# "The Intelligent Investor"



## Julia (6 September 2005)

Have any members used this publication?  If so, how relevant have their suggestions been?  The current issue is mostly "Sell" recommendations.

Julia


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## ghotib (6 September 2005)

Julia said:
			
		

> Have any members used this publication?  If so, how relevant have their suggestions been?  The current issue is mostly "Sell" recommendations.
> 
> Julia



<blink>I thought you meant the Benjamin Graham book; or possibly the newly released book "The Intelligent Australian Investor" (Chris Leithner). I gather you're talking about a journal? Obviously I haven't used it.

Not to hijack a thread or anything, but has anyone read The Intelligent Australian Investor? Any comments. 

Ghoti


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## DTM (6 September 2005)

Julia said:
			
		

> Have any members used this publication?  If so, how relevant have their suggestions been?  The current issue is mostly "Sell" recommendations.
> 
> Julia




I think its quite a good recommendation for the next couple of weeks.


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## bvbfan (6 September 2005)

I tried them on a 3 issue trial last year, I think they are ok but not what I was looking for.
They concentrate on the large caps and that doesn't match with my investment style

I think they may still offer the 3 free issue trial so you can check it out if you like (yes they do go here )


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## sam21poddy (7 September 2005)

I tried a trial subscription a while ago but I mustn't have been impressed because I never went ahead with a full subscription.  I still get the emails advertising their newletter.  Funnily enough, the one I got this morning talked about how 3 weeks ago ONE of their Telstra commentators foretold that Telstra was not a good investment in the future.  The way I see it, they have some saying one thing, some saying the opposite, so they can't be wrong whatever happens, can they?  I suppose they are as good as any of those subscriptions but I don't use any.  I find that all of them report on yesterday's news.  By the time you read what they have to say, it's all over and not worth buying their recommendations. The market works too fast for those newsletters in my opinion.


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## ghotib (7 September 2005)

I've now had a look at the website and a couple of the free sample docs and I'm considering a trial subscription. They've obviously read Graham and Buffett, as have I and an awful lot more people than apply their principles. On that basis, I'm dubious about the "hold for yield" recommendation; otoh I like that their recommendations (buy for upside, hold for yield etc etc) include a reason. The analyses they provide as justifications for their recommendations look pretty superficial to me, but I think I'd probably learn a lot from picking them to pieces. 

I didn't get the impression that they limit themselves to large caps; maybe that's just how it turned out at a particular time.

Ghoti


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## markrmau (7 September 2005)

An alternative to paying for a subscription to a mag, is to go for a full service broker, and get all thier analyst info, plus the odd inside tip. The info is a bit more immediate than a weekly magazine.

Brokerage is usually about $90 for small trades ($50-60 above retail). This is what I have just done.


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## Julia (7 September 2005)

Re using full service broker:  agree:  it's really worthwhile for small trades, but if you choose a broker who doesn't have a capped brokerage, the brokerage can be crippling.  e.g. one with whom I've had contact would charge about $1000 to process a one-off $55,000 trade!

If you are going to use a full service broker, check whether brokerage is capped.

Julia


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## markrmau (8 September 2005)

That would be up for negotiation with the broker I am using. It is around 1% for the piddling trades I prefer (I spread it out in approx $8k ammounts usually). But if you were looking at a $50k trade, I think you could negotiate a better deal.


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## ghotib (27 October 2005)

Julia,

Just wondering if you took out a subscription to this. I had another look yesterday and I've applied for a trial. 

Cheers,

Ghoti


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## Julia (27 October 2005)

ghotib said:
			
		

> Julia,
> 
> Just wondering if you took out a subscription to this. I had another look yesterday and I've applied for a trial.
> 
> ...




Hi Ghoti

Yes, I took out a $399/one year subscription which my accountant advised was deductible from my SMSF tax.

I think it's reasonable value for money in terms of the volume of advice, but won't renew it as I've not actually bought or sold anything on the basis of what they have suggested.  My feeling is that they a lot of "covering themselves" by - as soon as something has shown a bit of appreciation - slapping a Sell recommendation on it.  Where this has been on a stock I've held, my holding it has proved most the right thing in that considerable further appreciation of the SP has occurred.  

I can think of one case, though where I would have been better off to have accepted their Sell recommendation at the stage it was made.

You'll be able to decide from the trial.  What  I do like is their style - quite chatty and conversational .

Will be interested to hear your response to the trial.

Cheers

Julia


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## Kauri (27 October 2005)

I took a trial with them a while ago and found that a lack of money management was at times worrying. e.g   over 3 years they have ridden MRL from $2.00 down to about 70c. Looking at an ad they ran I also notice that they they stayed with SGW on the ride from $7.75 to their selling point at $2.14. I remember thinking at the time that their recomendations  applied with personal chart based entry/exits would be a good way to follow their portfolio.


