Morningstar Stock Tips Review

Services Offered and Account Features

Morningstar offers a wide range of features suitable for both individual investors and professional financial advisors and portfolio managers. At the most basic level, they provide real-time tracking of US, global, commodities markets. As a non-paying member of the site, you can enter or import your portfolio and enjoy the convenience of monitoring all of your investments in one place. The company also offers an extensive and constantly updated library of news, analysis and opinion to investors. The information they provide is truly comprehensive, covering a wide variety of investment vehicles as well as family finances, budgeting, retirement, and saving for college. 

As one of the world's leading global investment management firms, the company employs hundreds of researchers and analysts who not only comb through data, but also provide expert opinions to help guide your investment decisions. That cuts both ways. On the one hand, customers gain access to the wisdom and experience of a company that has been in business for more than 30 years. But Morningstar's approach may not be as attractive to investors who wish to rely on purely objective data to make their decisions. Customers will want to ask themselves where they fall on that continuum. 

Morningstar has its own, easy-to-understand rating system that assigns individual investment vehicle a grade of gold, silver, or bronze. Morningstar ratings are among the most respected and frequently consulting out there and offer a quick, easy way to pick stocks for people who don't want to wade through a great deal of technical content.

Customer Experience

Morningstar.com is easy to navigate. The main menu at the top of the homepage of the site invites you to learn, plan investments for specific life events like retirement, visit your portfolio, or review up-to-the-minute market data on global exchanges. The "learn" menu leads you to a wide variety of investment education resources that are suitable for beginning investors. Among the more helpful resources Morningstar offers is its Investing Classroom which offers a series of 8 courses that cover the basics of investing. You can take courses in stocks, bonds, ETFs, funds, and more. Morningstar also offers an exhaustive glossary of investment terms, which can certainly help beginners understand anything they read on this or any other investment site. Smaart thinking on their part and very convenient for anyone seeking to master the language of investing and get more out of what they read. Opening a free account on Morningstar.com takes a minute or less.

Screenshot from morningstar.com 7/25/2020

Morningstar's tools for investment professionals are also well-organized. Portfolio managers and advisors can take self-guided tours of the various products the company offers.  

Fees

You can open a free account on Morningstar and gain access to its basic portfolio management or tracking tools. Morningstar gives you the option to create a portfolio either by enterting your investments one-by-one or by importing a porfolio from a number of applications and sites, including Excel, Quicken, and Microsoft Money. The free membersjip allows you to track up to 100 invesmtents. 

The company also offers a 14-day free trial of its premium service that earns you $10 off of your first year's subscription. With a premium membership, you can elect to receive up to five specially-focused newsletters. Special promotions may offer you other publications, as well. You also gain access to Morningstar's professional level portfolio management tool. If you have $100,000 or more in your portfolio, you can use Morningstar's Personal Capital tools and sign up for a one-on-one portfolio review with a financial advisor. Monringstar offers three subsription options: $199 for one year, $339 for two years, and $439 for three years.

Reputation and Accreditation

Although Morningstar has an A+ from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it only earns 2 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. It's important to note that the few complaints published don't condemn the quality of investment information Morningstar provides,. Rather they pointed to difficulties with cancelling premium memberships and poor customer service. The two are likely related. In the eyes of the law, it's important to understand that Morningstar is not a financial advisor and isn't subject to any Federal or state accreditation standards. So investors would to well to research Morningstar's track record of picking winners and how well that track record compares to other companies. You may also want to read up on Morningstar's investment philosophy to see if it aligns with your own. Morningstar describes its philosophy by stating that their focus is on fundamentally strong but underpriced investments, which are commonly known as value stocks.