Curzio Research Review: Is it Worth the Cost?

Curzio Research

8.5

Product Rating

8.5/10

Strengths

• Multiple newsletter options and curated strategies
• Affordable entry-level newsletters (from $99/year)
• 30-day refund on entry level newsletters
• Mid-month updates and sell alerts

Weaknesses

• Expensive premium newsletters (up to $5000/year)
• Aggressive marketing campaigns
• No refunds for premium products

Learn More

Curzio Research offers several entry-level and specialized stock newsletters to help you get monthly stock picks at a low price. This advisory service is led by Frank Curzio, a seasoned analyst with plenty of experience with widely-known investment publishers such as TheStreet and Stansberry Research. 

Whether you enjoy subscribing to investing newsletters or you have seen a teaser pitch for one of its publications, our Curzio Research review looks at the benefits of membership and lets you know what investment ideas to expect.

I have been a subscriber since 2018 and will share my insights and experience to help you decide if it’s worth joining. 

What Is Curzio Research?

Curzio Research is operated by Frank Curzio and a small team of analysts. The service consists of investing newsletters and podcasts. It started in 2016 and has scaled from two monthly publications to six newsletters today.

Investors can subscribe to receive investment ideas for the following strategies:

• Long-term stocks (for entry-level investors)
• Private placements and warrants
• Put options
• Dividend income
• Crypto

I’ve had a lifetime subscription to their entry-level Curzio Research Advisory since 2018, and have tried some of their other budget-priced products over the years to get more investment ideas. I’ve also enjoyed Frank’s free podcasts and decided to subscribe after becoming a long-time listener.

While I will share my thoughts throughout this review, I’ll start by saying that Curzio Research offers good value for the price. There are plenty of anecdotes of happy subscribers, plus the platform has grown. However, it’s not perfect, and there are periods when stock picks lose money.

Additionally, the platform has replaced a couple of newsletter analysts and discontinued a publication (Big Money Report) due to lackluster performance.

I do like that the service discloses its imperfections, and Curzio lists his wins and losses if you follow him regularly. However, they don’t display the performance of past portfolio picks as clearly as some stock newsletters.

Who is Frank Curzio?

If you’re considering signing up with Curzio Research, it helps to understand Frank Curzio’s persona and investment background. While he is no longer the exclusive analyst as the subscriber base has grown, his investment methodology remains a central component, which is no surprise given that his name is tied to the operation.

Curzio’s father published an investment newsletter in the 1980s and is famous for being one of the only experts of his era to predict the notorious 1987 stock crash. That newsletter was value-focused but closed down when his father retired. To be clear, his father’s publication paid a federal fine for misleading statements, as the newsletter industry is sometimes controversial. I encourage you to look at both sides of the situation.

Frank Curzio was a senior analyst at TheStreet and worked closely with TV personality Jim Cramer. Next, he ran a small-cap newsletter for Stansberry Research before starting his own company. Regardless of how you feel about these outlets, it’s an impressive resume that requires talent and helped Curzio become a growth investor too.

Curzio Research Advisory is Curzio’s original product. It’s an entry-level stock newsletter geared for general investors. It offers stock ideas from various industries and shares trends with common shares you can hold long-term. The other is Curzio Venture Opportunities which is geared to accredited investors. It specializes in biotech and junior mining stocks, which Curzio covered while at Stansberry.

How Much Does Curzio Research Cost?

Curzio Research publishes a free weekly podcast and some email publications. However, you won’t receive constant in-depth stock picks from these sources as they aim to familiarize you with the organization and help you decide if a premium subscription is the next step. 

Entry-level newsletters start at $99 per year, which is reasonable and can cost approximately $100 less than competing products from other publishers. These products are also likely to have a 30-day refund guarantee.

Premium services can cost $2,000 to $5,000 annually without a refund. My suggestion is to wait for limited-time discounts, which occur during the year, where you might be able to get a multi-year membership or lifetime membership at a cheaper rate.

Curzio Research Publications

Curzio has several newsletters that can help you shape your investment strategy. A paid subscription to any of the below products also gives you access to the subscriber-only Frankly Speaking podcast that publishes each Friday and answers investor-submitted questions.

Curzio Research Advisory

This starter newsletter is an excellent place to begin due to its affordable price ($99/year) and diverse set of investment ideas for beginner or intermediate investors. I purchased a lifetime membership in 2018 because of its affordability.

