efflandt[at]xnet.com (David Efflandt) wrote:

- quote -

If you are building a DRIP - there should be no need to market time.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

On 26 Sep 2005, Patrick Holzer <pmholzer[at]NOEMAILmindspring.com> wrote:
- quote -

When I was looked at buying stock in my bank (which with long term
dividends and gain could grow over twice what I pay in deductable
interest), their site referred me to http://www.melloninvestor.com/ which
also handles direct purchase/DRiP for other major companies.

First purchase is $15 fee. Subsequent purchases (with electronic funds
transfer) are $2. There is no fee for dividend reinvestment.

For the low fee, the disadvantage is that you cannot easily time the
market, since they trade this particular stock on Thursdays, and you have
to order a couple of days in advance. Although, I ordered more when I saw
things slipping in general last week and got a favorable price. But the
low fee also allows you to more economically buy small blocks of stock
where dollar cost averaging should balance things out long term.

"Tad Borek" <borekfm[at]pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:E91_e.3006$KQ5.2680[at]newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...

- quote -

Tad, what I save in brokerage fees and sales charges, I could use to hire an
accountant and still have money left over. But, seriously, I never pay much
attention to cost basis because my philosophy is the best time to sell is
never. I guess I could let my heirs eventually sort it out. Actually, my
DRIP transfer agents provide detailed reports at tax time showing what is
needed and some of them (especially the Canadian ones) work out the tax
details right on the form. I have accumulated a lot of paper, for sure, but
I put it all in a big box and forget about it until the day of reckoning
down the road.

Patrick Holzer wrote:

- quote -

Go to the library and ask for Value Line Investment Survey - the one
that covers 1700 stocks. There you can read up on the industry groups
(98 of them), and on the stocks VL assigns to them, with 15 some odd
years of earnings history, PE's, dividends, ROE, debt, share count, and
more. Otherwise, try Yahoo finance or the NASDAQ web page, and plug in
some parameters for their stock screeners. When doing your own
analysis, knowing what to look for is important - I always recommend
"The Intelligent Investor" (easily available). If you plan to build up
a portfolio over the years, you might want to go with a discount broker
as opposed to holding the certificates yourself, since it facilitates
buying and selling - but check to make sure the broker won't charge you
quarterly fees for holding your account there.

Don wrote:
- quote -

Don,
What's your system for keeping track of cost basis? I'm curious because
I'm one of those who thinks the long-term accounting hassles aren't
worth the bother. I have just one active DRIP, it's past its 20th year,
and proving cost basis requires a stack of paper 2 inches high! And
aside from those confirmation docs, over the years I've needed to make
adjustments for multiple spin-offs and mergers.

I just can't imagine doing that with multiple stocks through multiple
transfer agents, just to avoid commissions - now that commissions have
dropped so much. Buying through a discount broker saves work/time, if
only for that consolidated 1099-DIV at the end of the year (vs. multiple
1099s, one from each DRIP transfer agent).

One exception I can think of is DRIPs where you get a discount for your
share purchases, like with some REITs. At least there's a financial
benefit to it, on top of saving commissions - which helps justify the
added work.

-Tad

"Patrick Holzer" <pmholzer[at]NOEMAILmindspring.com> wrote in message
news:4qeej15go0306upsd4jdc5b85ib9it09gq[at]4ax.com...
- quote -

I swear by DRIPs. They have been good to me. Excellent sources of
information are the several books written by Charles Carlson, and you can
find a lot on the web with a Google search. If you already own a first
share, go to the company's web site and click on "investor relations," or a
similar link. But bear in mind that many, many companies do not require a
first share to enroll; you can sign up by writing directly to the company
even if you do have a first share. I believe the term "No-Load Stocks" is
sometimes used for those direct-purchase DRIPs. Personally, I have found
that the paper work involved with DRIPs is minimal, so do not be put off if
someone tells you that you will be bogged down in paper work or tax issues.
Not so.

"Patrick Holzer" <pmholzer[at]NOEMAILmindspring.com> wrote
- quote -

The following are a good start. Always double check the data with at least
two sources. Look for future P/Es.

finance.yahoo.com (especially historical dividends). (Type in ticker symbol;
explore.)
www.morningstar.com (Type in ticker etc.)

The company's own web site (see especially the section titled "investor
relations")


- quote -

Brokerage costs for stock purchases have become extremely competitive. Look
for a fee of $10 or lower, follow the directions at the web site, make use
of any 800 numbers the company offers for assistance, and take the plunge.

Others here will make specific recommendations. I work mostly with Fidelity
(at the moment) and pay $8 a trade, but that relatively low fee requires a
certain amount of assets being with Fidelity.

- quote -

See the company web site.

Keep checking back here for more suggestions from others.

If you're overwhelmed with individual stock data, consider some index mutual
funds, assuming you're buying for the long term.

I am looking to invest small amounts of money at possibly irregular
times. I understand that DRIPS may be the way to go. I like the idea
of researching my own stocks (making my own mistakes ) , no broker's
fees as well as getting more and more educated about the market.

I know the basics of DRIPS, but have some questions:

1) research - Where to start. Is there a publication (online/print)
in which I can analyze companys' data like revenues,P/E ratios, P/S
ratios, historial dividend payments and such? I'd like to start
paring down the available companies and being able to look at the data
and doing my own reaearch is of greatest interest to me. What
publications would I use to do this?

2) In order to get enrolled in a company's DRIP program, I need to buy
my first share. How do I do this? Ameritrade, ETrade, etc or straight
from the company?? When I buy this first share, how do I enroll in the
company's DRIP program?

any thoughts, comments or other opinions is greatly appreciated!

Patrick