Online banking issues

I’m planning to sign up one of these days... I just haven't gotten around to it yet... but I will.

I think E*TRADE is a bit pricier than the other guys... a market order runs you $14.95, while a limit or stop order is $19.95, plus there's this random $3 fee that I didn't even realize existed until about a year ago... pretty sure they rolled that in back then too. Since I always use limit/stop orders, my total fee ends up being $22.95.

The high fee doesn't actually bother me that much because I usually trade at least $2,500 at a time (so it works out to less than 1%), but what really bugs me is how thin their research and analysis section is. Because of that, I usually just head over to Morningstar to grab most of the info I actually need.

I'd love to learn more about the Bloomberg Terminal—is anyone here familiar with it or using it for work or personal research? If you do, please share some of your expertise with us!

Jamie Newman40,

I’m not sure what you were thinking there, but even with E*TRADE, you can keep your checking and brokerage accounts separate while still having them under one roof. It’s all on one site, and you only have to log in once to see everything... you know? I totally get wanting to keep your investments away from your everyday spending money—you can definitely set that up at Fidelity—but the issue is their checking setup can be a bit of a headache. They have high limits, but if I recall, they restrict how many transactions you can pull each month. For me, it basically just functions like a savings account, or something I'd use if I ever decided to move back home; then I could just sweep all my cash from my local credit union over to my Fidelity checking account.

I’m leaning toward Fidelity. I’ve been working with E*TRADE (formerly HarrisDirect, which used to be Merrill Lynch and Citigroup) for about five years now. Their research through their Bloomberg Terminal is top-notch, and they charge a flat $20 for all market, limit, and stop orders. My only gripe is that once you cross the 1,000-share threshold, they hit you with an extra 2 cents per share, which just makes it not worth my while. That’s actually why I opened an account over at Charles Schwab—their market, limit, and stop orders stay at $10.99 for anything up to 5,000 shares. Still, I keep the E*TRADE account active mainly because that research platform is so solid.

Starting this year, the government rolled out some new regulations where you can't touch your funds until the original purchase actually settles. It slowed my momentum down quite a bit until I finally decided to just open a margin account.

I’m pretty happy with the speed at Charles Schwab, though I really wish they offered all the specific features I have over at E*TRADE; if they did, I’d consolidate everything into one place, but hey, life happens. To be fair, Charles Schwab does have its own Java-based platform, but there's no way I'm installing that on my work computer—it would be way too obvious. 😁 Because of that, when I need real-time data, I rely heavily on the Morningstar Research website. I pay $25 a month for it, but the value is incredible, especially since I can set target prices and get notified exactly where my positions stand. It’s a total game-changer.

Anyway, besides my usual holdings in Ford (F), I’ve been playing around with a few "hot" tickers lately—or maybe I should call them "wild" tickers—so feel free to take a look: Charter Communications (CHTR) and Akamai Technologies (AKAM)...

I'll take a look at those two stickers... To be honest, when I first started out, my whole mindset was long-term. I focused on relatively safe bets, like index funds, alongside some solid high-growth companies—Amgen, for example.

Lately, I've drifted toward day trading—or maybe not true day trading, but more like short-term swing trades. When I say short-term, I mean holding a stock for less than a year. A few months back, I was playing around with gold stocks (one of them I held was Hargreaves Lansdown)—and even though I came out ahead, I definitely sold too early. I jumped ship when gold hit $350, only to watch it climb to $370 right after. Today, gold dipped nearly $10 back down to $350, but I’m not planning on buying again until it drops below $325. That said, I had other reasons for picking Hargreaves Lansdown; I genuinely believed the company was on the right track regardless of where gold prices landed. So, it wasn't just a reckless move.

Another sector I've been eyeing for a while is biotech. I'm not looking at the established players like Amgen, but rather the speculative ones that are still working toward profitability. I have a shortlist of about ten companies I'm researching, and ISIS is one of them. Even though I expect several of these to see massive gains in value, the ideal window to buy most of these biotech plays was actually a few months ago. Looking back, most of the ten companies I started tracking then have already surged between 50% and 150%. Right now, I have the capital sitting there ready to go once the timing is perfect. My main issue is that my portfolio is already pretty heavy on biotech, so I'd be taking on significant risk, but I really believe this industry is going to define the next five to ten years.

Way back when, a user on this forum recommended CORV, so I did my homework on it and managed to buy in at just the right time. Now, though, I'm tempted to sell. Even though I think they have huge potential, I'm skeptical about how fast the telecom industry will bounce back, especially since the competition is getting tougher by the day. I also wonder how much of their recent growth was just driven by Corvis's share buybacks... They have plenty of cash and have trimmed their expenses for now, but none of that matters if we don't see a real expansion in the telecom sector.

Sorry... what was the ticker symbol again?

