this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . december 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message american association of individual investors type non profit genre investment founded 1978 founder dr. james cloonan phd headquarters chicago united states key people john bajkowski president website http www.aaii.com the american association of individual investors is a nonprofit organization with about 150 000 members 1 whose purpose is to educate individual investors regarding stock market portolios financial planning and retirement accounts . 2 aaii assists individuals in becoming effective managers of their own assets through programs of education information and research . 3 the organization markets itself as an unbiased source of investment information because of its not for profit status . the organization was founded by james cloonan ph.d. in 1978 . over the last thirty years aaii s members report investment returns that are consistently higher than those of the stock market as a whole 2 using the s & p 500 as reference . since 2003 aaii has maintained two real portfolios a shadow stock portfolio and a mutual fund portfolio for education purposes . these portfolios returns and contents are available online and the site reports have outperformed the market considerably over the course of their existence . 4 contents 1 membership 2 mentions 3 local chapters 4 see also 5 external links 6 references membership edit aaii.com is the organization s main outlet for their educational materials . while it does offer some completely free information requiring no registration or membership dues a large portion of the site requires free registration or membership . aaii s best and premium content is made available only to members who pay fees starting at 29 a year . for this fee they receive the aaii journal the organization s monthly ad free magazine access to the organization s model portfolios techniques for screening stocks free investment courses and other benefits . 5 for members interested in using their computers as an investment resource aaii offers the computerized investing journal and microsite for an additional annual fee . 5 mentions edit syndicated columnist humberto cruz has mentioned aaii in his investment advice columns in a comparison between aaii.com s investment education and betterinvesting.com he wrote for my money i prefer aaii . 6 aaii.com has earned a best of the web award from forbes . 1 aaii s sentiment survey which is a weekly poll indicator of its members opinion on where the market will be in six months is often written about by financial bloggers and other personal investment organizations who consider the survey to be among the best of contrarian indicators . 7 8 9 10 aaii.com was mentioned in a june 2006 newsweek article if you want more technical information try the american association of individual investors . 11 aaii.com was treated more critically by johnathan ping in his mymoneyblog which not only details the 2009 revenue to salary and marketing costs of the organization but argues that the performance claims of the aaii portfolios are not entirely honest . 12 local chapters edit many of aaii s members have created local chapters which meet from time to time to listen to speakers and discuss investment . aaii has a page on their website which lists all of these events organized by city . see also edit investing financial education non profit value line morningstar inc. external links edit aaii.com company website computerized investing stock superstarts report investing pathways references edit a b forbes.com . forbes.com best of the web aaii . forbes.com . archived from the original on february 4 2012 . retrieved 2014 01 05 . a b james cloonan phd . about aaii . aaii website . better business bureau . bbb review of american association of individual investors . bbb.org . aaii.com . introduction to model portfolios . aaii website . a b aaii.com . join aaii . aaii website . humberto cruz . humberto cruz long term investing or out for the quick buck . dead link peter birchler . sentiment surveys and the vix . tradersnarrative.com . sentiment overview week of february 13th 2009 . sentimenttrader.com . aaii sentiment survey . chiconomics101.com . chiconomics 101 stocking up . archived from the original on july 8 2011 . linda stern . money invest the time yourself . jonathan ping . american association of individual investors aaii review the numbers behind the non profit . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title american association of individual investors & oldid 743372266 categories investment clubspersonal finance educationnon profit organizations based in chicagohidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links 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