Thanks Lynn. I wish it took 5 minutes but I think we were doing things wrong by reinvesting dividends so we have stopped that. We will see if that cuts our time substantially.
We switched to etrade to take advantage of accountsync only to have them drop the program. I enjoyed it for the 2 months we had it, after the 4 months it took us to move. I've gone back to the 5 minutes a month it takes me to do it by hand again. I recommend you choose a broker based on many factors, not just accountsync.
As a club treasurer and club member, I can vouch for both E*Trade and Scottrade as being easy to deal with. Trade costs for ETrade $9.99, for Scottrade $7.00. To be honest, the difference of $2.99 per trade between the brokers when divided by, say 10 members, is $0.29 per trade. If you trade 10 times per year, $2.90 per
partner... again, when commission prices that low, just sayin...
Another issue for treasurers is the transfer of stock for departures... I can only speak to E*Trade as I have been treasurer with ETrade affiliated club.... Departing members have to get account with ETrade, and when he/she has account number, Etrade will transfer stocks from Club account to departing partner account. I have done departures/stock transfers several times with Etrade. Smooth each time, no muss, no fuss.
Irina
PS I LOVE account sync... by using the "penny method", I can minimize my key strokes for transactions.... and limit fat finger errors as well!!!
On Thursday, January 23, 2014 7:42 AM, Gloria Graham <ggraham803@gmail.com> wrote:
Our club are looking for a broker that syncs with bivio. TD was considered but reading these posts have given us reasons not to consider them. Can someone tell us the cost for TD or any other brokerage that syncs with bivio?
In the past I had problems with TD not crediting our deposit checks despite the fact they were presented to our personal banks. They said the checks were lost. After many emails and conversations and no action from TD, I filed a complaint with the SEC and miraculously the problem was resolved with in days.
So far we are disappointed with TD's response, when we informed them of checks being cashed on our money market account, (last Tuesday) we were informed that they would send out the form that would be requied to officially make a complaint and to infom the police. When we followed up on Wednesday because the form did not arrive we wee told it had not been sent out but they would do so that day. We were also infomed that we could not retieve the form on line or at TD Bank. This is unacceptable
The checks ( 3) each $802.60, has the name of JPMogan Chase, not even a TD check .It is signed by a Dave Hemswortth to a Donne Green. it has the TD routing number and our money maket account number. How this can happen I don not know.
Any suggestions or comments?
--
Raise your words, not your voice.
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
-Rumi
Gloria Graham on
Thanks Stuart, we presently trade with Mystockfund and after reading the replies I think we will stay with them. Their cost is much cheaper and we have not had any problems resolving problems that have occurred. They are quick to respond to emails. I guess we were reinvesting our dividends and it has been a headache so we stopped that. Hopefully this year we will see improvement.
On Jan 23, 2014 10:46 AM, "Stuart Weissman" <stuw6@yahoo.com> wrote:
I couldn't agree more with Lynn.
One of my clubs uses MyStockFund which is not AccountSync compatible. But what we lose in the treasurer's time to enter transactions, we make up in cost savings. MyStockFund has window trades
(including the ability to trade partial shares) which means we end up purchasing stock on Thursday morning around 10am each week. For this loss of real-time trading, we pay $6 every month which includes two buys with additional buys at $3 each. All sells are real-time and cost $12.99. This methodology encourages the club to add regularly to our current holdings and since it's only $3 per trade, we can purchase in smaller blocks and not have to worry about the recovery of our trading cost. Every year, we compare what it would have cost to pay $8 per trade both ways versus our $6 per month for two free trades system and we always end up way better with our current plan. I would encourage all of you to do the math on your accounts and see how much you would save. It certain helps that we sell much more infrequently than we buy and usually when we sell, we completely terminate the position.
Stuart Weissman Mad
Loot Investment Club
On Thursday, January
23, 2014 10:17 AM, Lynn Ostrem <garbagecop@gmail.com> wrote:
We switched to etrade to take advantage of accountsync only to have them drop the program. I enjoyed it for the 2 months we had it, after the 4 months it took us to move. I've gone back to the 5 minutes a month it takes me to do
it by hand again. I recommend you choose a broker based on many factors, not just accountsync.