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## It's Snake Pliskin (27 October 2005)

Julia said:
			
		

> Have any members used this publication?  If so, how relevant have their suggestions been?  The current issue is mostly "Sell" recommendations.
> 
> Julia




They tend to like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. It is a conservative and longterm value oriented investment newsletter. They tend to follow dog stocks that may be undervalued. Dollar cost averaging through accumulation as opposed to strict position size management.


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## brerwallabi (28 October 2005)

I have had a several free subscriptions to this over the past few years due to putting in my wifes name and mine and occassionally get further free trials of their magazine via emails from them with a password to access their website. It is definately not for me,they seem to want to research and find companies who are fundamentaly sound and for various circumstances are below their market value in the analyst's minds. Their recommendations seem to based on holding long term. Some of their consistent favourites are real dogs SGN,HVN,IFM and Millers Retail, for about 12 - 15 months they have had a buy/hold on these and they have absolutely gone nowhere and some things they recommend to sell go the opposite way Caltex is a prime example. Whilst we all get things wrong sometimes, I know I have a better record then them. (I HAVE NO QUALIFICATIONS TO OFFER FINANCIAL ADVICE AND I AM BY NO MEANS ATTEMPTING TO DO SO). Methinks there is certainly better advice to found, but I did find something called KAZ (swallowed up by Telstra) in their magazine almost two years ago which I purchased and that proceeded to go from 19.5cps to 39.5cps fo me. So I thank them for that. If I had purchased their other recommendations that I mentioned I would be extremely disappointed today seeing the gains in the market over the past 20 months or so. I prefer to trade short term which is not the "intelligent investor" fashion.


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## happytrader (28 October 2005)

Kauri said:
			
		

> I took a trial with them a while ago and found that a lack of money management was at times worrying. e.g   over 3 years they have ridden MRL from $2.00 down to about 70c. Looking at an ad they ran I also notice that they they stayed with SGW on the ride from $7.75 to their selling point at $2.14. I remember thinking at the time that their recomendations  applied with personal chart based entry/exits would be a good way to follow their portfolio.




Like you Kauri, I had a trial with them 3 years ago. And like you I found they were'nt cutting their losses. That meant I couldn't trust them to do what I thought I was paying them to do - Be my eyes and ears and watch the stocks and let me know when to buy or sell at appropriate levels. I got the feeling they were a bunch of paper traders who had gone into the writing business. Since then I've learnt to check out performances within appropriate time frames, and most importantly I look for responsible losses. As I am now foremost an optiontrader I really like www.meridianline.com.au. Because I do not yet  have the ability personally to effectively handle more than one trade at a time, I am now quite happy to let one of their brokers act on my behalf with the proviso that they take the losses at the predetermined level. There performance level now, is such that I do not have a problem with doing this.

I am not offering or able to provide financial advice or recommendations. The above statements are merely my own opinion and should not be considered as anything more.

Cheers
Happytrader


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## Nutmeg (22 February 2012)

brerwallabi said:


> [T]hey seem to want to research and find companies who are fundamentaly sound and for various circumstances are below their market value in the analyst's minds. Their recommendations seem to based on holding long term. Some of their consistent favourites are real dogs SGN,HVN,IFM and Millers Retail, for about 12 - 15 months they have had a buy/hold on these and they have absolutely gone nowhere and some things they recommend to sell go the opposite way Caltex is a prime example.




I agree.  This publication is useless.  They make a lot of noise about subscribing to "Buffet's way" and value investing but the performance of the stocks that they recommend speaks for itself.  One criticism that I have is that for all their talk of value investing ROE rarely features in their analysis as a key, if not _the_ key, financial indicator of a company's ability to grow in value.  The other problem is that they appear to consider as investment grade only stocks at a market cap of $500 million or more.  This means that stand-out companies like MMS, DTL, IRE, MND (in its early days), IVC, FGE and REA simply never appear or appear without any serious analysis on their radar.  The fact is that if you follow their advice you will lose money.


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## TeleSonic (24 February 2012)

I have to agree with the full service broker option. Once upon a time this is how we all traded, and then came along online platforms. Now everyone choses a broker on price but has no advice. We're even seeing brokers now running advisory services as separate fee for service products to pick up income lost in the cheap execution space. 

Good brokers are still out there and fees are always negotiable.


