Using Online Brokers
| HelpRegister |
Using Online Brokers Our club is planning on changing over from Edward Jones to an online brokerage account. Does anyone have any suggestions for: 1: An online account they are happy with? and 2. What to do with our existing account which holds over $50,000 in securities? Also, how do you get your monthly dues into an online account? Do you need to mail in each members check each month or is there an easier way? Thanks Joann,
My club uses www.firstrade.com and we really like it. $6.95 for market, limit and stop orders, and they are very club friendly. We have a bank account locally where we make our night deposit on meeting night. The treasurer transfers money back and forth electronically for free, as needed. This works very well for us. Deposits could be sent to the broker and recorded as they come in. But we're simply used to our method.
That said, if you are a bivio club, then you should do a search on the One-Minute Treasurer, a presentation from Rob Nagler that shows you how easy it would be to set up Account Sync. But you need to make sure you sign up with a participating broker. Firstrade is not on that list.
Whomever you choose, they need to have trading fees of $10 or LESS(!), with no extra fee for limits or stops. You need to find out how much red tape is involved in making changes to the account (i.e. NO medallion signatures! Notary OK) and what the minimum dollar amount is to write checks. If you owe a member $350 and the minimum check is $500, how are you going to make that transaction?
Also, make sure there are no hidden or extra fees--$2 per month for a paper statement, $5 per month for an inactivity fee if you don't make a trade, etc. And call their customer service line at least 3-4 times over as many days to see how long it takes them to answer the phone--and how willling and knowledgeable the various representatives are to answer your questions.
Then...!...here the big one. How much will Edward Jones charge to transfer cash and securities? I have a feeling it won't be free on their end. And how much will the receiving broker of your choice charge on the other end? This may be a case where you leave the EJ account alone, and simply open a 2nd brokerage account. As growth investors, we tend to turn holdings over about 10-30% per year. It may be less expensive to whittle them down over time and save HUGE transfer fees that could wipe out profits.
Go here for more info:
At Investopedia, search for "Picking Your First Broker". It will give a list of things to consider.
Hope that helps.
Crow River Investment Club
www.bivio.com/crowriver Join me at InvestEd 2009 August 7-9, Salt Lake City, UT www.investor-education2009.org Thank you for all the useful info. I have already checked with Edward Jones and there is no transfer fee. I will print up the info you have supplied for discussion at our next meeting. Lynn Ostrem wrote: > Joann, > > My club uses www.firstrade.com and we really like it. $6.95 for market, limit and stop orders, and they are very club friendly. We have a bank account locally where we make our night deposit on meeting night. The treasurer transfers money back and forth electronically for free, as needed. This works very well for us. Deposits could be sent to the broker and recorded as they come in. But we're simply used to our method. > > > That said, if you are a bivio club, then you should do a search on the One-Minute Treasurer, a presentation from Rob Nagler that shows you how easy it would be to set up Account Sync. But you need to make sure you sign up with a participating broker. Firstrade is not on that list. > > > Whomever you choose, they need to have trading fees of $10 or LESS(!), with no extra fee for limits or stops. You need to find out how much red tape is involved in making changes to the account (i.e. NO medallion signatures! Notary OK) and what the minimum dollar amount is to write checks. If you owe a member $350 and the minimum check is $500, how are you going to make that transaction? > > > Also, make sure there are no hidden or extra fees--$2 per month for a paper statement, $5 per month for an inactivity fee if you don't make a trade, etc. And call their customer service line at least 3-4 times over as many days to see how long it takes them to answer the phone--and how willling and knowledgeable the various representatives are to answer your questions. > > > Then...!...here the big one. How much will Edward Jones charge to transfer cash and securities? I have a feeling it won't be free on their end. And how much will the receiving broker of your choice charge on the other end? This may be a case where you leave the EJ account alone, and simply open a 2nd brokerage account. As growth investors, we tend to turn holdings over about 10-30% per year. It may be less expensive to whittle them down over time and save HUGE transfer fees that could wipe out profits. > > > Go here for more info: > > > > –www.fool.com/dbc/tables/compare.htm > > –www.investingonline.org/new/onlineinvesting.html > > – > www.investopedia.com > > > > At Investopedia, search for "Picking Your First Broker". It will give a list of things to consider. > > Hope that helps. > > -- Lynn Ostrem, Minneapolisgarbagecop@gmail.com > Crow River Investment Club > www.bivio.com/crowriver Join me at InvestEd 2009August 7-9, Salt Lake City, UTwww.investor-education2009.org JoAnn ... Another thing to check, if you plan to have a separate bank account, is whether or not your bank will charge you for wire transfers. The bank for my Dallas club does not charge any monthly fees and does not charge for incoming or outgoing wire transfers, so I am able to transfer funds to our TDAmeritrade account (links with Bivio is why we chose it over Firstrade) at no charge. However, the bank for my Granbury club (which does not charge a monthly fee), does charge for wire transfers. So, we will use checks to transfer the money. Just my 2 cents worth. Henri Russell When you check with your bank, make sure to use the correct terminology. I think most banks charge for "wire transfers". However, "ACH tansfers" are often free. Generally you'll need to initiate the ACH transfer from the broker so what you'll want your bank to offer is free outgoing ACH transfers. -Jim Thomas --- On Sun, 9/28/08, Henri Russell <henri@rolandrussell.com> wrote: > Another thing to check, if you plan to have a separate > bank account, is whether or not your bank will charge > you for wire transfers. Thanks, Jim. I didn't realize that. I think I'll re-check with my bank ... maybe it doesn't charge for an outgoing ACH transfer. I think I just asked about wire transfers when I opened the account. It was the only bank in town that wouldn't charge us a monthly fee for our account. So, the transfer fee wasn't that big a deal. Thanks again. I lean so much from this group. Henri When you check with your bank, make sure to use the correct terminology. Joann Lasko wrote: > Our club is planning on changing over from Edward Jones to > an online brokerage account. Does anyone have any > suggestions for: 1: An online account they are happy with? > and 2. What to do with our existing account which holds > over $50,000 in securities? > > Also, how do you get your monthly dues into an online > account? Do you need to mail in each members check each > month or is there an easier way? > > Thanks Our Club uses BuyandHold (the $6.99 per month for 2 transactions account) and we are happy with them. We deposit our monthly dues into our checking account, and have arranged a monthly automatic transfer from our checking to the brokerage account for the monthly fee. You can also transfer money in and out of your brokerage account into your checking account electronically, to pay for stock purchases, etc. |
|
||||||