It's certainly not an investing site for everyone, but for people with a few bucks in the bank and a keen interest in individual stocks and bonds, www.valueforum.com could be worth checking out. Unlike myriad other stock-tip sites, this one's not free. Membership costs $219.99 a year (a 24-hour trial pass is available for $4.99), which pretty much means only serious, well-heeled investors will buy into it. In fact, there are fewer than 1,500 members. The site currently has about 125 discussion topics, 1,000 stock ratings and collaboration tools for sharing investment ideas and expertise.
By running members' credit cards, site operators say they can assure identities to prevent shilling and abuse. The site was founded in 2003 and has been listed in Forbes magazine's Best of the Web feature.