Making the World

Smarter, Happier, and Richer

Through expert investment guidance

At The Motley Fool, our purpose is to make the world smarter, happier, and richer. We help millions of people around the world achieve their financial goals every day, guided by the belief that every dollar is an investment in the future you want to create, and investing in great businesses, for the long term, is the most effective path to wealth. We strive to fulfill our purpose by truly serving every Fool, from our employees to our members to our community. That’s why in all our work, we endeavor to follow the “Golden Rule” of treating others as we ourselves would wish to be treated.

For more than 30 years, The Motley Fool has taught individual investors how to invest in the stock market and build long-term wealth, by making finance less intimidating, ditching the stuffiness, and having a little fun along the way. Here’s how:

• Subscription-based investment research services: Premium services that deliver stock and ETF recommendations, portfolio guidance, proprietary research and investing tools, insights from experienced Motley Fool investment analysts, financial planning guidance from Certified Financial Planners, and connection to the Fool Community – built by and for individual investors.
• Free stock market news and investing research: Fool.com covers market trends, company earnings, investing opportunities, and the latest stock market news, with a focus on what it all means for long-term investors.
• Jargon-free investing education: Practical guidance grounded in The Motley Fool's long-term, buy-and-hold investing philosophy, including how to research investments, build a diversified portfolio, manage risk, and invest through changing markets.

Since day one, The Motley Fool has stood up for the individual investor – championing transparency, fairness, and a level playing field in the financial markets.

Our co-founders and analysts have taken that advocacy all the way to Capitol Hill, testifying before Congress about securities fraud on the internet, against excessive mutual fund fees, corporate accountability after the Enron scandal, and greater transparency in the IPO process.

In 1999, when the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), a rule ensuring all investors receive market information at the same time, The Motley Fool rallied its community to speak up. Motley Fool analyst Bill Barker urged readers to share their support directly with the SEC, and thousands responded. Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt later credited The Motley Fool for helping make Reg FD a reality saying, “Two-thirds of our letters came from Fools. Without them, Reg FD would not have happened.”

That same spirit drives us today.

True to our name, we’ve always believed that investing and life should include a healthy dose of humor. Every April 1, The Motley Fool celebrates its favorite holiday with a long-running tradition of good-natured pranks that keep our investing community smiling. Over the years, we’ve invented a fake penny stock and bogus stock exchange, “apologized” for reading a mutual fund chart upside down, and most recently launched a too-good-to-be-true public offering for the White Lotus hotel chain.

These elaborate April Fool’s jokes are part of our DNA: a reminder not to take the financial markets (or ourselves) too seriously. Behind the laughter is a deeper message – that investing doesn’t have to be serious, stale, and stuffy. At The Motley Fool, we believe learning, laughing, and growing your wealth can all go hand in hand.

At The Motley Fool, our highest priority is to foster inclusion and belonging so all employees can thrive both personally and professionally. We believe diverse teams perform better. From our board of directors to our recruiting pipeline, we strive for diversity, both inherent and acquired.

The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner as a traditional print newsletter in a backyard shed in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1994, an April Fool’s joke designed to teach an investing lesson put The Motley Fool on the map. Since those humble beginnings, Tom and David, and the community of Fools they’ve gathered, have been leading the charge for individual investors everywhere.