“Double your money overnight!” “Trade options to earn 354% in weeks!” That’s the kind of bombastic marketing you’ll see for many get-rich-quick stock services that require you to check your email and brokerage constantly, and pivot on a dime, to trade your way to profits.
A lot of people don’t have time for that—and would much prefer to build their wealth the buy-and-hold way. There aren’t quite as many services tailored to that more relaxed crowd, but one that’s worth a closer look is The Motley Fool’s Everlasting Stocks.
Most investors don’t have the hours of time each week it takes to not just analyze stocks and their various metrics, but to pile up a knowledge base of stock market investing in the first place. That’s where stock recommendation services come in. These typically subscription-based services feature one or more stock analysts who provide “buy lists” of stock picks they guide readers to go out and purchase.
Everlasting Stocks is part of The Motley Fool’s extensive line of investing products—many of which have an established history of outperforming the market, and some by a wide degree. But naturally, the question is: Is this product right for you?
Today, I’m going to help you answer that question. In my Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks review, I’ll cover its strategy, what’s included with the service, how much it costs, how it has performed, some stars of the Everlasting Stocks portfolio, and more.
- High-conviction ideas for your investment portfolio. Everlasting Stocks are stock picks that the Motley Fool's co-founder believes any investor can buy today and hold forever.
- 15 stock recommendations delivered directly to your inbox at signup.
- Gain access to a vibrant investing community.
- Ideal for long-term investors
- Offers discounted introductory rate for first year
- High renewal price
What Is The Motley Fool?
The Motley Fool has helped millions of investors outperform the stock market with a variety of investment recommendation services.
The Motley Fool has a long and sterling history within the investment recommendations community. It started out as an investment newsletter in 1993, and a year later, the founders brokered an online content deal with AOL, where The Fool’s content lived until moving to its own site in 1997.
The company has since gained acclaim through Fool.com, its Motley Fool stock picking services (which include Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor and Motley Fool’s Rule Breakers), and even its CAPS Community—a popular message board where people go to share investment ideas.
But today, we’re going to focus on one of its newer services: Everlasting Stocks.
Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks Overview
Everlasting Stocks, launched in November 2020, isn’t just one of many Motley Fool stock picking services—it’s a way to get a taste of the Fool’s many Everlasting services.
The Everlasting series is a group of long-term focused stock-picking services powered by Team Everlasting, which is led by CEO and co-founder Tom Gardner, as well as his team of analysts (Asit Sharma, Auri Hughes, and Maria Gallagher). Many of the Everlasting products center around a theme—the Partnership Portfolio highlights founder-led companies, while Global Partners seeks out international growth plays.
Per The Motley Fool, Team Everlasting looks for:
- “High-quality companies that have the sustained potential to keep growing and beat the overall market over extremely long periods”
- “Founder-led companies”
- “Companies employing a strong corporate culture”
- “Businesses that have built a strong enough bond with their customers that they command substantial pricing power and have identifiable proprietary advantages”
- “Cash-rich, low-debt companies”
The Everlasting Stocks portfolio is composed of stock picks from across the Everlasting universe of services. These selections are very much conservative in nature, and they’re designed for people with a long-term investing bent. At minimum, these stock picks should be held for at least five years—and in some cases, can be held forever.
Realistically speaking, though, not every Everlasting Stocks pick can be held forever—business models change, transformative CEOs leave, and once-bright stock selections can dim on their own. The Motley Fool’s analysts frequently review their own picks, and if they decide it’s time to take profits, you’ll be sent a sell notice.
Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks’ Performance
Motley Fool’s Everlasting Stocks is a relatively young product, launching in November 2020, so there isn’t much of a track record like there is with their flagship stock picking services, Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers.
The good news? Everlasting Stocks has indeed beaten the market, up 20.8% through July 11, 2023, versus 18.6% for the S&P 500. If there’s any downside to note, it’s that the scale of outperformance isn’t as great as its older peers.
But as I mention in my Stock Advisor review, some of its picks come from Team Everlasting, and Motley Fool Stock Advisor has crushed the market since its launch. So while Everlasting Stocks doesn’t have much history to lean on, there’s still good reason to believe it can generate solid outperformance going forward.
