Fidelity is untouchable, believe me, so get over it everyone....it is to
yourown benefit. Enough said.

Tess Millay wrote:
- quote -

It sounds like your primary concern isn't so much "flexibility"
(whatever you meant by that) as it is visible costs. (Given also that
Scottrade's main appeal seems to be $7 commissions.)

FWIW, Scottrade is currently paying about 0.6% on some cash accounts.

You wrote that I "posted at misc.invest.mutual-funds that [Wells
Fargo]'s brokerage side stock commission rates have plummeted," and that
you'd " sure consider doing more business with WF."
news:kdMHe.8339$Uk3.5164[at]newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net

Well Fargo MMF is currently paying about 3.7% (a far cry from Scottrade,
and pretty close to Fidelity); with $100K the commissions are only $2.95
(at least for the first 50 trades per year; are you planning more than
that?)

Since you were already somewhat familiar with WF, and you like their
banking side, what is it that brought you to consider Scottrade instead
of WF?

https://www.wellsfargo.com/investing..._fees/standard
(Commission Schedule)
http://www.wellsfargoadvantagefunds....sp?fundNo=3279
(MMF yield, other data)

--
Mark Freeland
nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net

Tess Millay wrote:
- quote -

Well, you may be right, possibly I only got late notification rather
than late execution. I checked my trade confirmation and it does not
have a time of execution, just a date. On the day in question, I issued
a limit order early in the day and watched as the price dropped below my
limit. Throughout the day I checked to see if my order filled and it
did not (or at least I did not receive notice). As the price came back
up, the order finally filled (or I finally received notification). On
the assumption that the notification was just late, it still ticks me
off. I get immediate response (and a one minute guarantee for certain
orders) from E-Trade. At this point my wife is ready to put her
hard-saved dollars under my protection (sucker!) and I'm going to open
more E-Trade accounts for her (not Scottrade).

-Will

Tess Millay wrote:
- quote -


I don't trade all that much, but I've never had that problem. And I've
occasionally purchased at the lowest price of the day.

Bob

"Will Trice" <wwtrice[at]paragondynamics.com> wrote
- quote -

By any chance, do you mean it might take hours for
Scottrade's system to indicate an order has been filled?

Either way, I guess if a person uses limit orders and wants
to nail a purchase at a particular price, and know they
nailed it within a half-hour or so of the price (on a large
volume stock, anyway) reaching the limit, this would be
unacceptable. Very.

- quote -


What you say above is likely the bigger deal-breaker for me,
as well. Thanks.

Tess Millay wrote:

- quote -

You may be right, but my experience with Scottrade is that orders can
take hours to fill, even with reasonable volume. I don't trade often,
so I have not closed my account there, but I will not be opening
additional accounts or adding money to my existing account at Scottrade.

-Will

"catalpa" <catalpa[at]entertab.org> wrote
- quote -

I suppose this is only possibly a problem with orders of
stocks where volume is low, for whatever reason. Right?
Otherwise, ISTM the speed of electronic transactions today
should translate to no perceivable difference between
filling an order using Scottrade vs. using anyone else.

- quote -

You're right their commissions look great, but that $10k
minimum is too high, considering what I can have in the
alternative with Fidelity. It would seem that this is where
the discount brokers are making their money. I am leaning
towards either sitting tight with my two current brokerages
or putting it all into Fidelity, since I can always
subsequently move some into Scottrade. I do leave
significant cash in my brokerage account for easily longer
than a month at times, and I want the nearly 4% interest I
am making now with Fidelity with its money market mutual
funds.

I appreciate everyone's input.

"Tess Millay" <elle_navorski[at]earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:FlAuf.4205$M%4.473[at]newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
- quote -

Scottrade is a bottomfeeder. Just take a look at their order routing and
payment for order flow disclosure. Active traders go with Interactive
Brokers www.interactivebrokers.com for low commissions, quality order
routing and fills and universal trading account. Be aware that there is a
learning curve to their TWS trading platform and no interest paid on the
first $10,000.

"Mike Stone" <mikegws[at]gmail.com> wrote in message
news:zWBuf.14$%D1.10[at]tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
- quote -

"Tad Borek" <borekfm[at]pacbell.net> noted, with others, things
like:
- quote -

I called Scottrade earlier today and that was one of my
questions. You are correct that they will pay only 1-2% for
cash being held between transactions, yada, and there's
really no alternative anything like Fidelity's range of
choices. This is one of the bigger disadvantages of going
with Scottrade, IMO.

Mike, if I can actually find esignal's commission schedule
within 20 minutes of surfing its site, I'll give it a second
look. (Sorry; it just doesn't leap out of its menus.)

Joe, good tip. My talk with a rep today confirmed your
points, though the rep felt that electronic transactions
would be coming to Scottrade at some point in the near
future. I don't think he was trying to sell me something per
se, either. Guy sounded honest. Plus, I asked whether I
should mention his name should I want to open an account. He
said not necessary. I asked if that meant if they were
non-commissioned. He said that was so. A good sign, IMO.

