WTF! Sharebuilder.com ad...

"I own the world's largest telecommunication company." "I own the world's largest search engine company."



Then they show a workman opening one of those tough-guy computers and buying a share of a company he 'wants to own'.

Gee, when did they come up with this? Amazing! Buying this thing called 'shares'...and over the -gasp- Internet no less. What will they think of next?

Shares...in a company! WOW!

Far more are "investors" via mutual funds in IRA or 401K but direct ownership is about 50 million people.

While it might seem trivial to you I think the marketing is more towards low information consumers.

Some people likely have no idea how stock ownership works. The idea they could own a "piece" of google, McDonalds, or Starbucks may seem "cool".

Then again investing to be "cool" is likely not a good idea.

Which is who these people are marketing towards.

On the other hand though...with a little research, the small online brokerages are great for those of us who want to put in the time and especially now are seeing some major results. Makes for a good part-time second job.

But I would advise shopping around before selecting an on-line stock service. I didn't.

I use Sharebuilder and it seems that just about everybody offers cheaper trades than I get, but at this point, I would be losing hundreds of dollars to liquidate and go elsewhere.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Sharebuilder, mind you, but I think there are better deals to be had out there.

You can move your account. The shares are transferred to the new account.

But they'll charge me $9.95 for each investment I move. I've got about 15 stocks in my little micro-portfolio (this is really just a goof-around hobby), and so I don't want to pay $150 bucks to move it.

Usually a flat fee like $50.

https://www.sharebuilder.com/sharebuilder/Fees/servicerates.aspx
Edit: Ouch looks like Sharebuilder charges $75. Still $75 is less than $150.

Even if you can't find a broker who reimburses the transfer they may offer free trades.

So if you compare $75 vs some free trades + savings per trade with new broker. The break even really depends on how many trade you have per year.

I used to be a day trader back in the exciting days...the issue I had with sharebuilder/ING is that low-information is being generous...that ad would appeal to someone with special needs at this point in the process, IMO. But I could be wrong...

Brokers are required to do transfers of assets.

If you want to move the stocks would move to new brokerage.

Most brokers don't deal with fractional shares so they would be liquidated but likely at no cost.
You might have a transfer fee ($25 to $50) but sometimes the receiving broker will have a deal where they pay for it.

ACATS (Automated Customer Account Transfer Service) is wonderful. Essentially it can all be done electronically now. Usually takes less than a week.

You open new account. Approve transfer via ACATS. Stocks disappear out of your sharebuilder account and appear in your fidelity/TD Ameritrade/etc account. Then you close Sharebuilder acount.


Only time it takes longer than a week is if you have futures contracts or have sold/issued options contracts and it is expiration week.

finding an new broker who will pay the fees.

But as I said upthread, this is a "hobby" account -- only about $3,000 all told -- so I'm not sure any broker will be that hungry for my business!

many places will pay your "switching fees" (or whatever it's called) to switch over to them, and many places will give you $100 or so for using them. Just keep an eye out and I'm sure you'll see something.

Sharebuilder is GREAT if you know you for sure want to put X amount into X stocks every month automatically. Then for $120 a year or something they will make all the trades for you, take it out of your bank account, buy the shares to add to your current amount, etc. Great for the lazy person who just wants to build up their portfolio and not think too much about it - choose an ETF and you're set.

On the other hand if you are doing a lot of individual trades, buying and selling, you probably can get a better deal elsewhere. I use Firstrade.com and they seem to do a pretty good job, I think theirs are $6.95 per trade. Good customer service and resources.

Thank you index funds.