Is National Institute for Cannabis Investors a Scam? – NICI Review

Overview of The National Institute for Cannabis Investors

What The Memberships Include

When you first make your way to the NICI sales funnel you may think there is just one membership, in which you can become a "Founder Member". This is what I thought at first too, but there is much more to it.

Yes, you can join as a Founding Member for just $39 (discounted price; might not always be this low), but there is a lot more that NICI offers.

The different cannabis investment advisory services they offer include the following:

1) Cannabis Profits Daily

This is their free newsletter service that anyone can sign up for. Here subscribers are provided with news, market analyses, alerts on potential opportunities, stock recommendations and more.

The newsletter is sent out on a daily basis.

• Cost: Free (but subscribers will be pushed to buy into their paid services)

2) Cannabis Investor's Report (Founder's Membership)

The Cannabis Investor's Report is what members get access to when they join as a "Founding Member". This is one of their more general cannabis investment subscription services. This one is focused on plain old good investment opportunities in the cannabis industry.

Members receive:

• Monthly Cannabis Investment Package - Each month subscribers will be provided with 2 new cannabis investment opportunities (there will be video presentations provided that go over the analysis of the recommendations)
• Weekly Progress Reports - These updates will go over anything relevant to the recommendations made as well as progress.
• Alerts - When it's time to sell you will be alerted, via text and/or email.
• Portfolio Tracker - Here you will be able to monitor the recommended investments to see how things are performing.
• State of the Cannabis Industry Dossier - These are comprehensive forecasts and projections for different areas of the industry. They are sent out quarterly.
• Online Boardroom Meetings - Subscribers get access to monthly board meetings where industry leaders discuss politics, mergers, and anything relevant.
• Virtual Business Pitches - Here CEO's and experts in the industry will pitch to NICI members why they should invest... which I think is a pretty cool part of this service.
• Video Training - Even if you are new to investing this is not a problem. There is a 5-part video training series that you will get access to as a member that will go over the basics you need to know to get started.
• NICI Network Access
• NICI Annual Retreat Ticket

Price: $39 (Gold Level 1-year subscription), $79 (Diamond Level 2-year subscription), and $129 (Platinum Level 2-year subscription).

*After joining you will be pushed to purchase a lifetime membership for $495.

3) The Cannabis IPO Insider

The Cannabis IPO Insider is all about IPOs, as you could have guessed, and is a subscription service run by Mike Ward and the team. 

Subscribers get access to:

• IPO Hotlist - Twice a month subscribers are sent a list of firms that are about to go public. Each firm has been vetted by Danny and the team.
  • Note: There is a free list of IPOs at newcannabisventures.com if interested (not vetted however)
• IPO Dossiers - Twice a month subscribers will also be provided with their top 2 IPO picks, which will be included in the dossier. These documents include all the analyses, research, and lots of information.
• Virtual Hot Seat - Before a company goes public, subscribers get access to what they call the "hot seat", where they can ask questions about the company and get answers.
• Updates - If there is any important news that might affect one of these opportunities, they will let you know.
• Monthly Cannabis Insider's Report - This is provided to subscribers at the beginning of each month and provides news on politics, trends, mergers, and anything important going on with the market.
• Founder's Roundtable Access - This is a virtual meeting that consists of board members and cannabis company founders in which they discuss IPOs and the future. It takes place monthly.
• NICI Network Access
• Free Tickets to Annual NICI Retreat

Price: $4,000 $1,950/yr

4) Cannabis Venture Syndicate

A subscription to Cannabis Venture Syndicate will take you into the world of private investing. This service is specifically focused on investing in small, privately-held cannabis companies.

