Yahoo Finance Plus Review: Pros And Cons

What Is Yahoo Finance Plus?

Yahoo Finance Plus is the premium version of Yahoo Finance, which is a popular financial news and market data website. Yahoo was founded in 1994 by engineering students from Stanford University. Today, the company has several main media brands, including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo News, and Yahoo Sports. 

What Does It Offer?

Yahoo Finance Plus offers several premium features across three paid service plans: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. I'll provide more detail on those plans below, but first, here's a closer look at the key features: 

Portfolio Tools

All three Yahoo Finance plans include enhanced portfolio tools. You can track your portfolio performance while measuring volatility and diversification. You can also access the portfolio charting feature, which lets you compare your performance against various benchmarks, including other portfolios, stocks, and market indicators.  

You can add investments manually or connect supported brokerage accounts. The Bronze plan also includes community sentiment insights, which help you understand the behavior of other investors in the Yahoo community.

Research Insights 

The Silver and Gold plans unlock powerful research features, including expert stock picks, Morningstar ratings, thousands of company research reports, model portfolio strategies, stock ideas, and the ability to download up to 40 years of income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports (Gold tier only).  

I like that Yahoo combines several types of research instead of summarizing everything in one proprietary rating, which can be very misleading. Regardless, you should always treat stock ratings and expert picks as starting points for your research, not as a definitive buy or sell rating. 

Premium News

Silver and Gold plans also unlock access to premium news articles from the Financial Times and MT Newswires. According to Yahoo Finance, this is a "real-time, broker-grade newsfeed" and is designed to keep you informed as news breaks. 

Unfortunately, this feature isn't available in the Bronze plan, but those users still have access to Yahoo Finance's free news feeds, which include plenty of articles and general market summaries. 

Advanced Data & Charts

If you're looking for the most advanced tools, you'll get that with Yahoo Finance Plus's Gold plan. Included is AlphaSpace, an investment analysis platform with customizable charts, company data, and real-time news. You can download historical prices, trading volumes, financial statements, and other data via CSV files.

According to Yahoo, it provides up to 40 years of income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for supported companies. 

Are There Any Fees?

Yes. As mentioned, Yahoo Finance Plus offers three paid plans. Here's a list of pricing and key features for each plan: 

The Gold plan includes a 7-day free trial, but you must cancel before the trial ends to avoid being charged. Yahoo Finance Plus's subscriptions automatically renew, but you can cancel at anytime and you will still retain access to the service until your paid term expires. In other words, you won't be refunded on a pro-rated basis if you cancel early. 

How Does Yahoo Finance Plus Compare?

Yahoo Finance Plus is more of an all-in-one market research and portfolio analysis platform than a traditional stock-picking newsletter. 

The Motley Fool is another popular stock research platform, and I consider it a direct competitor to Yahoo Finance Plus. However, The Motley Fool's flagship program, Stock Advisor, seems to focus more on stock recommendations, offering two new stock picks each month, updated rankings, and research for long-term investors. It may be a better choice if you're looking for specific stocks to consider, but at $199/year, its lowest-priced plan is twice as expensive as Yahoo Finance Plus's Bronze plan. 

Seeking Alpha takes a different approach. It combines market data and investment analysis provided by a large number of contributors. It also provides earnings call transcripts, stock and ETF screeners, analyst ratings, and portfolio tools. 

Ultimately, all of these platforms are packed with features. The key is to find the one that best fits your investing style and offers what you need at the right price. 

How Do I Open An Account?

To get started with Yahoo Finance Plus, visit its pricing page and select monthly or annual billing for the plan you want. You can sign in with an existing Yahoo account or create a new one. You'll need to enter your payment information and confirm your subscription. Once you've signed up, you can access the paid features through the Yahoo website or its iOS and Android apps. 

Is It Safe And Secure?

Yahoo Finance Plus is an investment research and portfolio tracking service. It's not a brokerage, so it doesn't hold your money, and you can't place trades on its platform. Any credit or debit card information that you provide at account opening is fully encrypted. And while it's safe to do so, if you don't want to connect your investment accounts automatically, you can always enter the information manually. It's just a lot more work. 

How Do I Contact Yahoo Finance Plus?

Yahoo Finance Plus offers 24/7 support for general account issues, such as billing questions and account recovery. You can also chat with a live Yahoo Finance agent on weekdays from 8 AM to 9 PM Eastern Time. For non-urgent support, you can access the Yahoo Help Center on its website. 

Is It Worth It?

I like that Yahoo Finance Plus is built on a platform millions of people already use and know well. I also like that it combines portfolio tracking and analytics with in-depth research, all in one place. You can't get the same level of portfolio tools from The Motley Fool, so that's a clear advantage for Yahoo, whose pricing is also very competitive. Yes, the Bronze plan has research limitations, but it's less than $100 per year. 

Overall, consider The Motley Fool if your primary goal is to get a steady stream of expert stock recommendations, or Seeking Alpha if you prefer in-depth analysis from a wide range of contributors. Yahoo Finance Plus is best for self-directed investors who already know the free Yahoo Finance website but want more than the basic features. 

Check out Yahoo Finance Plus here >>