Motley Fool Offers Phone Service for Financial Advice

Motley Fool Inc., operator of a financial Internet site that rode to fame in the late 1990s by preaching do-it-yourself investing, now wants to hold its followers’ hands--for a price.

The Alexandria, Va.-based firm said Tuesday it is launching TMF Money Advisor, a service that will allow people to get personal advice from financial planners over the phone.

The cost: $149 a year.

Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner, who with his brother Tom started the Fool in 1993, said in a letter posted Tuesday on the firm’s site (https://www.motleyfool.com) that TMF Money Advisor was created to offer “financial roadside assistance--whatever the topic, whenever you need help with your money.”

The firm said it is partnering with Ayco Co. and DirectAdvice Inc. Ayco is a financial planning firm. DirectAdvice offers Web-based financial planning tools.

Motley Fool created a mini-empire in the 1990s with its Web site, books, radio shows and personal appearances, emphasizing investing as a fun enterprise. The Gardners touted do-it-yourself stock picking rather than listening to Wall Street.

The company took its name from the idea that only the court fool in Shakespeare’s England could tell the king the truth about matters without fear of being beheaded.

But with the stock market’s collapse in the last 18 months, many people have soured on do-it-yourself investing. Firms that had staked their futures on do-it-yourselfers--brokerage Charles Schwab among them--have suffered steep declines in revenues and earnings.

In June, the Motley Fool laid off 45 workers, leaving a staff of 175.

“As helpful as we hope our e-mails, books, Web site and broadcasts are, until today we could not as a company take that natural further step toward offering the most helpful service of all: personalized guidance,” David Gardner said Tuesday.

The Ayco planners available through the service won’t try to sell products to users, Gardner said.

Other firms, including Schwab, also are trying to beef up personal financial advisory services to drum up new business.

Motley Fool received a $30-million capital infusion from Japan’s Softbank Corp. and other investors earlier this year. The Gardners and their investors had expected to take the company public at some point, though there apparently is no timetable.