The American Association of Individual Investors is a nonprofit organization with about 170,000 members whose purpose is to educate individual investors regarding stock market portfolios, financial planning, and retirement accounts. AAII “assists individuals in becoming effective managers of their own assets through programs of education, information and research.” The organization markets itself as an unbiased source of investment information because of its not-for-profit status. AAII has educated over two million investors and continues to help them develop their "investment philosophy" based on individual objectives. This is accomplished by illustrating how to evaluate different investment vehicles and opportunities, showing how to obtain necessary information for effective decision making, and even informing investors how various investments relate to each other within the economic climate.