Members receive:

• Private Investing Primer - Here is a book that all subscribers get which goes over analyzing pitches, how to conduct valuations, deal flows, and other aspects of private investing.
• Digital "Deal Kit" - This consists of a "video pitch deck presentation", a "due diligence package", a "deal memo", and a "terms sheet" for each new private cannabis company the team thinks is worth of investing in.
• Alerts - Of course members are provided with text alerts and email notifications if a new deal is announced that they should know about (also for things like progress, acquisitions, etc).
• The Private Investor Deal Record - Each month you'll receive a record of all the deals presented.
• Cannabis Venture Mastermind Access - This is an online forum you will get access to in which you can connect with other subscribers.
• Free Tickets to Annual NICI Retreat

Price: $4,950/yr

5) Cannabis Power Trader

Tom Gentile, who is also a strategist for Map Money Press where he runs newsletters like Fast Fortune Club, runs this subscription service and it's all about trading "cannabis lots", as they call them.

Cannabis lots are options, which means you are buying the rights to purchase shares in cannabis companies with the recommendations made here (should have known... Tom loves options trading).

As a subscriber, you will get access to:

• Weekly Alerts - Each week Tom will send out about 3 alerts on good opportunities that exist along with step-by-step breakdowns on how & when to get in, etc... all in video tutorial format.
• Trade Notifications - Notifications at any time action needs to be taken.
• Cannabis Lot Masterclass - This is a training course of 10 lessons that goes over Tom's most important insights, strategies, and tactics.
• NICI Network Access
• The Cannabis Trader Mastermind - Each quarter Tom holds a mastermind event online where he'll go over everything it takes to become rich in this area of investment.
• NICI Annual Retreat Ticket

Price: $2,450 $4,750

A Little More Info On Some of What You Get:

The Cannabis Investors Network (NICI Network)

As a subscriber to any of their paid services you will get access to their network, which is an online forum in which you can communicate with other investors. Here members can exchange information, give tips, opinions, etc.

The value that can be gained from a form of communication like this can be great.

Annual Retreat 

Members of the paid services will also be invited to the annual retreats that NICI holds. Here there will be CEOs of some of the forefront cannabis companies, execs in startups that look promising, and of course the team at NICI. 

Cost

The cost varies greatly depending on what service you buy into, as you have seen.

Their Founders Membership is being promoted a lot right now. This seems to be what they lure in new subscribers with, and at the time of writing this review it is discounted down to $39 for the cheapest tier...

There is no telling how long it might stay discounted, but one thing all potential subscribers should know is that they will be pushed into upsells.

The affordable price of this membership is just to get you in the door... soon enough you will be pushed to purchase their more expensive services, which as you have seen can cost thousands of dollars.

Here are some reviews from people who weren't too happy with this [Source: Stock Gumshoe]...

Refunds

There is no single refund policy. This will depend on what service you are buying into. Whether or not refunds are available, and if so for how long, will be stated somewhere on the order page.

For example, there is a 100% money-back guarantee for the Founders Membership... meaning that you can get your money back in full within 60 days if you don't like what you get...

However, for the Cannabis Power Trader service that costs $2,450 there is NO REFUND available...

*Update: Cannabis Power Trader has increased in price to $4,750.

So be sure to look into this before buying any of their services. And if you do decide you want a refund, and are able to get one, you can contact NICI at...

• 866.260.0361 or
• 443.380.2078 (international)

...between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. (Eastern Time), Monday through Friday.

Or if you live close by you may even want to stop in their office in-person, which is located at 1125 North Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21201.

*Important Note: Memberships will be renewed automatically unless cancelled.

Concerns

Now if you've already seen this then there is a chance you are a bit confused. After all... it seems that this is EXACTLY what they DO provide... and they are stating that this is not the service they provide.

However, it is nothing to be concerned about and you will see statements along these lines from any sort of investment advisory firm like this. They are just covering their a**es legally in case a disgruntled subscriber would try to file a lawsuit against them after losing money following their advice.

#2 - Pump & Dump Concerns

When there are thousands of subscribers following investment recommendations there is always the concern of pump & dump activity, especially when dealing with small-cap stocks like many of those that are recommended here.

