Investors Alley Review – Scam Or Legit Investing Services?

Investors Alley is an investing publisher that sells a bunch of different newsletters.

If you're here I bet you're wondering if this company is a scam or not.

That's what this review will answer.

Below you'll find everything you need to know about this newsletter and see any red flags that I find.

You'll know if Investors Alley is worth buying from by the time you're done reading.

Let's get started!

Everything You Need To Know About Investors Alley

Investors Alley is a publisher that sells a bunch of investing services and newsletters.

Here's everything you need to know about this company:

Seems Independently Run

The investing newsletter world is more interesting than you'd think.

There's massive empires in this industry and many publishers that seem independent are not.

Agora is the biggest of them all but there's challengers coming for the thrown.

In the end I'd say 3 or 4 massive companies own the majority of all investing newsletters.

So it's actually pretty rare to find a publisher that's not involved in these massive (and often times unethical) networks.

Investors Alley seems to be run independently which is a plus in my book.

I think there's less shenanigans involved when a publisher is independent.

The Upsells Aren't Crazy

Another hallmark of the massive newsletter companies is their aggressive upsells.

Once you sign up you get bombarded with promotions for newsletters that cost thousands of dollars a year.

There are upsells at Investors Alley but they aren't that crazy.

I think the most expensive one there is $1500.

Usually publishers have products that cost $5,000+ per year.

Many Different Editors

There's a handful of editors and products for sale at Investor Place.

It can be hard to figure out what's true and what's hype when it comes to investors in the stock picking industry.

Almost all of them lie to a degree about their expertise.

Here's what I could find about each of the people at Investors Alley:

Tim Melvin

Tim Melvin is the first person you see on the Investors Alley website.

According to him he has over 30 years experience in the financial markets and was Vice President for a firm called Ferris Baker Watts.

However, if you look into the history of Ferris Baker Watts it doesn't seem all that great.

They were fined $700,000 for "inappropriate sales of reverse convertible notes" to 57 customers.

I'm not sure if this was under Tim's watch or not.

Additionally, Tim describes himself as a deep value investor and previously ran an investing newsletter service called Thunderclap Research.

Tim Plaehn

Tim Plaehn is the editor of The Dividend Hunter, which is probably the most popular product at Investors Alley. 

I like The Dividend Hunter a lot but there's really not a lot of details about Tim.

He seemed to spend a lot of time writing about the markets - before this he worked in truck sales, was a F-16 fighter pilot and claimed to be a stock broker.

Jay Soloff

Jay claims to have loads of experience in the financial world.

If you go to his Linkedin he worked many different finance jobs since 1998 but never seemed to stay at a company more than 2 years.

He is described at Investors Alley as being the "lead options analyst."

Serge Berger

Serge used to contribute to a publisher known as InvestorPlace, which is one of those publishers that are owned by larger companies.

He claims to have worked at JP Morgan in the 90's and runs another investing publisher called The Steady Trader.

Rick Rouse

Rick Rouse is another guy that used to write for InvestorPlace.

He apparently stays away from TV cameras and likes to live a quiet live.

Additionally, he's an option trader and run Momentum Options Trading.

Tony Daltorio

Last up we have Tony Daltorio and he's been with Investors Alley since 2016.

Tony worked at Charles Schwab for 18 years before becoming a freelance writer at many different investment media companies.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get Stock Picks

What Is Investors Alley Offering?

Investors Alley has a bunch of different products for sale.

Here's a brief overview of everything they're offering:

Underground Income ($595 Per Year)

Underground Income focuses on closed end funds and is run by Tim Melvin.

Closed end funds are actively managed funds that focus on a single sector or market.

They differ from mutual funds and ETF's because there's no new shares in a closed end fund after the initial offering.

Tim claims this strategy beats the market by more than 4X:

You shouldn't take backtesting that seriously, though.

Many people backtest huge returns and when they try to trade the strategy in real time they lose money.

Mindful Trader is an example of where this is happening.

This service gives you access to Tim's favorite closed end fund and you get new closed end funds to invest once to twice a month.

Profit Wheel 360 ($1497 Per Year)

The Profit Wheel 360 is an option service run by Jay Soloff.