Everlasting Stocks Stock Picks
As I mentioned before, Everlasting Stocks is built upon the shoulders of Team Everlasting, which powers all the Everlasting portfolios, as well as other popular services, such as Stock Advisor. Here, I’ll show you three of the team’s best calls—a trio of selections that have aggressively shot higher ever since Team Everlasting gave them its seal of approval:
Arista Networks
Unlike many hallowed Motley Fool stock picks, Arista Networks (ANET) isn’t a name that has exploded into the public consciousness. Instead, Arista works behind the scenes, developing cloud networking solutions that are used across the world. The company went public in June 2014 at $43 per share, and has since turned into a “10-bagger” (returning at least 1,000%).
Team Everlasting added ANET to the Stock Advisor portfolio in October 2018. Since then, through July 11, 2023, shares have returned a sweet 162%!
Shopify
One e-commerce name that Everlasting Stocks jumped on top of is Shopify (SHOP), a Canadian outfit that serves as the backbone for millions of businesses worldwide. It allows companies to build online storefronts, but also offers other products such as marketing tools and point-of-sale systems. Popular users include Kylie Jenner and her Kylie Cosmetics line of beauty products, October’s Very Own (OVO) by Drake and CR7 from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Shopify went public in May 2015 at $17 per share, and has since split its stock once—a 10-for-1 split in 2022. Through July 11, 2023, readers have enjoyed 2,950%-plus gains in SHOP shares since Team Everlasting recommended them in October 2018.
Tesla
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (TSLA) went public on June 29, 2010, at a mere $17 per share—or $1.13 per share once you account for its 5-for-1 and 3-for-1 stock splits of the past few years. Today, it trades for several hundred dollars per share, and has made many investors a boatload of money.
There are probably at least a few Motley Fool readers in that crowd. Team Everlasting first recommended Tesla on Oct. 8, 2018, and through July 11, 2023, shares have returned a wild 1,514%!
What to Expect From Everlasting Stocks
When you sign up for Everlasting Stocks, you’ll receive all of the following:
- 15 starter stocks from Tom Gardner’s team of analysts
- Two monthly stock picks (delivered on the first and third Thursday of the month)
- Mindset articles (one delivered on the second Thursday of the month, the other delivered sometime during the month)
- Stock rankings, content from across the Everlasting universe, video features (i.e. live chats, Q&A with the team, stock discussions)
- Stock rankings
- Video features (live chats, Q&A with the team, stock discussions)
- Investing resources, including the stock picking service’s library of stock recommendations
- Access to the CAPS Community—a group of investors engaged in outperforming the market and talking shop
- High-conviction ideas for your investment portfolio. Everlasting Stocks are stock picks that the Motley Fool's co-founder believes any investor can buy today and hold forever.
- 15 stock recommendations delivered directly to your inbox at signup.
- Gain access to a vibrant investing community.
- Ideal for long-term investors
- Offers discounted introductory rate for first year
- High renewal price
Related: 19 Best Investment Apps and Platforms [Free + Paid]
How Much Does The Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks Service Cost?
The Everlasting Stocks stock picking service offers discounted introductory rates to new users. That discount has varied over time, but typically, it’s substantially lower than what current members paid when they renewed their membership.
Currently, Everlasting Stocks’ discounted new-member rate is $99 for the first year—a massive discount, even compared to other Motley Fool services’ first-year rates. After that, the renewal rate is $299 annually.
Also worth noting: All annual Everlasting Stocks subscriptions come with a full membership-fee-back guarantee.
What If I Want to Try More Than One Motley Fool Service?
As I mentioned before, Everlasting Stocks is just one of several Motley Fool services—each of them with their own different strategies. So if you’re new to stock-picking products and you’re not sure which one is right for you, you might consider taking advantage of The Motley Fool’s 4-in-1 Epic Bundle.
The Motley Fool Epic Bundle isn’t a stock-picking service—instead, it’s a bundled selection of four popular Motley Fool stock recommendation products. It includes Everlasting Stocks, which I’ve detailed above, as well as:
- Stock Advisor: Buy-and-hold stock picks designed to deliver consistent performance with less volatility.
- Rule Breakers: Stocks that have massive growth potential, whether they’re at the forefront of emerging industries or disrupting the status quo in long-established businesses.
- Millionacres: Real Estate Winners: A recommendation service that revolves around real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate-related equities.