The good news is that NICI is aware of this concern and requires its staff to wait at least 24 hours before taking action on a recommendation made online, and 72 hours if the recommendation was mailed out...

What this means is that, if the staff actually does follow these rules, then a good pump & dump will be impossible.

Track Record

As with most investment advisories out there, NICI doesn't provide a clear track record as to their overall recommended investments' performances, unless of course you are a member, in which case you will have access to the model portfolio they provide that tracks the progress of their recommendations...

They do tell us that "literally, every cannabis stock we'll bring you has the potential to deliver a 1,000%+ windfall"... but the keyword here is "potential"... which means this statement doesn't say much.

And of course in the promotional material they are going to show you all the big winners but conveniently leave out all the losing recommendations.

However, while digging around trying to figure out how well their advice performs, I came across quite a few disappointing reviews from subscribers, which I found on the Stock Gumshoe website.

There are quite a few complaints from people who claim to have lost money...

And I've also found Google reviews that tell a similar story, such as this example...

*Note: The overall Google review rating is very high. However, you can't always trust online reviews and in this particular situation it seems that many are unauthentic and many just talk about how good the customer service was and other lesser important things.

However, it also has to be said that some reviews are overly positive and claim to profited nicely from NICI's recommendations...

So what's the takeaway here?

While there is no clear answer as to how well their investments perform, due to lack of transparency, it is obvious that the promotional material for their services is often over-hyped and you need to be well aware that you can lose money... and people do lose money on their recommendations.

As always, you should never invest more than you can afford to lose.

*Some people are too quick to complain. Some stocks may go down in price, which leads people to complain, but then they may soon after increase. This happens all the time.

Complaints

• Upsells - Like most services of this nature, you will be pushed into their expensive upsells.
• Lack of Transparency - It would be nice, if like The Motley Fool's Stock Advisor, they would be more transparent with investment performance.
• Losing Recommendations - Of course there are going to be complaints about this. That said, you will find these sorts of complaints no matter what kind of investment recommendation service you are looking into. It should also be noted that people are more likely to leave reviews when something is negative rather than positive, so reading subscriber reviews and seeing complaints about losing recommendations doesn't always paint a very clear picture of the reality.
• Misleading Promotions - I don't think anyone can argue with their promotions being a bit over-the-top and misleading. Take for example this screenshot from one of their promotions, which was for The Cannabis IPO Insider and claimed that something big was going to happen in the next 24 hours... but of course this promotion ran for much longer than 24 hours which means it was all marketing fluff...

Pros v Cons

Pros

• Strong team & advisory board
• Good subscription service layout (detailed reports, updates, alerts, etc.)
• Easy to follow along with
• No experience or knowledge needed (although blindly following recommendations certainly is not suggested)
• Community discussion forum can be very helpful

Cons

• Might lose money (as there is risk involved with any sort of investment opportunity)
• Lack of transparency
• Pushy upsells

Is the National Institute for Cannabis Investors a Scam?

No, NICI is certainly not a scam. They do provide a legitimate service that does have value.

That said, there are people calling it a scam and I can understand why. When you buy into the hype from over-the-top marketing material and are disappointed with the reality you get... this can lead to the feeling of being scammed.

Conclusion - Worth Joining?

While I have shown quite a bit of complaints and wen't over many negative things in this review, I still think that the National Institute of Cannabis Investors can be worthwhile... as long as you know what you are getting into... which hopefully this review has given you a better idea of.

No matter what subscription service you buy into at NICI, you are being provided with a heck of a lot of value. While not all their recommendations are winners, it is obvious that they put a lot of time & effort into their services. A lot of research is done, lots of analyses performed, and they do have many good connections to experts in the industry.

If you are going to buy in I would certainly recommend starting with the lower cost subscriptions... such as the Founder Membership that is being so heavily advertised (and no, you don't have to buy their upsells!).

Now it's your turn: Do you have any experience with the National Institute for Cannabis Investors? If so, give us your comments below...