SHAREBUILDER.COM
Written: Sep 03 '03 (Updated Sep 03 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Web Site Experience: |
|
|
| Web Site Load Time: |
 |
|
|
Pros: There is no minimum investment. This is dollar based investing.
Cons: -----------------
The Bottom Line: A great tool for the long-term investor!
|
|
|
| mcmaster's Full Review: Sharebuilder |
What a great way to build a nest egg for the future! I have always wanted to invest in stocks but have never had enough money to get started. Sharebuilder.com makes it easy and very enjoyable. A friend of mine in the service told me about the site and how easy it is to get started investing with out a bank roll. So I went to their site, set up an account and was a big-shot investor in no time at all.
HOW IT WORKS
First you have to create a user name and password. Then you have to fund your account. The most convenient way is to use a checking or savings account from your bank. There are more options for funding your account listed below. Now once you figure out how you choose to fund your account the fun starts!
Now you can pick the stocks, bonds, index funds, money markets or what ever blows your hair back. This is the part that I enjoy the most! Sharebuilder does not recommend any stocks at all. They do show you the most requested stocks such as Microsoft, Cisco, Wal-Mart and E-Bay. I spend hours upon hours just researching the thousands of different stocks you are able to buy. There are over 4,000 stocks that you can buy using Sharebuilder.
Once you find the stocks that you want to buy there are several ways to go about it. This depends on which plan you want when you sign up. There are three different plans.
Basic Plan
The Basic plan is free but you pay a $4 fee per investment. So if you wanted $100.00 worth of ELECTRONIC ARTS stock it would cost you $104.00
Standard Plan
The Standard plan is $12.00 per month. With this plan you get six free investments per month and access the Gain - loss tracker. The gain - loss tracker is an excellent tool! If you wanted to make additional investments on top of the six free ones, It would cost you $2.00 per additional investment.
Advantage
The Advantage plan is $20.00 a month. With this plan you get twenty free investments per month and access the Gain - loss tracker. If you wanted to make additional investments on top of the twenty free ones, It would cost you $1.00 per additional investment.
Now that you have chose your stocks and have a plan you will need to decide how often you would like to invest. Lets say you picked the standard plan. Now you get six investments per month with no fees. Now you decide when and how much you want to invest each week or month. For example you can choose to invest on any Tuesday of the month. So lets say you would like to invest 20.00 in your six different stocks on the first Tuesday of every month. You just go into your account and insert the stock symbol the amount and the date you want to invest, that's it! You can go into the account and change the stocks, amounts or time of investment at any time. You are also able to suspend the plan if you don't have the money to invest that particular month. The day before the stock is purchased Sharebuilder deducts the funds from your account. The purchase is completed the following day.
•Account Overview
Your account overview let you know your Account Balance, ShareBuilder Plans and your Account Funding Status.
•View Positions
When you go to view your positions you will see all of your stocks and how they are doing. There is a small delay between your view and the actual stock market. Here is an example of what one of your stocks would look like.
Symbol Company Quote daily change quantity market value
DIS------DISNEY---20.95-----+0.45--------2.3993----$50.27
• Gain and Loss Tracker
With the ShareBuilder Gain and Loss Tracker you can view the
gains and losses, performance history, or an allocation analysis of your current holdings. The Gain and Loss Tracker is available free for all your accounts with any ShareBuilder Standard or Advantage Program.
•View Transaction History
The transaction history gives you a complete history of all transactions done through Sharebuilder, including monthly dividends that any of your stock may earn.
•Manage ShareBuilder Plan
This is where you go to edit your investments, when, which stocks and how much.
•Place a Real-time Trade
You are also able to place real-time trades. The fee's vary from $11.95 to $15.95 depending on your plan (basic, standard, advantage). Day trading is a world of it's own that I don't know much about.
•Fund Your Account
Electronic funds deposit from savings or checking account
Wire money to ShareBuilder
Mail check to ShareBuilder
Payroll deposit from employer
•Manage Account Profile
Your account profile is where you manage your personal financial information. This information includes your checking / savings account. Physical address, mailing address, e-mail address and so fourth...
•Withdrawing Funds
There are several ways to withdraw your funds.
Payroll Deposit No Waiting Period
Wire Transfer No Waiting Period
Electronic Funds Deposits 5-business days
Check or Money Order 10-business days
•PlanBuilder
Once you have opened a ShareBuilder Account, you can set up your ShareBuilder Plan, a set of instructions for making automatic investments. ShareBuilder encourages you to research securities before including them in your plan. You can access a list of all securities offered through ShareBuilder, as well as quote and chart information, on the Search for Stocks tab.
•Fees
Fees are $4.00 per investment if you don't have a Standard or Advantage plan.
•Customer Support
Telephone Support, E-Mail support and a very comprehensive help center.
Researching Your Stocks
The Sharebuilder research database is another good tool that Sharebuilder offers to everyone. Your tool bar has a search for stocks option / link. You are able to browse for potential stocks / securities by name, ticker symbol, industry or funds. Once you find a company / corporation that you want to check out you click on it. Now you have access to all sorts of great information, Example:
ADMINISTAFF INC (ASF) NYSE AS OF SEP 2, 2003 4:01:10 PM (E.T.)
Last 10.74
Open 10.20
High 11.00
Low 10.15
Volume 425.40K
Earnings Per Share 0.36
Shares Outstanding 26.63M
P/E Ratio 28.61
Change 0.44
% Change 4.27%
52 Week High 13.31
52 Week Low 1.99
Bid N/A
Ask N/A
Market Capitalization 285.97M
Exchange NYSE
You are also able to generate a company snapshot. You can look at the charts for the company. These charts are very nice. You can see how many dividends they have paid out over the years, earnings, splits and volume traded. They also let offer a neat little feature called "What If I had Invested Tool". It lets you enter any given amount over a period of years. Then it figures out how much money you would have made or lost investing with that particular company. It sure is fun to play around with!
There is one last tool that I'd like to elaborate on before I get off my little wannabe investor soap box :)
Just a couple of weeks ago Sharebuilder started their new gain & loss tracker. This option is offered to anyone with a standard or Advantage plan. This little tool is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It lets you know several things about your investments. It gives you a report on everyone of your investments. It will tell you how much money you have gained or lost with each investment. It will also let you know the percentage increase and deceases. For instance one of my investments grew 129.86% while anther investment of mine dropped 27.39% Then it gives you your total. It will tell you exactly how much money you are ahead or behind, as well as the percent you have gained or lost. Remember this changes everyday with the stock market.
It also lets you know where you are investing your money with regard to industry and sectors. For instance:
25% Health
25% Transportation
25% Financial
25% Industrial
----------------------------------------------------
80% Mid Caps
20% Large Caps
Conclusion
I have just recently started into the wide world of investing. I also do a lot of research before I buy anything. I believe Sharebuilder is an excellent resource for someone learning the ropes. I am in it for the long haul and really enjoy having the opportunity to invest a little at a time! I give Sharebuilder two enthusiastic thumbs up! If you would like to check out Sharebuilder.com just scroll to the bottom of this page and go check it out!
The poor go to work for their money. The rich let their money work for them. I know this to be true, I have to go to work now...
Sharebuilder
© 2003 ShareBuilder Corporation.
ShareBuilder Securities Corporation
ATTN: Processing Department
1000 124th Avenue NE
Bellevue, WA 98005
1-866-SHRBLDR
Thanks for the read,
~Mac
©2003 Joe McMaster
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.