As with so many things (exercise, eating healthier, driving home after a great vacation), getting started is often the most difficult part of the process. We understand. That’s why we went to great lengths to make our Getting Started process as clear and simple as possible, with step-by-step instructions for choosing and implementing the SMI strategy that’s right for you (have you gone through our Getting Started section?). And it’s why we offer a variety of strategies with a range of complexity levels and time commitments. 

Our Just-the-Basics strategy may be a great place for you to start. Its name is based on the fact that it takes very little time to understand and only once-a-year maintenance. 

There was a time when $25,000 was the minimum needed to fully utilize SMI’s strategies, but no longer. Now that exchange-traded funds are the investment vehicle of choice for our Just-the-Basics and Dynamic Asset Allocation strategies, it’s possible to invest the SMI way with less than $1,000. 

Time is one of the most valuable assets any of us has. And it certainly does require an investment of time and effort to follow our strategies. However, after you’ve gone through our Getting Started section, where we walk you through our process step by step, it should take no more than 30 minutes per month to follow our strategies—some months even less than that. And with all that’s at stake—namely, the accomplishment of your most important financial goals—we’re confident that one day you’ll look back and say the time it took you to implement our recommendations was time extremely well invested.

We don’t promise to outperform every single year. No investment strategy can do that. But we’re not in it for the short-term, and you shouldn’t be either. We cater to investors—not traders—who are looking for long-term market-beating results, which is exactly what we have a track record of delivering. If you haven’t done so already, please read, “Higher Returns With Less Risk: The Best Combinations of SMI’s Most Popular Strategies.” We think you’ll find the investment approach described in that article very compelling.

We certainly understand and affirm the importance of managing a household budget, making the many financial choices we all face with wisdom and care. We strive to offer an outstanding service to our members at a reasonable price. In fact, our prices are far lower than what you would pay elsewhere. The vast majority of other investment newsletters are priced higher than SMI—many of them much higher—and many financial advisors charge a fee equal to 1% of your portfolio balance. So, to have someone manage a $100,000 portfolio would cost you $1,000 per year!

At SMI, a Basic membership (giving you access to our Fund Upgrading and Just-the-Basics strategies) costs just $9.95 per month, or $99.50 if you pay for a one-year membership up front (27 cents a day!). A Premium membership (giving you access to all of our strategies, including Dynamic Asset Allocation and Sector Rotation) costs just $16.95 per month or $169.50 if you pay for a one-year membership up front, which works out to less than 50 cents per day. 

With the long-term market-beating track record each of our strategies has established, we believe it’s fair to say the money you spend on an SMI membership is a low-cost/high-reward investment in your financial future.