Each monthly issue is a 30-minute video reviewing the new monthly stock pick, other portfolio holdings, and any macroeconomic matters that may impact the model portfolio.

The monthly pick includes a buy-up-to price and a stop-loss percentage. During a more volatile investment period, the newsletter may only recommend a half position to minimize volatility and re-recommend the company later on if the investment thesis remains intact. 

Many active recommendations are held for at least a year. However, the analyst team sends mid-month updates and sell alerts when a company’s situation changes, and they believe it’s more prudent to take profits or cut losses. 

Successful stock picks include Square (digital wallets), Intel (computer chips), Altice (cable TV), Callaway Golf (entertainment), and Cheniere Energy (natural gas). Unsuccessful picks include Altria (big tobacco), IBM (computer technology, and Wrap Technologies (law enforcement gear). 

I appreciate that Curzio was proactive in early 2020 and sold most recommendations before the markets realized the world economy was actually going to grind to a halt. For transparency, this newsletter didn’t get aggressive about returning to the market a few months later, but it was challenging to predict markets would rebound as quickly as they did.

Like any active investment strategy, not every recommendation will be profitable. With any newsletter, you should research stock investments instead of investing mindlessly based on the editor’s commentary.

Overall, Curzio Investment Advisory is reliable, and you can make money over the longer term. Still, you should invest in several ideas to spread out risk and keep an eye on your portfolio (as with any stock newsletter that doesn’t recommend index funds exclusively).

This service costs $99 annually (very reasonable) and has a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

Curzio Venture Opportunities

Curzio Venture Opportunities is the platform’s flagship newsletter that “started it all” as the founder took his knowledge and connections of junior miners, biotech companies, and small-cap stocks to recommend little-known companies.

Most recommendations involve warrants and private placements, so you will want to be an accredited investor with at least $25,000 in free cash to act on most of the monthly stock picks. 

You will also need a high-risk appetite and a willingness to invest in most ideas, as these asset classes tend to be volatile and have a lower winning rate. Plan on taking multiple small losses, although the winning investments can be highly profitable. 

This service costs $5,000 annually, and there is no refund period.

Moneyflow Trader

One downside of being a long-term buy-and-hold investor is the ability only to earn investment income during bullish periods. Moneyflow Trader seeks to offer “bear market insurance” by suggesting put options and other risk-hedging strategies that can help you make money over the short term.

The newsletter’s current editor, Genia Turanova, took over in 2019 and has been pretty successful in navigating the market’s twists and turns.

Consider this product if you already have an established portfolio and want to protect your portfolio gains when your long-term holdings and the broad market are underperforming. 

This product doesn’t perform as well during bull markets when investor sentiment is optimistic, and the overall market is rising. 

You can pay as much as $5,000 per year. However, temporary promotions are sometimes offered for as little as $499 for three months ($2,000 per year). 

Unlimited Income

Dividend investors can benefit from Unlimited Income, which helps you earn income during any point of the market cycle. Senior analyst Genia Turanova looks for companies with a history of rising dividends with sustainable yields.

In addition to earning recurring income, you can gain by selling shares for a profit if prices appreciate. The $99 yearly subscription fee is affordable for an income-focused product.

Personally, I appreciate the separate tabs to track the performance of open and closed positions. The closed portfolio performance ranges from a 104% gain (Hannon Armstrong) to a 35.1% hypothetical loss (Intel).

Most recommendations are individual stocks, but there are periodic ETF recommendations. 

You will receive a monthly issue that contains several pages of reading material. The monthly stock pick has a maximum buy-up-to price and a full or half position suggestion. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t suggest whether to buy in a taxable or tax-advantaged account to optimize your dividend tax treatment. Some competing dividend newsletters provide this insight.

This newsletter costs $99 per year with a 30-day refund period.

WSU Premium 

In early 2023, Curzio Research revamped its weekly content for two services – the free Wall Street Unplugged podcast (three free episodes each week) and the premium Dollar Stock Club (one stock idea each week).

This package costs $10 monthly and includes a weekly premium podcast with a featured guest and a weekly stock pick. The featured guest podcast used to be free until the programming changed as the subscriber base increased, and it’s a lot of work to put audio content together.

Frank Curzio and contributing analyst Daniel Creech operate this publication. I’ve been an off-and-on subscriber to Dollar Stock Club. I like the weekly ideas, and the screening process has improved as the product has matured and gained a wider audience.

