Start small and buy for the long haul
Written: May 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: $2 commissions, More choices than Buy and Hold
Cons: Weekly purchases, $19.95 sell orders
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| bksward's Full Review: Sharebuilder |
Sharebuilder is a product of Netstock.com. It allows you to invest in dollar amounts for low commissions of $1 to $5 per trade. They also allow you purchase partial shares of stocks. You input the dollar value of stock you want to purchase and they buy as many shares and partial shares as possible with that money. For example, if you want $125 worth of a $250 per share stock, they'll purchase .5 shares for you.
Regular recurring purchases are $2 each and $1 for custodial accounts (start your children investing). One time purchases are $5 each, but you can, at least right now, set up a recurring purchase schedule, let it buy once for $2 and then cancel it without a problem. They also have a larger group of stocks available than buy and hold (over 2000 vs about 1400).
The downsides: They only purchase once a week, so it isn't for market timers. Also they charge $19.95 to sell. BuyandHold.com charges a flat rate of $2.99 to buy or sell. However, if you are looking to make many small purchases over the course of several years, then sharebuilder is the way to go.
Check out both Sharebuilder and BuyandHold if you are interested in becoming a small time investor. BuyandHold also purchases twice daily rather than weekly.
Both are good ways to DRIP stocks without formal drip plans or with excessive fees. However, one should also consider traditional DRIP/DSP (Dividend ReInvestment/Direct Stock Purchase) plans as there are many that are completely fee free once you get them set up. While $2 may not seem like a lot to spend per trade, if you are making small monthly purchases it can add up over time. You can find information on companies that offer DRIP/DSP at another netstock website, http://www.netstockdirect.com.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bksward
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Member: Brian Sward
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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