American Association Of Individual Investors (AAII) Review

• The monthly AAII Journal mailed to your door
• Members-only AAII Model Stock Portfolio
• Access to thousands of articles on AAII.com
• Top mutual fund guide
• Annual tax planning guide
• Access to AAII Local Chapter meetings
• AAII guide to ETFs
• Weekly stock investment ideas
• Lifetime investor strategy guide
• 100% unbiased research
• Daily stock ideas
• Money-back, no-questions-asked, guarantee

• Stock and fund evaluators
• Stock and fund graders
• Guru and factor screening
• Rigorous diversification analysis
• Portfolio insight tools
• User challenges and community opportunities
• A-F stock grades on return, volatility, expenses, turnover, etc
• Data on more than 6,200 stocks and 27,000 funds

With any newsletter, the big question is always "What kind of a return can I expect?" AAII proudly advertises that it's Shadow Stock Portfolio has outperformed the market 3 to 1 (919% to 236%) over the past 20 years.

For a more detailed look at how AAII has performed over time, you can check out the year-to-year performance of its model portfolio. It provides historical returns for each year beginning from 1993. While these returns are impressive, it's important to point out that they are no guarantee of future success. 

Also, keep in mind that with any model portfolio, managers typically get to buy and sell their shares well before the members. As time goes by and more members decide to buy or sell a particular security, the overall trade performance may diminish.

For these reasons, it's not uncommon for the returns of newsletter managers to be much higher than what many of its members actually see.

As a a nonprofit, you can view AAII's 2017 Form 990 filing at ProPublica. In that year, AAII had revenues of $7,988,940 and expenses of -$8,159,531, creating a loss of $170,951. Further, it’s assets were $8,581,653 and liabilities were -$17,944,784, creating net assets of -$9,363,131.

In short, AAII is in the hole and in a major way. What does this mean for anyone who subscribes to AAII? The risk is that AAII could shut down as a going concern if it can't maintain its daily operations or is overwhelmed by its debt burden.

If AAII is in the red, what do salaries look like for its highest-paid execs? The CEO made $280,202 in 2017 and the Senior VP of Operations made $226,956 in the same year.

According to PayScale, the average CEO of a nonprofit organization makes $54,000 to $207,000 per year. So AAII execs make as much (or more) than many of the highest-paid nonprofit CEOs, despite the fact that it's currently a company with negative assets and earnings.

AAII provides more than just a financial newsletter. It includes reports, a community of investors, and a model portfolio. There is a lot of education available and you are sure to pick up something of value that you probably haven't heard of before.

With $1 and $2 trials, it could certainly be worth trying out. But the true returns of model portfolios can be difficult to measure. And AAI's present financial situation could be additional cause for concern.

If you're looking for a "stock tips newsletter" alternative, you may want to read our review of The Motley Fool. Or if you'd prefer to learn how to build a diversified portfolio on your own, check out our "Investing for Dummies" guide.