The weekly pick is usually an individual stock but can be an ETF or cryptocurrency. It depends on who the podcast guest is for the week. You will receive an action plan about when to buy and potentially sell.

However, as I already have a lifetime subscription to Curzio Research Advisory, this content overlaps in several areas. It’s an entry-level product that can be better if you want more ideas for a similar annual price.

Crypto Intelligence

Unless you’re a Bitcoin maximalist, a cryptocurrency newsletter like Crypto Intelligence can be necessary to find the best altcoins and reduce your investment risk. You can receive monthly recommendations. 

This product costs $5,000 per year.

Curzio Research Token

Accredited investors can invest directly in Curzio Research with the Curzio Equity Owners token. This is a securitized token offering which is similar to startup investing, although it uses blockchain technology to get exposure to private companies.

Investors can profit from Curzio Research’s newsletter sales and enjoy other exclusive perks.

Curzio Research Pros and Cons

Here are several advantages and disadvantages of a Curzio Research subscription.

Pros

• Multiple newsletter options and curated strategies
• Affordable entry-level newsletters (from $99/year)
• 30-day refund on entry-level newsletters
• Can receive mid-month updates and sell alerts

Cons

• Expensive premium newsletters (as much as $5,000/year)
• Not every stock pick is profitable
• Aggressive marketing campaigns
• No refunds for premium products

Alternatives to Curzio Research

In addition to Curzio Research, there are many investment newsletters to choose from. Before signing up, I recommend checking out the following alternatives.

Seeking Alpha

Seeking Alpha is an excellent option if you enjoy reading commentary from numerous contributors about just about any stock or ETF. The service also has a proprietary rating system and stock screener that can help technical and fundamental investors.

You won’t have access to a model portfolio, but you have more freedom to explore different investment ideas. As a result, it can be more affordable than renewing several newsletter subscriptions.

Learn more with our Seeking Alpha review.

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The trial is a great way to test-drive Seeking Alpha Premium.

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Morningstar Investor

Consider Morningstar Investor when you want hands-on research tools to compare investment ideas. There are multiple stock and bond lists to categorize the highest-rated stocks, funds, and ETFs. You can also tailor the information based on various strategies and asset allocations.

Further, you can access comprehensive analyst reports for most investment options, a stock screener with over 200 customizable filters, and an interactive portfolio analyzer.

Read our Morningstar Investor review for more.

Learn More About Morningstar Investor

Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Consider Motley Fool Stock Advisor if you’re a buy-and-hold growth investor desiring to hold stock recommendations for three to five years. Additionally, you receive two monthly stock picks along with weekly updates to get new investment ideas consistently.

An annual subscription starts at less than $99 for the first year but renews at $199 annually. You can learn more about this service in our Motley Fool review.

*Billed annually. Introductory price for the first year for new members only. First year bills at $99 and renews at $199.

Learn More About Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Oxford Communique

The Oxford Communique is an entry-level newsletter competitive with Curzio Research Advisory. It has similar monthly recommendations but also has several model portfolios with different risk tolerances ranging from conservative to aggressive.

You can pay as little as $49 for the first year and have a 365-day refund guarantee. 

Oxford Income Letter

If you enjoy dividend investing, Oxford Income Letter provides monthly recommendations and compliments Curzio’s Unlimited Income publication. Your subscription includes several model portfolios to pursue various investment strategies, including high-yield when you’re comfortable with more volatility. 

An annual subscription starts at $49 annually and includes a 365-day refund period.

FAQs

Learn More About Curzio Research

Is Curzio Research Worth It?

Curzio Research is one of the better and more trustworthy investment newsletter services out there. Its entry-level products (Curzio Research Advisory, Dollar Stock Club, and Unlimited Income) cost as little as $99/year, which is 50% less than many competing products.

No stock newsletter is perfect, but Curzio repeatedly mentions that he tries to keep the costs for these starter products low to attract new readers. From there, his staff tries to consistently deliver profitable ideas so that they can become long-term subscribers and eventually sign up for premium publications (where the real money is for publishers).

The premium newsletters (Curzio Venture Opportunities, Moneyflow Trader, Crypto Intelligence) can be worth it if you have a lot of cash to invest and are a good fit for the specialized strategies.

Like any newsletter, the subscription isn’t worth it if you don’t act on the research. In that case, you’re better off using the money to invest instead of paying for unnecessary research services.