Yetter, duly noted. :-)

Mark Freeland wrote:
- quote -

I end up needing both. The trade confirmations list "vs." dates for
sales where I use specific-ID when selling shares, and that info doesn't
typically appear on the annual summary. I don't do that all the time of
course but I won't know for sure the ones where I did unless I see the
confirm. And the monthly statements show stock splits, spin-offs, cash
in lieu, etc., for which no confirm is sent. The summaries tend to be
kind of sketchy on those details so as a result I just keep all
statements & confirms. (this is for personal accounts - I have
recordkeeping req'ts for my clients set by regulations, that trump these
decisions).

I guess I've had the nightmare of piecing together cost basis for
clients over 10-15+ year periods and it's so much easier when you have
trade tickets and statements. It's a lot of bulk but for a long-term
investor it's the best way to make sure it's all there, so you don't
lose money to overpaid taxes or "unprovable" basis. And I have yet to
meet the client who hands me a memory stick or CD with everything I
need. Heck in 10 years it may be hard to find a PC with a CD reader so
I'm not sure that's the solution either.

And that's for people who archive properly...my guess is that a lot of
cost-basis records are going to be lost with a hard-drive crash, PC
change or even email address/inbox change. I'm hesitant to rely on
archiving by the broker...I believe the records are only kept in an
accessible place for a limited time period, you can't dig up a confirm
from 1997 - I imagine that varies by firm. Though should you change
brokers it's very hard to get at that stuff.

Speaking of that, Carolinelletess should add that to the list of things
to consider when switching brokers: "will you lose access to historical
records for your account?"

- quote -

Overseas funds in Taipei! Like Magellan...? =)

- quote -

Good idea, I should look into that. Thanks!

-Tad

It works with Firefox on OSX for me.

Are you using Safari or IE?

-Mike

dumbstruck <dumbstruc[at]gmail.com> wrote:
- quote -

"Tad Borek" <borekfm[at]pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:BiDuf.61341$tV6.60974[at]newssvr27.news.prodigy.net...
- quote -

It's not only the lowest-cost bokerages. Schwab has bragged about how it
pays little on its brokerage MM accounts, saying that its customers care
about the convenience, and not the rate of return.

- quote -

Do you feel that one should hold onto confirms once one has the statement
(or annual summary) reporting the trade? If not, then one may never need to
print out confirms (since they will persist online at least until the
statement is available).

- quote -

Not only local branches. I dropped into the Taipei Fidelity branch last
week to pick up some material on overseas funds. Try that with Scottrade
:-).

- quote -

Point noted. A potential solution, though I haven't checked whether is
possible in this case, would be to do a tax-free exchange, at Schwab, to its
investor class shares. The investor shares could then be transferred to,
say, Fidelity.

--
Mark Freeland
nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net

"zxcvbob" <zxcvbob[at]charter.net> wrote in message
news:4205ccF1g5oqeU1[at]individual.net...
- quote -

What sort of trading choices would you be making? As someone who qualifies
at Fidelity for gold level pricing, you also qualify for Active Trader
Pro(SM), that gives you directed trading to the exchange of your choice.You
have extended trading hours. I'm not saying that there aren't other
dimensions of "choice" in trading, but I am asking what sort of choices or
flexibility Fidelity does not offer you, that would acquire by dint of a
second account.
http://personal.fidelity.com/product...overview.shtml

Since you intend to trade frequently enough that commissions are a concern
for you, have you checked Scottrade's execution quality (that has much more
impact on your cost than a few dollars in commission)?

I can see having a second site as a backup in case Fidelity goes down, but
that would be infrequent, and for a short period of time. The number of
trades that you would execute in a short period in this rare case would not
in itself justify the effort in moving an account - to save possibly a few
bucks over a few years. (You'd also have issues selling shares that you
held at Fidelity - you could short against the box, but that has its costs,
too.)

I can see having a second broker for bond investments (because brokers,
especially those specializing in bonds, keep their own inventory), but since
you mentioned a $20 commission, it is clear that you are focusing on
exchange-traded securities, not bonds.

- quote -

I've had a similar problem with them. I'd have to go back and check my
records (it has been a couple of years), but they sufficiently botched
records that I wrote to the IRS in order to get matters resolved. And that
was regarding basic mutual fund dividends.

Needless to say, I tried closing out my account. However, they failed to
handle an accumulated but uncredited mutual fund dividend properly, and it
was deposited into the now "closed" account, where it sits (despite their
$500 minimum balance requirement).

http://www.scottrade.com/reasonstoap...toapply.asp#24

- quote -

Scottrade does not provide automatic dividend reinvestment, or offer IPOs.
http://www.quote.com/qc/perfin/broke...?options=scott

(I could see having a choice of IPOs from more companies as a reason to use
a second brokerage, but here too, Scottrade fails.)