Lynn Ostrem
Crow River Investment Club
Lynn Ostrem on
Laurie,
Thanks for the link. Somehow, it seems our club's broker log on information was deleted. I've re-entered the information so our AccountSync should work now.
Here's how I feel about accounting, and this comes after YEARS of clubbing. Whether you use automatic accounting or not, the treasurer needs to know how to enter deposits, withdrawals, buys and sales. Otherwise, you'll never be able to figure out how to rectify errors when they occur - and yes they DO occur. Most clubs have 1 deposit, 3-4 dividends and a buy or sell to log every month. Know your system. Double check every transaction against your broker statement. And balance to the penny every month. That way, at tax time, you won't be going back trying to figure out where you were off.
That said, we took advantage of the Etrade $4.99 trade program. The trading platform is good. Customer Service answers immediately - almost no waiting. And they have a Thomson Reuters detailed 12-page stock report that I've never seen elsewhere. It's come in very handy for our members. I recommend that you contact Etrade, if you are interested, and let them know that you are aware of other clubs who've negotiated a $4.99 trade and you wish to switch your entire account if you can get it, too. They will negotiate, especially for the right size account (over $10,000). Most brokers will. hey just don't want you to know that. I highly recommend them.
On a personal note, I just switched my taxable and IRA stock accounts to OptionsHouse.com. After the initial hunt and peck (!), I got used to the trading platform and I like it a lot. I trade monthly options, which is why I switched. They have long trades at $4.75. But the options cost $5.00 for UP TO 5 contracts at a time with no contract fees. Since I'm s small trader of 1-3 options at a time, this is quite a savings for me. Also, while most brokers charge $15-$20 for assignment fees, OptionsHouse only charges a flat $5. ANOTHER huge savings.
Thanks Irina and Laurie for bringing Etrade to my attention!
Thanks for the link. Somehow, it seems our club's broker log on information was deleted. I've re-entered the information so our AccountSync should work now.
Here's how I feel about accounting, and this comes after YEARS of clubbing. Whether you use automatic accounting or not, the treasurer needs to know how to enter deposits, withdrawals, buys and sales. Otherwise, you'll never be able to figure out how to rectify errors when they occur - and yes they DO occur. Most clubs have 1 deposit, 3-4 dividends and a buy or sell to log every month. Know your system. Double check every transaction against your broker statement. And balance to the penny every month. That way, at tax time, you won't be going back trying to figure out where you were off.
That said, we took advantage of the Etrade $4.99 trade program. The trading platform is good. Customer Service answers immediately - almost no waiting. And they have a Thomson Reuters detailed 12-page stock report that I've never seen elsewhere. It's come in very handy for our members. I recommend that you contact Etrade, if you are interested, and let them know that you are aware of other clubs who've negotiated a $4.99 trade and you wish to switch your entire account if you can get it, too. They will negotiate, especially for the right size account (over $10,000). Most brokers will. hey just don't want you to know that. I highly recommend them.
On a personal note, I just switched my taxable and IRA stock accounts to OptionsHouse.com. After the initial hunt and peck (!), I got used to the trading platform and I like it a lot. I trade monthly options, which is why I switched. They have long trades at $4.75. But the options cost $5.00 for UP TO 5 contracts at a time with no contract fees. Since I'm s small trader of 1-3 options at a time, this is quite a savings for me. Also, while most brokers charge $15-$20 for assignment fees, OptionsHouse only charges a flat $5. ANOTHER huge savings.
Thanks Irina and Laurie for bringing Etrade to my attention!
Lynn O.
Jayne Gilbert on
Both clubs I belong to deal with Fidelity with great satisfaction.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 23, 2014, at 6:51 AM, Paul Madison <madispa@gmail.com> wrote:
We have an investment club at Fidelity and it syncs with bivio. Trade commissions are cheaper than TD as well as they are $7.95 a trade rather than $9.99. Outside of the club account, I have personally been with Fidelity for over 20 years and I have been extremely happy. Some people have the mistaken belief that Fidelity is just mutual funds but that is not the case at all. They have all the normal brokerage account types.
Our club are looking for a broker that syncs with bivio. TD was considered but reading these posts have given us reasons not to consider them. Can someone tell us the cost for TD or any other brokerage that syncs with bivio?
