The Kirk Report – Is it worth becoming a member?

If you have not heard of the Kirk report you would have to be in the minority. Charles E. Kirk is the Godfather of the finance blog world. His archives date back to September 2003 and has steadily built a large subscriber base.Like many others I read the Kirk Report on a daily basis. For the last year I have subscribed to the free version of the Kirk report and have been very impressed with the quality of the content. Kirk’s site is quite unique in the fact that it has no advertising. Instead a membership based model is used. So why has it taken me so long to subscribe? I think the main reason for my delay has been I didn’t really know what I would be getting for my money.  If you go to the membership section of the site there is no detailed information of subscriber benefits. It is for this reason I decided to give my thoughts on the members only section and the signup process.

The Signup Process

To signup to the Kirk reports member only section click on member information page. After doing this a page similar to the one shown below will appear.

I choose to pay via PayPal and the process was extremely straightforward. After the transaction is complete you are redirected to instruction on how to log on to the members only section. You will also receive an email welcoming you to the Kirk report. Once you have logged on you will see a clean easy to use interface as shown below:

As a member you get access to:

• Kirk’s stock screen machine
• Monthly Q&A sessions
• Premarket/Afterhours posts
• A market timing indicator
• Recommended Readings
• Tools of the trade
• Educational posts
• Retirement/Lazy portfolios
• Model retirement portfolio

Stock Screen Machine

Naturally after signing up this was the first area of the members only section that I wanted to investigate. At the bottom of the page is a tutorial which goes over how to use the tools effectively and gives a bit of background information. There are quite a few screens that will help you find stocks to play. The screens provided include:

Stock Screen Machine Filters

• New & Hot
• Most Popular
• Consistent Performers
• Losing Popularity
• All Screens

Kirk’s Favourite Stock Screens

• Back Up The Truck
• Cheapo Growth
• Cream Of The Crop
• Good Minds Think Alike
• Market Leaders
• Passing The Bar
• Pounding The Table
• Safety First & Then Potential
• Value/Growth/Momentum

Another benefit of Kirk’s stock screens is the ability to views charts of all the stocks listed with a singe click, download an excel file contain the stocks or a text file. I have found this to be very hand as it allows me to use BulkQuotesXL and AnalyzerXL on the list directly. The image below shows a selected stock screen filter:

The monthly Q&A section is a complete archive of all the past Q&A topics and is all easily accessible on one page. I found it really helpful to see the lists of news that Kirk reads and the blogs he reads. These two lists are both very extensive and contain some sites that even the most seasoned professional may not have come across.  Kirk also has a list of recommended readings which is fairly standard but helpful to the beginner. The tools of the trade section of the website lists in great detail Kirks trading setup and I have to say I am somewhat jealous The lazy portfolio section of the website is of a very high standard and there are lots of resources. In total there are 25 different lazy portfolios presented. At the end of each day Kirk sends all his subscribers a concise email with links to posts along with other relevant information. The final section of the members only section that is worth its weight in gold is the members mailbag. This section of the website goes over all the previous questions kirks members have asked him. There is a lot of content and it makes very interesting reading.

Bottom Line

Becoming a member of the Kirk report really is easy and the value most people will derive will far exceed the initial outlay. If you only got access to the screen machines it would be $50 well spent. The mailbag section and the tools of the trade section make for very useful and interesting reading. If you have been a regular reader of the Kirk report but have been sitting on the fence it is time to take the plunge. The only criticism I have is the lack of comments and community interaction. It would be great to see a members only forum or comments to be enabled on posts. Also it would be good if the recommended reading section offered links to the Amazon page of books presented. That being said a Kirk report membership offers extraordinary value for  money.Well I am off to read some more Q&A’s and mailbag questions.

About the author

Mark - Is a 28 year old form Australia. He has a Bachelor in Economics and a Major in CS. He is currently working towards his CFP. His interests include algorithmic trading systems, artificial intelligence, game theory and poker.