Comments on: Planned Investments: A Review of SogoTrade, ShareBuilder, and MyStockFund

By: CNM

CNM — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:12:35 +0000

I have a Roth IRA with Sharebuilder, there is no annual fee the 1st year, just the normal investment monthly plan fees. I’m a bit wary of some of these other firms because they haven’t been around very long. I’ve read a lot of complaints about Zecco, poor customer service, inability to execute trades, I’d steer clear. Also I started with ETrade and quickly bailed, it took a week to clear my ACH transfer, and then another week before I could start trading, it seems like they wanted to float my money for short term interest before releasing the funds for trading. I closed the account before even placing a single trade.

By: The Sun

The Sun — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:17:29 +0000

I didn’t check all the Vanguard funds, only feel that they generally require a $3000 minimum (I know a couple of other funds require much higher minimum), but it looks like VGSTX is a good exception. I also like Vanguard funds for the low costs and solid performance. Four out of my five mutual funds in IRA account are Vanguard funds.

By: yabadaba

yabadaba — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:47:32 +0000

well u can start with investing in vanguard’s Star fund that requires a 1000 minimum.

Been with Vanguard for 3 years and havent looked back.

By: The Sun

The Sun — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 21:43:06 +0000

Mark: Regarding Sharebuilder, I think it’s only good for stocks and ETFs which you have to pay a commission when you buy. If you are interested in mutual fund investment in Roth, then go directly with the fund company is a better choice in my opinion. Also we don’t expect to make a lot of trading in an IRA account, therefore paying a monthly fee doesn’t make too much sense to me unless you want to make frequent trading of stocks. Generally, I think these automatic investment plans with reduced commission fees are good for stock/ETF investments, not good for mutual funds. As for Vanguard, they have the $3000 minimum as well as $10 annual fee for funds with less than $5000 assets. But their ERs are among the lowest (if not the lowest), which is definitely a plus for long term investment. If you are considering a Roth account with Vanguard, maybe you can start with only one fund (total market of S&P 500) with a lump sum of this year’s limit ($4000), then start another one next year to minimize the cost.

Moneymonk: Zecco is a little different because they just don’t charge anything and don’t require you to set up an automatic investment plan to get lower fees was the other three do. However, it seems Zecco keeps changing their fee policy. I think it’s better to wait a little longer to let things settle down before jumping in.

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 21:02:51 +0000

Zecco.com is another one.

Im a long investor with sharebuilder.com I never thought to invest in other companies, I guess because I just used of sharebuilder.

Im sure by 2008 there will be plenty more companies to choose from.