With Epic Bundle, you can collectively subscribe to all four products for much less than it would cost to buy individual subscriptions of each. The first year’s cost savings come out to about 22% and expand to 52% at regular renewal rates.
So, if you think Everlasting Stocks is an intriguing service but aren’t 100% sure about the short track record, you might consider buying into the full bundle of introductory Motley Fool services to test the waters at a lower cost and still get access to their flagship services.
- Motley Fool's Epic Bundle is a discounted combination of four foundational stock-investing services rolled up into one membership.
- Get access to the Stock Advisor, Rule Breakers, Everlasting Stocks, and Millionacres: Real Estate Winners subscription services.
- Get at least six stock recommendations every month.
- This bundled product also includes more than 300 stock recommendations, reports, and analyses from each service.
Related: 11 Best Stock Portfolio Tracking Apps [Stock Portfolio Trackers]
What Does Motley Fool Everlasting Stocks Recommend Members Do With Its Stock Picks?
The Motley Fool’s “Foolish” Investing Philosophy educates how Everlasting Stocks makes stock recommendations to members. It boils down to six rules:
1. Buy 25+ companies recommended by The Motley Fool over time to maintain a diversified portfolio.
“A well-diversified portfolio typically contains 25-30 company stocks,” says The Fool, “with the more stocks you own and the longer you hold them increasing your likelihood of making money.”
Let’s say you have $10,000. If you use all of that to buy shares of just one company, you could make a fortune over time—but if anything disastrous happens to that company, you could lose a giant chunk of that nest egg.
Compare that with spreading $10,000 across, say, 25 stocks. Even if one of those companies goes completely bankrupt and you never sell before the stock goes to zero, the most you could lose is just 4% of your total investment money.
2. Hold these recommended stocks for at least five years (longer is even better).
If you buy stocks with the hope that they’ll double within a few months, you’re gambling, not investing. However, individual stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds may naturally and gradually build wealth over time—and the more time you have in the market, the more compounding could work its magic.
3. Invest new money frequently and regularly.
The Motley Fool’s investment strategy includes the continual investment of new cash. Funding your account with fresh money prevents the need to sell your best stocks just to capture the new opportunities provided by Motley Fool stock picks.
Setting aside money from each paycheck, even if it’s just investing small amounts of money, can snowball into generational wealth. Look at the difference an extra $1,000 each year makes:
Beginner investors especially should follow this investing style. You start out with little money, so you’re not risking much while you’re still learning. Over time, you’ll gain knowledge—and can put your bigger nest egg to better use.
4. Hold your investments during periods of stock market volatility.
Napoleon Bonaparte defined a military genius as “the [person] who can do the average thing when everyone around [is losing their minds].” But this also best describes successful investors.
When the market melts down, some investors panic-sell at lower prices … then wait in fear and only buy back into the market once most of the recovery has already taken place.
In other words, rather than “buying low and selling high,” they’re doing the opposite—and that practically guarantees inferior returns to what you’d get from just staying put.
I know, I know: This advice is easier given than followed; beginner investors and seasoned pros alike struggle to remain calm during manic downturns. But if you remind yourself you’re in it for the long run, and hold a few defensive positions to tamp down volatility, and you’ll avoid one of the most costly mistakes an investor can make.
5. Let your winners keep winning.
Winning companies tend to keep winning.” Sure, it’s prudent portfolio management to occasionally lock in a little bit of profit here, and a little bit of profit there. But if you have the impulse to sell a position once, say, it has doubled—just because it has doubled and you don’t want to risk losing any of your gains—think again.
Stocks backed by high-quality companies can keep racking up more returns for you over time. As long as you believe in the underlying investment story, hold tight and let doublers turn into triplers and quadruplers over time.
6. Target long-term returns.
You might have noticed that more than one “Foolish” rule deals with investing with an eye to the far-out future. That’s because calculated long-term investing—not frantic short-term trading—is the safest way retail investors like you and me have to build our wealth.
The Motley Fool says you should “aim to achieve excellent returns over a 5- to 25-year period.” Again, the idea here is to let the powers of compound interest work in your benefit. Thousands of dollars now can turn into literally millions—with enough patience and discipline.
So, when you invest, invest with a timeline of at least five years at a minimum.
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