5 of the top investment newsletters to enhance your portfolio

Picking stocks certainly isn’t easy. In fact, it could be a full-time job — which is why investment newsletters can be useful. These newsletters provide stock picks straight to your inbox, potentially saving you a lot of research time.

But investment newsletters generally do more than just name a few stocks, and they typically back their suggestions with research. Some are better suited to expert investors, while others are for beginners. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, one of these newsletters will likely meet your needs.

1. Motley Fool Stock Advisor

The Motley Fool offers several stock-picking services, but Stock Advisor is the company’s most popular. Stock Advisor operates by providing two fresh stock picks every month, accompanied by market research and investment trend analysis. Those who sign up also gain access to the message board, where you can chat with other Stock Advisor members.

Stock Advisor allows investors to take a hands-off approach. This is perfect for buy-and-hold investors who prefer a “set it and forget it” style of investing. It costs $99 per year.

2. Seeking Alpha

Seeking Alpha has a service called Alpha Picks that helps investors build a portfolio designed to beat the market using a data-driven approach, which it says sets investors up for long-term success.

Also similar to Stock Advisor, you’ll get two new stock picks per month. This means the service is also best suited for buy-and-hold investors, and you’ll get sell alerts if a pick falls out of favor. This service is more technical, so what you’ll get is a quantitative analysis that considers company fundamentals, valuation, momentum, forward-looking analyst estimates and profitability.

Alpha Picks is priced at $199 per year. However, you’ll only pay $99 for the first year.

3. Morningstar

Morningstar offers several investing newsletters, most of which are free. Its Morning Digest newsletter provides market news, research and long-form features by Morningstar’s editors. The Smart Investor newsletter breaks down the trends driving the market, and the Improving Your Finances newsletter is focused on managing your portfolio.

Unlike the previous two newsletters, these aren’t focused on stock picks. Instead, they give you the latest insights on stocks and ETFs, leaving it up to you to decide what to do with that information. Therefore, it’s a more intermediate-level service.

To get access to Morninstar’s premium newsletter, called Stock Analyst Notes, you’ll need to be a member of Morningstar Investor. The service costs $34.95 per month or $249 per year. There is also a 7-day free trial available. Stock Analyst Notes gives you analyst takes on news affecting the biggest stocks.

4. Kiplinger

Kiplinger’s newsletter is called The Kiplinger Letter and has two subscription options: once-weekly and twice-weekly newsletters. The newsletter covers a broad range of topics — everything from the economy to music and even topics like immigration. It also lets you see a recent version of its newsletter for free to give you an idea of what’s inside.

If you sign up, you can opt for print, digital, or print and digital copies. However, the price is the same for all three, so all you really have to decide is whether you want 52 or 104 copies per year. The new member price for 104 issues is $174.95 per year, while the price for 52 copies is $99 per year.

5. TheStreet

TheStreet also offers several newsletters for free. These include 5 Things You Must Know Before the Market Opens and TheStreet Daily, which gives you market news and investing news delivered to your inbox.

If you want access to more exclusive information, TheStreet also offers three subscription services: Quant Ratings, Action Alerts PLUS, and Real Money Pro. The prices for these services are $49.99, $199.99, and $799.99 per year, respectively. Action Alerts PLUS is the most popular of the three, even though it’s not the cheapest service – likely because Jim Cramer is its founder.

Each paid service from TheStreet has different things to offer. Here are some features you get with each:

• Quant Ratings: Stock rating screener, research on over 4,100 stocks, and letter grades for each

• Action Alerts PLUS: Real-time alerts for every buy/sell decision from the AAP team, 24/7 portfolio access, and members-only monthly calls

• Real Money Pro: Trading floor daily moves, access to portfolio managers, stock ideas from contributors

Like some of the other options on this list, TheStreet is not necessarily suited to beginners. Whichever newsletter you chose, you’re bound to find a ton of useful information.

Bottom line

With the average investment newsletter costing in the range of $99 to $199, you might wonder whether it’s worth the money. As is usually the case, these newsletters are what you make of them. They have a lot to offer, including insights, expert analysis, and exclusive information. Most importantly, for some, they can save time. However, at the end of the day, you must take the initiative and put the recommendations to use. If you do that, investment newsletters can be worth every penny.