrade” makes them more user friendly, but then I have no place to complain, so I don’t. But neither do I enjoy people who have taken the free ride for 25 years complaining that everything isn’t just perfect to their liking, especially when they have no skin in the game - or ever had.
OK, I said I would bop them for their marketing, and I will. I cringe when I see the screaming headlines in the ads, too, but then I have bought (and received) tens of millions of dollars in ad monies in my media career, and I know that when you find something that works, you keep doing it. It’s viciously difficult to break through the clutter and reach new people, and if you don’t find new targets you are already dying because consumers inevitably drift away. Since I am at a loss to tell the overlords how, or what their advertising should be, I shrug and let it pass. It’s not like it hurts me, or frankly most people who fall for it.
A newsletter that costs a couple hundred is probably good education for people who need it, just as the AOL boards were for me in the 90’s, even though I had been investing (sucker! Dean Witter!) for 20 years prior. If people learn, enrich, amuse (or whatever the slogan is/was) at that cost they’re far ahead of the game. It’s certainly better than the public.com app or RobinHood pushing crypto and penny stocks, and it’s fairly harmless.
So: thank you Fool, for your years of service to me. I’d like to see a few of the less contentious - but non political boards reopened, and perhaps that will happen, meanwhile here I sit at the keyboard, enjoying retirement, life, and my investing education thanks to you all and to the Fool. It ain’t so bad, if you choose to look at it that way.