Empire Stock Investor Review – Scam Or Legit?

Empire Stock Investor is a stock selecting service from Whitney Tilson.

This product isn't too expensive but there's many upsells in the market funnel that are.

Before spending thousands on all of these products you probably want to know if they're scams or not.

You'll get that answer.

I looked at this program honestly and below you'll find everything that I found about it.

You'll know all about the creator, what exactly you're getting, what to expect and more.

So take a little time and read everything here.

Let's get started!

5 Facts About Whitney Tilson

Whitney Tilson is well known in the investing world.

Here's what I think is most important to know about him:

1) Comes From A Political Family

Whitney isn't a rag to riches success story (there's nothing wrong with this by the way).

His great grandfather, John Tilson, was a well known Republican politician in the early 1900's and was House Majority Leader for 6 years.

Whitney dabbles in politics as well.

He's never held office but runs charities that are focus on education reform.

Unlike is great grandfather, though, he does so as a Democrat. 

2) His Hedge Fund Eventually Failed

Whitney Tilson ran a hedge fund called Kase Capital. 

Kase Capital was successful for a number of years of between 1999 to 2009. This success made Whitney a very respected investor.

However, after the market crash in 2009 things went south for the firm.

Kase Capital trailed the market for 6 years before Whitney pulled the plug on it. 

3) He Runs Value Investing Congress

Value Investing Congress is a a multiple day conference that Tilson holds every year.

Top investors get together to share their ideas of where the market is heading and to talk about certain stocks/companies.

However, this conference is not cheap.. in 2018 the conference cost $5,000 to attend. 

There's been good trade ideas found at these conferences.

In 2007, David Einhorn, one of the speakers, suggested people should short Lehman Brothers.

A year later the company filed for bankruptcy. 

4) Lumber Liquidators Saga

In 2015, 60 Minutes aired a shocking expose on the flooring company Lumber Liquidators.

Apparently they were using illegal amounts of formaldehyde in their products. 

Whitney Tilson was featured in the expose and the stock of Lumber Liquidators tanked.

Whitney also was shorting the stock and made millions from doing so. 

Eventually Lumber Liquidators plead guilty in court and was ordered to pay millions in fines and class action lawsuits.  

They had to pay an additional $33 million for lying to investors. 

However, Whitney has recently changed his tune about Lumber Liquidators (which goes by LL Flooring today) and now encourages investors to buy their stock.

5) Tilson Embarrassed By Elon Musk

People have been trying to short Tesla for a long time and one of the most vocal Tesla shorters is Whitney TIlson.

In early March 2019, Tilson famously claimed Tesla would shed 66% of its stock value and fall under $100 per share (at the time it was trading at $295).

What happened with Tesla stock in that year?

It shot up to over $660 a share!

As I'm writing this review the stock price is well over $1,000.

The red arrow below is when Tilson predicted the crash of Tesla:

Can't be any more wrong than that. 

Recommended: The Best Place To Get High Return Stock Ideas

What Is Empire Stock Investor?

Empire Stock Investor is one of many products offered by Whitney Tilson and his team.

Here's a breakdown of everything you need to know about this brand:

First Step In A Larger Sales Funnel

Empire Stock Investor isn't actually that expensive.

However, this is just the first product in a much bigger sales funnel.

I come from an online marketing background and the most sophisticated online sales funnels are ones that come from financial and investing companies.

They've really cracked the code on how to get people to buy multi-thousand dollar products.

Empire Stock Investor has value but it's mainly to get you into the funnel.

Once you buy one product, you're more likely to buy another from a company.

Smart marketers give away a cheap product to butter you up for the big pitch later on.

There's definitely an element of that here. 

There's 5 products at Empire Financial Research that cost $3,0000:

You better believe you'll be pitched on buying them. 

A Lot Of Different Editors

Whitney isn't the only one involved in Empire Stock Investor.

There's a bunch of other editors and analysts a part of the team as well.

Enrique Abeyta is the most featured person in this newsletter and his research report is included with your subscription. 

Apparently Abeyta worked on Wall Street before becoming the head editor for Whitney.

There isn't a ton of information out there about him, though.

Currently Trailing The Market

The reason Tilson had to shut down Kase Capital after years of success is it started to trail the S&P 500.

Since the inception of Empire Stock Investor in 2019 there's unrealized gains of 42% on their open positions and 60% gains on their 4 closed positions. 

However, the S&P 500 is up 74% in the same amount of time.

You're Only Getting Long Positions

If you're looking for quick money and fast results Empire Stock Investor is not for you.

The strategy here requires patience and you won't see results for 3 to 5 years.

Additionally, you'll be investing in large cap, well known companies like Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, Berkshire Hathaway, etc:

Recommended: The Best Place To Get High Return Stock Ideas

Empire Stock Investor Overview

There's various components to Empire Stock Investor and a lot of different features.

Here's a look at everything you get if you sign up for a membership:

Empire Stock Investor Newsletter

This is a monthly report that tracks the 25 to 30 positions recommended by Whitney. 

You'll get various news and insights on the stock performances and instructions on what companies should invest in. 

If a new stock is introduced you'll get a full analysis on it and you'll get updates on stock picks made previously. 

Whitney Tilson Daily

The Whitney Tilson Daily is a less serious newsletter that goes out every trading day.

Here you'll find what Whitney thinks about the market on particular days and any recommendations he has.

You'll get some insights of big topics in the news as well. 

Empire Financial Daily

After markets close you'll get another daily newsletter called Empire Financial Daily. 

