Do you offer trial versions of your newsletter to people who are thinking about subscribing, but haven't decided yet?
Unfortunately, we can't. We tried it once and ran into some problems with people abusing our trust. So what we've done instead is to add a lot of free information on the site (including a sample issue of our newsletter) that hopefully will give people a good idea of the value of what we offer.
Are you owned by a company that sells index funds?
No, we are not. We are privately owned, and have no conflict of interest related to the index mutual and exchange traded funds we cover in our newsletter.
What's your business model? (you're an internet company, after all!)
When we started Index Investor in 1997, we decided to base it on a good old fashion subscription (that is, pay for content) model. For a while we got a lot of abuse for that. These days, we don't hear this very often.
Why don't you charge more?
Our purpose as an organization is to help as many people as possible achieve financial security and peace of mind at the lowest possible cost. While a certain percentage of our subscribers could no doubt pay more, they are probably not the ones who most need the information we provide. By holding down our pricing, we think can do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In this case, our values have triumphed over our wallets.
What's the background of the people behind The Index Investor?
Susan Miller is the publisher of Retired Investor, and president of Index Investor, Inc. She graduated from Northwestern University, and previously worked as a rating officer at Standard and Poor's, and an investment banker at Kidder, Peabody.
Tom Coyne is the Senior Editor of Retired Investor. He had degrees from Georgetown and Harvard Universities, and previously worked for both Chase Manhattan Bank and The MAC Group, a management consulting firm.
Is Index Investor a Registered Investment Advisor?
No, we're a media company. Our site is published in accordance with The Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Section 202(a)(11)(D) which excludes publishers of bona fide financial publications of general and regular circulation from the definition of an investment adviser, and the obligation to register as such under the Act. However, when and if we add interactive features to our site that would enable us to offer customized advice to individuals, we will certainly register.
What is your publication schedule?
We publish within the first week of each month. We title our journals based on the month-end numbers we use to update our Model Portfolio Solutions and other market sensitive material. For example, the July issue is published by the first week of August. We developed this publishing schedule in response to subscriber requests that the "cover date" of each issue correspond to the "model portfolio year to date performance date" it contains. We also send an email to all subscribers when a new issue becomes available on our website.
Refund Policy
Because you have access to all of our journals back to 1997 and our Model Portfolios Solutions, we regret that we are not able to issue refunds. We provide sample issues and a substantial amount of free information on our site to enable you to make an informed purchase decision. If you wish to unsubscribe, please contact us at customerservice@retiredinvestor.com and your cancellation will be effective at the end of your subscription period.
How can we contact you?
The best way is via email at customerservice@retiredinvestor.com. If you want to send us a secure email, our public encryption key is available at pgp.com. Alternatively, you can call us on (401) 295-0092. Our mailing address is Index Investor Inc., 35 Belver Avenue, Suite 135A, Quonset Office Park, North Kingstown, RI 02852