suhre@trwrba.UUCP (Maurice E. Suhre) (01/11/85)
I had an account of about $30,000 with a full service broker
for about 5 years. I was only plus one year out of the five.
During that year, I made about $3000, and I paid about $3000
in comissions. That ratio didn't seem too good to me. I was
taking their advice pretty much as far as stock selection went.
When I decided to follow Stan Weinstein's newsletter, The
Professional Tape Reader, it naturally seemed to silly to use
a full service broker. A friend recommended Kall and Co.
They charged quite a bit less for commissions. Their charges
seemed to be about 1-1.5% with the full service about 2.5%.
I think Kall has a $30 minimum. Kall was not quite as good
about interest on the cash in the account (compared to money
market funds). If you are planning to be mostly in the market,
then this should not be a serious consideration (second order
effect).
In short, if you are going to make your own decisions and
don't need your hand held, you can save money with a
discount broker. Check around, ask your friends, and
read the charge schedule carefully.
One last item. A full service broker usually charges quite
a bit more for low priced stocks. That is, the comission
on 1000 shares of a $4 stock will be more than the comission
on 100 shares of a $40 stock. Perhaps 4.5% vs 2.5%. Anyway,
do your own investigation, and I vaguely remember this subject
being discussed in the Money Magazine a year or two ago.
The usual disclaimers about not being an investment adviser, etc.,
and I have no complaints with Kall & Co.
Maurice
{decvax,sdcrdcf,hplabs,ucbvax}!trwrb!suhrerbg@cbosgd.UUCP (Richard Goldschmidt) (01/16/85)
>One last item. A full service broker usually charges quite >a bit more for low priced stocks. That is, the comission >on 1000 shares of a $4 stock will be more than the comission >on 100 shares of a $40 stock. Perhaps 4.5% vs 2.5%. Anyway, >do your own investigation, and I vaguely remember this subject >being discussed in the Money Magazine a year or two ago. I have found that the discount brokers I investigated charged substantially MORE for option transactions than my full service broker (Thomson McKinnon). Also, since the price action on options is so volatile, I can ask my broker to monitor one or two constantly and let me know about significant fluctuations. I have never been able to get this level of service from a discount broker. So for option trades, a full service broker may be much better... Rich Goldschmidt {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax,allegra} !cbosgd!rbg ARPA: cbosgd!rbg@ucbvax
stern@inmet.UUCP (01/17/85)
[discount commission for the line-eater] Most of the "big" discount brokers (Fidelity and Schwab leap to mind) let you move money into/out of a money market account to complete transactions. That way you're earning 8.5% or whatever it is these days when you're not fully in the market. Fidelity's minimum commission is $30. Their rate for small transactions is $25 + 1% of the transaction value. I have no connection to any brokerage house, and all the usual disclaimers. I just like to see people make $$$. --Hal Stern ihnp4!inmet!stern
marsh@enmasse.UUCP (Marshall Glassner) (01/21/85)
The following should in no way be construed as an endorsement: Another discount broker which offers cheap rates is Brown and Company 20 Winthrop Square, Boston, MA 02110. - or - 349 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor New York, New York, 10016 Their commission schedule is as follows: Listed Stocks price Commission for Commission for first 1000 shares each additional share 0-10 $25 + $.04/share $.035 10.125-20 $25 + $.05/share $.045 20.125-25 $25 + $.06/share $.055 25.125-30 $25 + $.07/share $.065 30.125 or more $25 + $.08/share $.075 OTC on NASDAQ $25 + $.04/share on the first 1,000 shares $.035 for each additional share. A rebate will be given for any month when commissions exceed $350.00. The rebate will be 10% of the total amount of those commisions. The following examples are from Charles Schwab's brochure: Shares Price Full Commission Charles Brown Per Order Per Share Broker Schwab and Company 100 60 98 49 33 500 15 181 84.50 55 800 10 216 86 67 3000 25 879 209 255
bwm@ccice2.UUCP (Brad Miller) (01/22/85)
Two more discount brokers worth looking into: Whitehall 1/8 point/share $50 minimum. This can save you considerable $$ on expensive stocks. Also options. Also ADVICE -- the president accepts calls, publishs a newsletter. Waterhouse 30% of Merril-Lynch's fees (period). $35 minimum. .03/share if trading under $10 (same minimum). This is a good deal for a lot of stocks if you are dealing with 100 type volume, no matter the price. Also options, bonds. Also discounts to WSJ, Barrons, freebies: S&P biannual special issues, copies of stock reports if you request them, and annual S&P stock guide. Have choice of several MM type funds to put your extra cash into, inc. std, gvmt, tax-free. After looking into several, I just opened an account with Waterhouse, as I do not trade enough in $/transaction for Whitehall to make sense. Both are MUCH cheaper than the usual group of discount brokers. Both advertise in the WSJ if you need the address. Phone numbers: Waterhouse (800) 327-7500 or (800) 522-7500 in NYS or (212) 344-7500 in NYC Don't have the number for Whitehall with me, so send mail if you need it. Brad Miller -- ...[rochester, cbrma, rlgvax, ritcv]!ccice5!ccice2!bwm
eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder) (01/24/85)
[23 january 1984]
After ten years of investing in stocks, I have these comments
on brokerage choices:
Small investors ( <$1000 per transaction)
Merrill Lynch has a 'Sharebuilder'SM program for the small investor.
It's purpose for ML is to get customers while they are just starting out,
in the hopes that they will graduate to the regular account when they
have more money. They do not operate in real time (i.e. execute orders
immediately), and cannot handle limit orders. Basically, they are for
the person who will buy in small increments and hold for years. If you
are concerned about day-to-day price fluctuations, they are not for you.
The advantage they have is the very low commissions on small transactions:
$0-300 6%
300-600 2%+$12
600-2500 1.5%+$15
2500-5000 1%+$27.50
They will automatically reinvest dividends, and keep track of shares
to four decimal places (i.e. .5768 shares IBM), although you will get
annual reports only if you hold more than one share of stock.
Middling investors ($1000-5000 per transaction)
Charles Schwab is less expensive than Merril Lynch for transactions
over $1000, and they will execute orders immediately over the phone.
They are owned by Bank of America, and are the largest of the 'discount
brokers'. I do not know of any complaints about their service.
Large investors (>$5000 per transaction)
If you want the best of both worlds, you can maintain accounts
with both a full service and discount house. Keep most of your money
in the discount house. Shop around the full service houses until
you find a broker you like, then stick with that broker as a source
of advice. Then use that advice plus whatever other information
you have to make your investment decisions, and then trade in your
discount account. Never give a broker discretion to trade for your
account. While most brokers are ethical, and will not 'churn', or
trade frequently for the sake of commissions, you may get unlucky.
Very large investors (>25000 per transaction)
When you get into the stratospheric heights where you are
trading over $25000 at a time, you can start to negotiate brokerage
fees, rather than accepting what their posted rates are. This is
a technique that mutual funds use to keep costs down. Frequently
they will maintain several brokerage accounts, and ask for competitive
bids on transactions.
Dani Eder / Boeing Aerospace Company / ssc-vax!eder