He claims his investing strategy known as "the wheel" allows you to profit from one trade four different ways. 

With this program you get:

• 3 to 4 trades a month
• Details on how to make the trades
• Bi-weekly video rounds ups where Jay will update you on the positions
• Mailbag where you can ask questions
• Training videos

30 Day Double Up ($197 Per Month)

30 Day Double Up is an option trading service run by Rick Rouse.

The goal here is to find one trade that will hit 100% returns every month.

You get the following with this product:

• 6 to 8 trade alerts every month
• 4 part training series that teaches Rick's strategy
• Monthly roundup and overview of the previous month's trades
• Model portfolio to track trades
• Daily market run down in the morning
• Rick's top 3 stocks to trade options on

Options Floor Trader Pro (Closed To New Enrollment)

This service is run by Jay Soloff and is the second one we've looked at so far.

This is another option service with the goal of teaching beginners how to be confident option traders.

However, it's currently closed and not accepting new members.

Options Trading Mastery ($297)

Here we have another service run y Jay Soloff.

This is a brisk option training program and is only 5 hours long.

In the training you'll learn about 7 different option trading strategies.

11 Day Trader ($197 Per Month)

Serge Berger is the main editor for 11 Day Trader.

This service is a swing trading option product - the goal being to win on 80% of the trades and buy and sell in under 11 days.

You'll get alerts on when to buy and sell.

The Dividend Hunter ($49 Per Quarter)

The Dividend Hunter is run by Tim Plaehn and at the moment seems to be their most popular product.

I punched the Investors Alley domain into a tool that analyzes traffic and almost all search results into Investors Alley come from people looking for The Dividend Hunter.

This is a newsletter I've reviewed in the past and the focus here is finding dividend paying stocks.

Additionally, there's software available to track your dividend pay outs.

Monthly Dividend Multiplier ($595 Per Year)

This is another dividend focused service from Tim Plaehn.

However, this one is for more serious investors that already have $50,000 for retirement.

You get the following with this service:

• Top 3 dividends
• Monthly newsletter with new investment ideas and portfolio updates
• Monthly strategy calls

Weekly Income Accelerator ($1497)

The last service is a collaboration between Tim and Jay.

This product gives you 7 covered call trade alerts per month.

Investors Alley FAQ's

Still have some questions about the services at Investors Alley.

Here's answers to any remaining questions you might have.

1) Are The Prices Fair?

There's some services that are a little too much and those monthly fees definitely do add up.

However, it's nothing too crazy.

This about what you can expect to pay for these kind of products.

2) Is There A Refund Policy?

I believe all products come with a 60 day refund.

That's a decent refund policy and should give you enough time to determine if the products are right for you.

3) What Are The Investing Strategies?

There's basically two kinds of investing going on here.

The first is option trading.

Most of the products at Investors Alley have to do with trading options.

Each service tackles this strategy a different way.

Some hold trades for a month, others hold for a week, etc.

Dividend or income earning stocks are the other investing strategy used.

4) What Do You Like About Investors Alley?

Most of the guys at Investors Alley seem legit and all have a long background in investing.

Many of these guys come from top Wall Street firms.

Additionally, I like that the market isn't over the top.

There's obviously some colorful marketing but it's not too bad like other places.

5) What Do You Dislike About Investors Alley?

The monthly services seem pretty expensive.. they'll cost over $2000 every year to be a member of.

This makes it much harder to profit when you're paying so much.

Additionally, I'm always skeptical of option alert services.

Options require precision and by the time you execute your trade the price might be different.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get Stock Picks

Investors Alley Conclusion

Alright, that's the end of this review of Investors Alley.

Overall, I think this publisher is a step up then what I usually review.

Some publishers are so unethical and end up paying millions in fines for their actions.

Investors Alley isn't trying to scare you into buying their products or using claims that are too outlandish.

The customer reviews for them are decent too.

I wouldn't recommend against you buying from them, especially the The Dividend Hunter.

Here's A Better Opportunity

Investors Alley is a decent publisher and there's some good products for sale there.

The good news is there's still a lot of good places to get stock picks.

I've reviewed all the best places to get good stock ideas.

To see my favorite (which is very affordable), click below: