American Association of Individual Investors Review 2024

What is AAII?

The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individual investors to achieve their financial aspirations. Established with the intent to provide comprehensive educational resources, AAII delivers a myriad of tools ranging from basic tutorials to advanced analytical instruments.

Their diverse offerings, such as model portfolios, live webinars, and a monthly journal, cater to investors across all proficiency levels. Committed to offering unbiased and reliable data, research, and analysis, AAII stands out as a dependable source free from commercial upsells or misleading schemes.

Being an independent entity, AAII prioritizes the genuine financial growth of its members, ensuring they receive transparent and trustworthy guidance on their investment journey.

AAII Review 2023 | Is the American Association of Individual Investors Right for Me?

No matter where you may be on your investment journey, the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) can be a great resource. They have everything from basic educational resources to advanced analytical tools, meaning you can easily grow into a more sophisticated investor.

Given the low barrier to entry, AAII may be a great option for just about any trader out there. It has reliable data, research, and analysis that you can trust, and it doesn’t hammer you over the head with constant upsells or “get-rich-quick” nonsense, a real problem with some other investment subscriptions. Since AAII is independent and non-profit, you don’t have to worry about getting scammed.

While AAII offers solid investment guidance and tools, how does it align with your own investment needs and preferences? Keep reading to learn more, including about how it works and its top features.

External AAII Reviews & Ratings

Here are some reviews from traders who have experienced the platform firsthand:

How Does AAII Work?

AAII offers six different membership options, and we’ll cover the pricing in just a bit. It’s a simple sign-up process, and certain memberships offer different resources. For instance, longer-term subscriptions also include a free copy of AAII founder James Cloonan’s A Lifetime Strategy for Investing, a comprehensive and common-sense guide to investing for life.

Once you’ve signed up, you will have access to AAII’s platform, which includes many helpful tools and resources. Your access to these will depend on the specific type of subscription you sign up for (again, covered more in detail below).

In general, AAII is straightforward to use. It even has a user guide to help learn how to use the different sections of the site and the other tools it offers.

AAII Features

AAII has many neat features that help set it apart from other investment research platforms, including the following:

• Portfolio analyzer – Available to A+ members, the AAII portfolio analyzer is a powerful tool that provides real-time insights into your portfolio, including how diversified you are, and which stocks you may want to consider adding to or selling to rebalance your portfolio.
• Educational resources – This is where AAII really shines, as it was founded with the express intent of providing investment education for all Americans. Given how low some of its membership fees are, AAII provides a staggering amount of educational resources, including live webinars and seminars, courses, guides, the AAII Journal (a monthly magazine), and much, much more.
• Modular subscriptions – AAII offers various memberships that are also modular, meaning that you can purchase standalone offerings or add them on to an existing membership. This flexibility is nice and sets AAII apart from many of its (for-profit) competitors.
• Shadow portfolio – AAII members also have access to a model “shadow” portfolio that has consistently beaten the S&P500. Members can set up their own portfolios based on the AAII portfolio, or just use it as inspiration for a few picks here or there.

AAII Pricing & Plans

As stated, AAII has many membership plans. Here’s a quick pricing overview, and then we’ll break down some of the ways they differ.

• 1-Year Membership | $29
• 4-Year Membership | $99
• Lifetime Membership | $390
• A+ Investor 1-Year Membership | $149
• A+ Investor 2-Year Membership | $259
• A+ Investor 3-Year Membership | $299

AAII also offers a risk-free 30-day trial for just $2 (A+) or $3 (Platinum).

The basic AAII membership comes with a ton of educational resources, but it lacks some of the more advanced tools that come with the A+ membership, such as the portfolio analyzer.

In addition to choosing to purchase standalone tools or add them to the basic or A+ membership, you can opt for the Platinum membership to receive everything AAII has to offer.

Is the AAII Worth It?

The American Association of Individual Investors was founded to educate Americans on investment and help them limit risk and maximize gains.

Given its low-cost subscriptions relative to its competitors, AAII is worth considering for just about any investor out there, regardless of experience level or capital to invest.

That said, there are some criticisms out there of AAII, namely that they have misrepresented the success of their shadow portfolio.

In any event, it’s best to click here to check out AAII for yourself so you can see if it aligns well with your investment needs and preferences. And at only $2 or $3 to get started, it’s a good time to give it a try.