They cannot seem to handle ACH funding of accounts. Scottrade calls this
eCheck, Fidelity calls it MoneyLine. This wasn't even an option at
Scottrade until a couple of years ago, and they don't currently offer it:

"Deposits: Scottrade recently notified approximately 140,000 customers who
have used eCheck SecureTM to fund their Scottrade accounts that the provider
of that service (TROY Group, Inc.) recently suffered a security breach. As a
result, Scottrade is no longer offering the eCheck service. "
https://trading.scottrade.com/myaccount/Deposit.aspx
(You'll need to be logged in to a Scottrade account to read this page.)

Scottrade - cheap, barebones. Not flexible.
--
Mark Freeland
nNeEwTs[at]sonic.net

Tess Millay wrote:
- quote -


I haven't done a thorough comparison of these in awhile but some
suggestions I'd make:

1. look past trading commissions in your comparison, because the
lowest-cost brokerages may end up more costly in other ways. An example
is money-market rates, if you'll be using the brokerage account as a
holding pen for cash. There's currently a big discrepancy among
firms...with some paying 3.5%+, others still in the 1-2% range,
especially for smaller balances. If you leave a few $k there in money
market (which is becoming more common given bond rates) these
differences can outweigh trading costs, for someone who doesn't trade a
lot. A quick check of this week's MM rates for each firm can help in
this comparison.

2. for taxable accounts I still think (free, snail mail) paper
statements & confirms are the way to go. It's just impossible to sort
out (or prove to the IRS) your cost basis without something. Sure they
all have them in PDF but think of the PC you used in 1991...what if your
trade confirmations were on that, in PDF format, would that be
accessible now? What about 1985? Etc etc. Not an issue for diligent
record-keepers but to me, avoiding the hassle of printing out every
confirm (or archiving electronically in a format that will be accessible
in 15 years) is worth a few bucks a trade.

3. if you buy individual bonds consider the bond inventory available at
each, and if possible, see if you can compare the typical spreads on
corporate bonds bought/sold. This is probably going to be tough but
perhaps some of the more commonly available issues could be used as
comparisons.

4. local branches can be nice for depositing checks, getting odd forms,
dealing with paperwork that requires an original signature, etc.

5. in-house mutual funds are much better/cheaper at some firms than
others. On the flip side, in-house funds might not be transferrable to
other firms so there's a potential tax hit if you want to leave - you
might be forced to sell, say, Schwab's 500 index "e-shares" (or leave
them in place) even if you wanted to keep that money in the '500 at the
new firm.

6. re: multiple brokerages - it's nice to get just one 1099 with all of
your activity on it, and with services increasingly tied to "total
assets with the firm", you can often do better by consolidating (eg
getting better MM rates). But as you said, it's also nice to have "best
of both worlds" where there are differences among the firms and none has
everything you need.

-Tad

Scottrade also gives three free trades when you sign up if you use a
referral, as well as free trades for the person who refers you.

If you decide to go with Scottrade and are feeling generous please
email me for the referral.

yetter[at]gmail.com
Tess Millay wrote:
- quote -

Hated Scotty some time ago. Amaturish, clumsy web site. If you like
backup, they send no paper statements! If you use turbotax under the
fidelity promotion (free this year for some), Scotty didn't cooperate
by letting you download your data (and their paper equivilant was
scrambled). Didn't really link other accounts together. But all this
stuff evolves.

Never tried the other deep discounter which I guess has merged - Brown.
Tried a bunch of other ones under lucrative promotions giving frequent
flyer miles, and only really warmed up to etrade as a close second to
fidelity in terms of features, affordability, and user friendliness.

P.S. anyone got fidelity's magnificent "fullview" consolidated display
tool working on a mac? It hardly seems to work at all on the native
browser, Safari. Old mac IE won't work in update mode, and Opera (now
free) kind of limps along most of the time, but is still fragile.
Fidelity says the problems is cookie and security settings, which
doesn't seem to be the case or even very advisable to open it up as
they suggest...

Scottrade lacks an efficient online funding method for your accounts. If
you want to add money to you account you have to mail a personal check or
drive down to the local office and drop one off.
Besides that their service is great!



"Tess Millay" <elle_navorski[at]earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:FlAuf.4205$M%4.473[at]newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
- quote -

I'd recommend:

http://www.esignal.com


Tess Millay <elle_navorski[at]earthlink.net> wrote:
- quote -

"zxcvbob" <zxcvbob[at]charter.net> wrote
- quote -

Could that be a preferred stock idiosynchrasy?
Dividends/interest from the one preferred stock I still own
is similarly delayed in its appearance (both online and
off), up to no more than five days. Fidelity backdates the
entry, so presumably I still get the money market interest
dated to the official, advertised preferred stock pay date.

<snip for brevity
Thanks for the other input, Bob. It's helpful to my
decision-making.

Side note: I found my other brokerage wants $75 (not $50, as
I originally posted) to close my account. Scottrade charges
nothing to open or close an account.