In the past I had problems with TD not crediting our deposit checks despite the fact they were presented to our personal banks. They said the checks were lost. After many emails and conversations and no action from TD, I filed a complaint with the SEC and miraculously the problem was resolved with in days.
So far we are disappointed with TD's response, when we informed them of checks being cashed on our money market account, (last Tuesday) we were informed that they would send out the form that would be requied to officially make a complaint and to infom the police. When we followed up on Wednesday because the form did not arrive we wee told it had not been sent out but they would do so that day. We were also infomed that we could not retieve the form on line or at TD Bank. This is unacceptable
The checks ( 3) each $802.60, has the name of JPMogan Chase, not even a TD check .It is signed by a Dave Hemswortth to a Donne Green. it has the TD routing number and our money maket account number. How this can happen I don not know.
Any suggestions or comments?
--
Raise your words, not your voice.
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
-Rumi
Colleen Goings on
Was this really fraud on TDameritrades part? I didnt get the whole email so am curious about it as I have traded with tdameritrade for quite awhile and so has our club. I would like to know more about this and some of the results,
Both clubs I belong to deal with Fidelity with great satisfaction.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 23, 2014, at 6:51 AM, Paul Madison <madispa@gmail.com> wrote:
We have an investment club at Fidelity and it syncs with bivio. Trade commissions are cheaper than TD as well as they are $7.95 a trade rather than $9.99. Outside of the club account, I have personally been with Fidelity for over 20 years and I have been extremely happy. Some people have the mistaken belief that Fidelity is just mutual funds but that is not the case at all. They have all the normal brokerage account types.
Our club are looking for a broker that syncs with bivio. TD was considered but reading these posts have given us reasons not to consider them. Can someone tell us the cost for TD or any other brokerage that syncs with bivio?
In the past I had problems with TD not crediting our deposit checks despite the fact they were presented to our personal banks. They said the checks were lost. After many emails and conversations and no action from TD, I filed a complaint with the SEC and miraculously the problem was resolved with in days.
So far we are disappointed with TD's response, when we informed them of checks being cashed on our money market account, (last Tuesday) we were informed that they would send out the form that would be requied to officially make a complaint and to infom the police. When we followed up on Wednesday because the form did not arrive we wee told it had not been sent out but they would do so that day. We were also infomed that we could not retieve the form on line or at TD Bank. This is unacceptable
The checks ( 3) each $802.60, has the name of JPMogan Chase, not even a TD check .It is signed by a Dave Hemswortth to a Donne Green. it has the TD routing number and our money maket account number. How this can happen I don not know.
Any suggestions or comments?
--
Raise your words, not your voice.
It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
-Rumi
jednotakid on
Dear Laurie
Our Club trades with TD Ameritrade. We think they are great.
They call every so often and ask if they can do anything for us.
If you are making a few trades a year does it matter if you are
paying $10.00 or $8.00 dollars?
From: "Laurie Frederiksen" <laurie@bivio.biz> To: "The Club Cafe" <club_cafe@bivio.com> Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 12:27:04 PM Subject: Re: [club_cafe] More information on TD fraud
Dear Lynn,
AccountSync is done from the bivio side, not the E*Trade side. There are sometimes temporary issues posting a single transaction which can temporarily cause a problem with your updates, but that doesn't cancel the service. It should still work. We haven't heard from other clubs that it is not. You can verify by re-entering your E*Trade login credentials like this:
and then waiting to see if it pulls in new transactions when you have them.
E*Trade did not continue their offer after a year to new clubs, but they did not discontinue it for the clubs that had taken advantage of it either as far as I know. But you did have to meet their requirements for having personal IRA accounts at E*Trade.
Laurie Frederiksen Invest with your friends! www.bivio.com
I thought you and I talked about this last summer. AccountSync trades were posted for 2 months after we switched, then nothing. They told me they were no longer carrying the bivio program. Maybe I am confused and they cancelled the $4.99/trade program for bivio clubs, and did NOT cancel AccountSync. But, the AccountSync stopped around the same time. Can you please check it out for me? I don't want to post incorrect information. Just post here so everyone can see.