Again, you'll get insights on the markets for the day and you'll get advice on how to navigate any turbulence.

This newsletter is written by Whitney's team and his friend Berna Barshay.

Citizen IPO Program

The new marketing campaign for Empire Stock Investor revolves around the Citizen IPO Program.

This is a hour long presentation where Whitney explains what a citizen IPO is and how you can make money with them.

Basically this is an opportunity to buy an IPO before it goes public. 

"Citizen IPO" is just a nickname for SPAC (special purpose acquisition company). 

SPACs are companies that raise money to buy existing companies.

SPACs usually are made up of investors or people with an expertise in a particular sector.

To avoid regulations involved with IPO's, SPACs don't reveal the companies they want to target for acquisitions.

So you're basically investing in the people who run the SPAC and not their targets. 

Various SPAC Reports

There's two different "special reports" that you get.

One is from Enrique Abeyta and it covers his #1 SPAC and the other report comes from Whitney Tilson - this report covers his favorite two SPACs.

Additionally, you get a small education guide to SPACS.

This guide will teach you how to navigate the SPAC market and how to buy and sell.

You'll also look at various SPAC markets and get insights on why Whitney loves them so much. 

Various Reports On Electric Vehicles

You also get insights into the electric vehicle and TaaS sector.

You'll get trade ideas regarding the following:

• Electric car companies
• Driverless car technology companies
• TaaS (transportation as a service) speculation

5 Empire Stock Investor Takeaways

There's a lot to takeaway from Empire Stock Investor.

Here's what I think about this service:

1) I'm Not A Big Fan Of The Marketing

Like I mentioned before my background is in internet marketing.

I understand the game and don't think it's a problem when companies spice things up with their marketing.

However, the marketing just seems a little overtop here.

Everything is billed as a game changing stock idea and they throw out return figures that are 600%+:

Whitney's track record over the last 10 years hasn't been the best.

It would be nice if the marketing got toned down a bit.

2) You Need Tens Of Thousands To Invest

The price of Empire Stock Investor may be affordable but the amount needed to invest is definitely higher.

Whitney recommends that you have $1,000 to invest in every position:

At all times there's about 25 to 30 picks in the portfolio.

So you'll need $25,000+ to participate and get all the returns in the portfolio.

Every month you might get a new trade pick sent to you.

That'll require $1,000 minimum every time as well. 

If you don't have that kind of money to invest this newsletter won't really be worth it for you.

3) SPACs Are Controversial

The idea of a SPAC may sound interesting and they certainly are hyped up in the sales presentation for Empire Stock Investor.

However, most experts don't really like SPACS and some think they should be illegal. 

These investments aren't regulated much and you really are investing blind.

There's little transparency and a bad SPAC investment could be costly.

Most of Empire Stock Investor is investing is in large cap companies but their special reports are focused on SPACs.

I'm not sure this is something most normal people should get involved with. 

4) Tilson Is Living Off The Glory Days

There was a time people listened intently to what Tilson had to say - his appearance on 60 minutes regarding Lumber Liquidators crashed the stock.

However, his shine has definitely dimmed over the last 10 years.

His hedge fund shut down due to poor performance and he's been hilariously wrong about big stock prices like Tesla.

Even Empire Stock Investor is trailing the market.

There's a reason most of the marketing material focuses on his wins from 10 to 20 years ago and nothing lately. 

5) There's Not Too Many Customer Reviews

Usually you can find customers talking about a newsletter or investment products online.

However, there's really nothing out there about Empire Stock Investor.

The only thing I could find was a customer review rating about this newsletter on Stock Gumshoe:

This rating comes from 41 people and shows the newsletter is pretty average.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get High Return Stock Ideas

Price And Refund Policy

The price of the newsletter is pretty good but there's some things you should know.

Here's what I think about the price and refund policy:

The Initial Price Is Good

The first year of Empire Stock Investor is $49 per year and that's not too bad.

In fact, that's a good deal.

After the first year the price increases to $199 per year but that's not bad either.

You'll have plenty of time to track Tilson's investment picks and see if the service is worth $199.

Test Results Before Buying The Upsell

The rest of the products offered by Tilson are much more expensive.

You shouldn't buy them until you test out Empire Stock Investor for a while.

If you're not getting the kind of returns you desire in the newsletter there's no need to buy the more expensive products.

Refund Policy Is Good

You get 30 days to get your money back if you're not satisfied with Empire Stock Investor.

It's no questions asked as well.

This isn't enough time to test out the stock picks but it is enough time to make sure this service is right for you.

Recommended: The Best Place To Get High Return Stock Ideas

Final Thoughts

Empire Stock Investor is well produced and the marketing team does a good job promoting it.

I went through some threads where people are practically begging for information on his TaaS and SPAC picks.

So he's good at building buzz.

This alone can help a stock price go up.

However, the decade hasn't been too great for Tilson.

His hedge fund was high performing for a long time but it eventually failed after years of low returns.

He's made really bad calls about certain stocks and just isn't getting the returns he used to get.

The same thing is happening to Empire Stock Investor.

However, you can get less than ideal returns in the newsletter business because you can get so many subscriptions to make up for it.

There's an old saying..

Those who can't do, teach.

It seems Whitney is happy making millions offering stock picks now and not managing billions in assets. 

It's good for him.. not so much for you.

Here's A Better Opportunity

I'd probably pass on Empire Stock Investor until returns get a little higher.

The good news is there's plenty of stock picking services that do get high returns.

I've reviewed all the best ones.

To see my favorite (which is very affordable to try), click below: