WEB SITE IMPROVEMENTS: MOTLEY FOOL DEBUTS

Don't be fooled by the name. A new investment column, The Motley Fool, offers serious advice about making money.

The Motley Fool debuts in the Southeast Missourian Monday as part of the weekly business package. A companion online version of The Motley Fool is available on SEMissourian.com, the website of the Southeast Missourian.

A combination investor-education service and financial chatroom, The Motley Fool gives information about personal investing in an entertaining format.

The Motley Fool is sponsored locally by The Bank of Missouri.

Tom and David Gardner, brothers barely into their 30s, developed the interactive investment guide "to inform, to amuse and to help you make money."

The Fool's unique blend of straight talk and hip humor strips away Wall Street lingo to help investors make informed decisions.

In the three years since its launch on America Online, The Motley Fool has become wildly popular and draws more than 350,000 visits a month.

The brothers are also authors of a best-selling investment primer, "The Motley Fool Investment Guide."

Joni Adams, director of the Missourian's online product, said users of SEMissourian.com and individuals who attended Internet training sessions say they are interested in online investments.

"We are very excited about adding Motley Fool to our website," Adams said.

The online package is updated twice daily, at lunchtime and in the evening, making it attractive for investors who can check to see what trends are developing, how stocks are performing and where the market stands, Adams said.

The newspaper component compliments, but doesn't repeat, the online information.

The newspaper component includes columns like "Ask The Fool," "My Dumbest (and Smartest) Investments," and "Fool School."

By the way, the name comes from a line in Shakespeare's As You Like It: "I met a fool i' the forest, a motley fool."