Oxford Club Review

Membership websites are nothing new in the investment and trading space. So how does The Oxford Club stack up in an endless crowd of squawking competitors?

A lot of people love the feeling of being part of something exclusive. This concept helped usher in the membership approach online. Membership, for many, holds the promise of something special. And who doesn't want to feel like an insider?

 

The Oxford Club fully embraces the membership model. If you don’t join, you really can’t see what they have to offer. Outsiders just see the sales pitches urging them to buy in. The secrecy is probably supposed to tempt and tantalize ...

 

But if you aren’t a member, figuring out whether there’s any value here is practically impossible. And that doesn’t mean you should sign up on a whim.

Link: The Oxford Club

What We Like and … Not So Much

What We Like

●     Learn about the minds behind the site

●     Attractive design

Not So Much

●     Design isn’t fully responsive

●     OMG — the hard sell!

Our Full Review

The Good

Meet the people behind the advice: Not every site is upfront about who’s behind the site or posts. However, The Oxford Club is quite forward with this information, giving you an overview of each person’s role and a bit about their background.

 

Now, it isn’t in-depth information. Instead, you’ll just see a few highlights. However, it’s a nice example of transparency, giving you a clue about the team.

 

Not bad looking: Overall, the look of The Oxford Club’s website is fairly attractive. The layout is intuitive, the color scheme is a tad bold but simple, and the information is easy to read.

 

You also don’t have to dig to find sections or basic information about the company. While the homepage isn’t perfect (more on that in a bit), it can give you a general sense of professionalism.

The Bad

Wonky design: While Oxford’s website is generally attractive in terms of its responsiveness. On a computer, if you set up the site to only take up half the screen, the page won’t always adjust properly.

 

The top menu bar ends up without a background, so the image or text you’re scrolling can show through. A video, which is tucked neatly off to the side in full screen, overtakes the page’s introduction, covering important text.

 

While this is more of an annoyance than a massive problem, a lack of a fully responsive design today isn’t the kind of oversight you’d expect — especially from an “exclusive” club. It makes it seem like they can’t be bothered to create a site based on today’s standards. Tsk tsk.

 

Nothing here is free: The Oxford Club apparently doesn’t believe in free. There aren’t any blog posts or articles that can clue you into possible membership perks. Instead, it’s really just an onslaught of sales pitch after sales pitch.

 

Now, to be fair, most of the pricing isn’t horrible. Some services range from $49 to $129 a year. That’s not bad, especially in comparison to what other sites charge.

 

Here’s the big issue: It’s nearly impossible to gauge the value through the site alone. Hard sells abound. They pick and choose their examples (shouting successes from the rooftops, even if they’re a bit old and dusty). They craft a false sense of urgency. 

 

But, you can’t really figure out the value of what you get, particularly since you can’t rely on what you’re told as your sole source of information.

The Ugly

Members-only “secrets”: Many investment and trading sites advertise access to “secrets.” After all, everyone wants to score big with their money, and Oxford swears they can help you do that.

 

The issue isn’t necessarily the concept. It’s the sketchy approach. You’ll see phrases like, “You can buy this $3 stock from a regular brokerage account … today. But only if you know its secret name (Which I’m prepared to give you now).” Ho freakin’ hum.

 

The pitches are filled with big numbers and massive dollar amounts, making it seem like you’ll be a success with their “secret.” Ooh la la! The secrets to hidden market riches, you say? Why, we’ve never heard that before. So not only does their web design need updating, so does their marketing pitch.

 

The Oxford Club goes for the hard sell. If you actually try to order the “amazing” secret, you’ll even see the bogus ‘time left to order’ clock that’s supposed to create a sense of urgency. It’s just like an infomercial, really. It’s all rounded out with a red strike-through price to make it seem like you’re getting a steal.

 

Dog and pony, much? Sales pitches are nothing new. But this charade makes The Oxford Club seem less legitimate, regardless of whether that’s true.

 

The “VIP Trading Services” are even worse. These lofty-claim pitches are nearly dictionary-worthy. You see lines swearing, “this is not a gimmick” (always a great sign, right?), “I promise you,” and “don’t let Wall Street sucker you into thinking you have no other choice.” 

 

Woof. That last one is a doozy. Those Wall Street baddies. And no one wants to be a sucker, right?

 

And, big surprise! Some of these services come with monster price tags. One year can cost you $4,000 to $5,000, and that’s just for ONE of the service options. And duh, results may vary.

 

A recommendation is NEVER a guaranteed win, even if the site uses some lofty claims and hand-picked metrics to entice you to join.

The Lowdown

The Oxford Club makes some giant claims, but they give you very little in the way of proof before you sign up. Like many sites, they pick and choose their examples, usually relying on Netflix, Apple, and other companies that became giants but are by no means the norm.

 

Really, this a site that gives members access to stock tips through newsletters. Nothing new.

 

Sure, the newsletters don’t cost much. But, whether you get the kind of information you can capitalize on will vary. With trading and investing, timing is everything. The newsletter details might be worthless within minutes, even if the information was sound initially.

 

Ultimately, you won’t find any secrets here, no matter what they claim. They’re just keeping details hidden from you until you pay up. And, once you do, you may find that it isn’t as astonishing as you’ve been led to believe. In fact, it could be an easily manipulated microcap stock.

 

However, it’s possible to combine their information with your own research to make smarter choices that align with your goals. 

 

Is The Oxford Club a magic pill that’ll lead you to millions of dollars in trade wins with zero effort? Nope. Nothing is. 

 

But, that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good informational source for anyone who takes advice with a grain of salt. Instead, view the stock picks as something to consider and research, and nothing more. With that approach, you may find value here.