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## McLovin (24 February 2012)

Nutmeg said:


> I agree.  This publication is useless.  They make a lot of noise about subscribing to "Buffet's way" and value investing but the performance of the stocks that they recommend speaks for itself.  One criticism that I have is that for all their talk of value investing ROE rarely features in their analysis as a key, if not _the_ key, financial indicator of a company's ability to grow in value.  The other problem is that they appear to consider as investment grade only stocks at a market cap of $500 million or more.  This means that stand-out companies like MMS, DTL, IRE, MND (in its early days), IVC, FGE and REA simply never appear or appear without any serious analysis on their radar.  The fact is that if you follow their advice you will lose money.




You wouldn't by any chance be a Roger Montgomery graduate, would you?


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## Nutmeg (24 February 2012)

McLovin said:


> You wouldn't by any chance be a Roger Montgomery graduate, would you?




I didn't know that Roger ran courses.  But from what I've heard him say Roger is right on the money insofar as valuing a company is concerned.  And that, after all, is what we have to do if we are to make rational investment decisions.  

I always marvel at the fact that many people who invest in shares will buy shares without any reference to a share's valuation whereas were they to buy a car or a house they'd compare it with others that are similar, they'd inspect it inside and out, they'd test it as best as they could, they'd obtain an independent vlauation, etc - all with a view to ascertaining whether the thing is worth the price that it is being sold for.  Why don't they apply the same rigour with shar purchases?


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## Gracezed (27 September 2014)

*Intelligent Investor Share Advisor reviews*

Hi, I am interested to subscribe to Intelligent Investor share advisor but they are a bit pricey for me. I am leaning towards value investing and buy-hold instead of active trading.. Could you please give me your feedback about the Intelligent Investor share advisor if you have subsrcibed or tried it or heard about it and if it's worth value for money? Thank you


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## coolcup (27 September 2014)

*Re: Intelligent Investor Share Advisor reviews*

I have tried II in the past (using their free trial) and didn't think they were that useful personally. Maybe you could try their free trial and see if you like it?


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## galumay (27 September 2014)

*Re: Intelligent Investor Share Advisor reviews*



coolcup said:


> I have tried II in the past (using their free trial) and didn't think they were that useful personally. Maybe you could try their free trial and see if you like it?




Same experience, I think part of the problem is that because its a subscription service they are almost obligated to give buys and sells with great frequency so it looks like you are getting advice for your money! Problem is if like the OP says, you are more of a buy & hold FA type investor its too much noise.

I do keep my eye on what services like this tip, Motley Fools are another, and then do my own research and see whether they would rate a buy with me - rarely do their tips meet my criteria.


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## loanshark (7 December 2014)

These guys are now starting to have quite a few free articles on their website now, as well as the paid subscription.


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## BurleyBoy (26 January 2015)

Been with them for many years.
Significant cost but so is stuffing up on a trade. I never liked the idea of a broker that earns money on you frequently trading so I prefer this type of pay for service advice and research.
For the type of investing you're referring to, ie buy and hold rather than frequent trading I think they're good value.

I don't agree that they're putting up too many buys or sells just to justify their existence its not what I've seen but then again I may be naive but you may find it useful to look at their growth and income portfolios as they reflect their type of trading which means holding long term in many cases. Buys often stay as a buy for quite a while as the stock that is in good value territory may still have more downside before the markets realize its value unless its a dog and it was a mistake. Maybe ask them for a couple of years of data on their two model portfolios and the number of buys and sells that they have acted on in their own portfolio. Should give you an insight into their approach. 

They focus on purchasing undervalued stocks and selling these once they achieve or exceed full value if there is better value around. Occasionally mistakes are made such as QBE which hurt which was a buy for a number of years. Their portfolio tends to be quite large ie 30ish stocks so if you keep to their portfolio limits you should limit the damage of stocks that go bad which will happen. 
They are not for you if you're into day trading or such but their emails will notify you of significant news on their portfolio changes or your watched stocks.


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## waimate01 (27 January 2015)

Also been with them many years. Under the new ownership, they've gone right off. The new website is lamentable - clearly the designer didn't understand his userbase, and clearly the management don't use it themselves. Their prognostications are littered with snippets they'll be able to quote back at you in the future to show how prescient they were, no matter what happens. More and more effort being expended to convince you how clever they are, rather than being clever. 

I can't wait for my subscription to expire !


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## CarnieAJ (9 February 2015)

Ditto waimate01.

Very disappointed with their current service (Nov 2014 - Feb 2015), also the fact they keep trying to "up sell" you into their Premium package. New website is a shambles, and they miss the point on what is needed, and what is just fluff.

Will be seeking a refund. 

(I did like the service a year ago and also liked the concept. Will search for another similar, hopefully more focused on its customers)


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