Comments on: Why Choose Sharebuilder?

By: luxluxlux

luxluxlux — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:28:49 +0000

Someone mentioned that you can’t switch back from the standard $12 per month plan to the basic no-subscription plan. That isn’t true, you can.

I think sharebuilder is a good deal if you want to do dollar cost averaging. It’s a good way to build up your portfolio of stocks and not have to lose sleep over short term share price fluctuations.

$12/month for 6 trades or $20/month for 20 trades…that’s $2 or $1 dollar per trade…a great way to build up a diverse portfolio over time.

By: aua868s

aua868s — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:18:07 +0000

I was never into ETF because I was little nervous that I would lose a significant part of my investment in commissions…but now with Schwab’s no commission ETFs, I am all upbeat to try my hand in ETF…thanks Schwab!

By: Frank Jerome

Frank Jerome — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:26:11 +0000

I totally agree Vacboy. I looked at buyandhold.com based on the recommendation above, but was not impressed. You get charged whether you trade or not, which is a significant disadvantage.

I am fully satisfied with Sharebuilder. I think they do target more of a long-term investor rather than a frequent trader though.

By: Vacboy

Vacboy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:46:04 +0000

I use Sharebuilder and I don’t have any issues with them or their prices. With buyandhold.com you get charged $6.99 if you trade or not. If you don’t buy that month,the charge is still $6.99. I love Sharebuilder and never had any troubles with them.
I am thinking about opening an account with Sogotrade.com ($3.00 a trade in and out and any minute of the day). If your happy with Sharebuilder just stay with them. They will be here in 10 years when some brokers may not. Just my 2 cents.
Dave

By: Foo Finance

Foo Finance — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:52:17 +0000

I just closed a position in Sharebuilder that I bought a couple years ago. Delta offered a lot of bonus miles that I needed for a free flight so I tossed $50 at GLD. It has done so well that I actually turned a $4 (8%) profit after round trip commissions ($4 in, $9.95 out) which in total, $15, is on average for a normal broker round trip.

That said Sharebuilder would have very limited uses. Here is what I think they are good for:

- You want to invest fixed dollar amounts, instead of shares, in a certain stock or ETF. No other broker allows you to buy $100 worth of GE or IWF, for example.

- You want to start small. You can buy less than 1 share if you want and simply put $25 or $50 towards any position you like. You can build up to a sizable position to transfer to another broker later. No $1,000 to $2,500 minimums to meet if you use ETF’s.

- DRIP plans simplified. If you have a few stocks that pay dividends you can invest with Sharebuilder and get the free reinvestment. They allow for partial shares like DRIPs and you can do fixed dollar amounts instead of share amounts.

Other than the above I guess the free $50 would be nice. If you planned to transfer the account out later the $50 bonus up front washed the $50 transfer out fee in the end.

That’s my 2 cents!

- Foo

By: Gaurav

Gaurav — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:45:01 +0000

I have Sharebuilder account but I don’t use it Since BOA Investment services gives me better deal, just link your bank account with Investment account and maintain 25K and 30 real time trades are free every month so why would I sent around $10 per trade and they don’t even give access to extend trading while in BOA you can trade in extended hours too!

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:44:48 +0000

You never know. m Either way its a free $50.

By: lostAnnfound

lostAnnfound — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:29:58 +0000

I did the same thing as Eric. Used the $50.00 bonus to buy and will just let it sit. Who knows, SB might change there fees at some point and they may more competitive again.

By: eric

eric — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:11:07 +0000

I actually used the bonus $50 to buy a stock for fun. Maybe decades from now it’ll worth something? lol.

By: Izalot

Izalot — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:29:37 +0000

I agree with Jim’s comments. I have no idea why anyone would select ShareBuilder other then the promotional codes. I think there site is slick but the costs are way too much compare to other services. I’ve use BuyandHold for years and while not not the website is not as slick as ShareBuilder very reasonable costs.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:53:56 +0000

Fortunately other brokers are willing to reimburse you those transfer fees, so that’s an easy way to transfer it for free.

By: James

James — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:43:37 +0000

Jim

Good posting. I have about 1500 in sharebuilder. I opened the account back before they were bought by ING and were offering 50 dollar promotions.

In addition to no longer being compeditive, sharebuilder also dings you 100 bucks if you want to transfer or consolidate your accounts. So, its gotten hard to get out if you aren’t happy with their set up or want to move your money elsewhere.

Thanks,

James

By: BrianC

BrianC — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:11:41 +0000

I have a Sharebuilder account, but I don’t find myself using it. I have a number of other brokerage accounts, and the two I find myself using the most are Tradeking and Optionsxpress. Tradeking has a good mix of low price and good customer service. Optionsxpress has excellent customer service, and also the ability to autotrade an account.

By: wayne

wayne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:42:21 +0000

The other similar service is http://www.buyandhold.com, can buy fractional and automatic reinvestment of dividends. Pricing plan is different. Pay 6.99 month for 2 trades (additional is 2.99) and 14.99 for unlimited.

I use both, buyandhold for my own and SB for joint acct

By: cpwilson5

cpwilson5 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:56:55 +0000

I’ll second that. The new ING integration makes it very easy but I’m sure it was a pain before. Plus I always try to simplify my accounts. There are some real benefits to keeping that financial network map with as few lines as possible. If you are a Costco member look for the promotion in the flyers they send out every other month…usually the last page.

http://content.sharebuilder.com/mgdcon/jump/partner/costco/mvm09/?cobrand=www (usually it’s $90 but they’ve reduced it…seems to go in cycles)