Ex-Motley Fool's David Kuo, team launch new site

Singapore

SOON after the demise of The Motley Fool Singapore in October last year, plans were under way to set up The Smart Investor, an investment education site that was officially launched on Jan 1.

Founded by the former Motley Fool's chief executive officer David Kuo, general manger Joanna Sng and senior analyst Chin Hui Leong, The Smart Investor was established to provide an alternative platform for subscribers of The Motley Fool after it shut its doors.

"Since the closure announcement was released, we were inundated with requests from our members to continue providing unbiased stock investment content," said Ms Sng, who is also the head of business at The Smart Investor.

"It was a natural next step for us to get together and start The Smart Investor," she told The Business Times (BT).

In October, BT reported that The Motley Fool was ceasing operations over a regulatory issue with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Under MAS regulations, it operated with a financial adviser's licence which required the firm to maintain a certain amount of net assets, which it said constrained it from growing.

The Smart Investor was set up shortly after but was only officially launched this year.

Unlike The Motley Fool, The Smart Investor will not be making any buy or sell recommendations so as to not be classified as a financial adviser.

Instead, it offers free content that features a top-down look at economic issues that may impact markets and company-specific articles to help investors make investment decisions.

It will also be offering exclusive content through a subscription model that is expected to be launched by the end of January. The subscription fees range from S$200 to S$2,000 annually.

It gives subscribers access to investment education services that covers different investment themes.

One example is an income investing themed service led by Mr Kuo on how to earn steady income streams by identifying stocks that deliver dividends. These investment concepts will be demonstrated through Mr Kuo's own portfolio backed by real investments.

While the response from loyal followers has been positive so far, Ms Sng said that it was no easy task to start all over again with a new site.

"We've had to build a lot of things from scratch. Our website and the free weekly newsletter service are two such instances," she revealed.

The current five-man team is looking to bring more members on board and launch up to five types of investment education services by the end of 2020.

"In the short term, we intend to expand the range of investment education services that we currently provide," said Ms Sng.

"Our longer-term plans are built on the same premise. We intend to explore different ways that we can help investors make the right decisions to achieve their personal financial goals," she added.