Joe (honestly, how am I supposed to phrase this?) 😁,

I used to be much more of a long-term investor. There were several times when I felt forced to hold onto my shares simply because selling at a loss didn't make any sense—I figured I might as well just sit tight. After all, you haven't truly lost anything until you actually hit that sell button. 😁

Eventually, I decided to shift my strategy a bit. Since I have a few colleagues who take this quite seriously, and since I’m certainly not just playing games here, we tend to keep an eye on various different sectors. In the biotech and medical space, Merck used to be my favorite (MRK), though I don't hold them anymore. It just doesn't make financial sense for me to tie up massive amounts of capital by holding hundreds of shares for the long haul.

When it comes to telecommunications, I really enjoyed JCOM; I made a mountain of money on them. I don't own them currently either, but that doesn't mean I won't jump back in if they dip below $30.

Lately, I've been focusing on smaller stocks priced between $3 and $10. I typically move in with positions ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, and even small price jumps—even just a few cents—are enough to make sure the day isn't a total wash. Some days I walk away with a couple hundred, other days it's a few thousand, and sometimes I take a hit, but overall, everything is under control.

Jason Wells4 said:Jason Wells4, I really hope you don't have too much cash sitting in that Australian account of yours. Someone could easily break into it and reroute your money to an address linked to some forged documents. And getting a hold of your userID and password is easy enough if they hit you with a keylogger virus...

Exactly.

But how likely is that, really? Is it even worth the effort for your average criminal? Have you ever actually heard of someone losing their shirt that way? To me, it seems way easier to just shoulder-surf someone at a cafe while they're typing away at their laptop...
And how many hours of work would an average hacker actually have to sink into finding a userID and password for a bank account that’s actually worth their time? Honestly, if they’re that skilled, they might be better off launching a legitimate IT firm specializing in IP security or something similar... 🙂 When I say a "worthwhile" account, I mean one where there's actually enough money to make a sophisticated heist worthwhile—not just a few measly bucks, which is usually the transaction limit anyway. For instance, do you know what the average balance looks like for Australians? In short, basically nothing. I used to be curious about how much people actually kept in their accounts, so I’d pick up dozens of receipts left near ATMs and check the balances. Believe it or not, most people have maybe a few dozen dollars, a few more have a couple hundred, and you're lucky if you find someone with more than a thousand...

Then there are a few other things anyone doing serious financial planning keeps in mind.
Just to keep it brief:
Rule number one: Never put all your eggs in one basket.
Rule number two: Diversification (say, keeping 10% of your total assets in cash just for liquidity, with the rest in funds, stocks, real estate, or retirement accounts)...
There are plenty of other rules, but that’s a whole different conversation.

And finally, if these cybercriminals are so brilliant, why bother messing around with Australian accounts that are empty 99% of the time? They should go straight for the Germans or Americans, who are presumably loaded. I mean, if they were, they wouldn't need all those card readers and one-time password tokens. Or better yet, why doesn't a genius hacker just breach the bank's mainframe directly? It's online, after all, making it vulnerable to viruses, and then they could make a killing in one fell swoop. And hey, they could always sell the tech afterward... 🙂

Jamie Newman40,

I’m actually on a pretty similar path to you... though not exactly the same. I started out strictly as a long-term investor, and honestly, most of my portfolio is still parked in those kinds of stocks. I get what you mean about holding onto losers—sometimes I don't want to sell when I'm down, but it's usually because I genuinely believe the company is going to thrive in the long run.

That said, even though my main focus is still long-term plays, I’ve carved out $10k specifically for day trading or short-term swings. Usually, I'm looking at penny stocks or anything priced under $10.

Joe (😁), it looks like we’re cut from the same cloth... or at least we've walked similar paths... 😁

When it comes to my long-term plays, I've really leaned into Ford, and I've got a pretty significant amount riding on them (well, significant by my standards). For the day trades and short-term stuff, though, I tend to float around the $10k to $20k range, depending on how much "play money" I have sitting around. Occasionally, when things get really intense, I'll take a quick dive into deep margin, and so far, thank goodness, I haven't run into any major trouble.

P.S. If you caught those tickers I sent over yesterday, Akamai Technologies saw a massive jump of over 10% this morning, which was a great little win for me. And Ford isn't looking too shabby either... 👍

Yeah, look, my entire portfolio is in the green today, but that’s just what happens when the whole market is rallying... honestly, though, I think this is just a short-term spike. CORV is also up about 10% at the moment.

I'm looking over your tickers, but I haven't really done a deep dive into them yet... I need to sit down and actually read some Morningstar Research on them first (assuming they even cover them).

Sorry for the long post! I'm planning to register so I can send these via private message, but for now, I'll just post them here for everyone in the US to see...

Value Line Commentary on Ford:

Ford Motor Company's massive jump in first-quarter profits was largely driven by its credit division. The company posted consolidated earnings per share of $0.45, which absolutely crushed our $0.20 estimate—not to mention it's a huge turnaround from the $0.05-per-share loss seen during this time last year. Throughout this period, the credit wing brought in $442 million in net income, or about $0.22 per share, marking a massive 72% jump from the $256 million recorded the previous year. This profit spike was sparked by a decrease in loss provisions alongside the positive boost from selling receivables. Essentially, Ford pulled nearly half of its total profits from just 16% of its sales. Given these stellar Q1 numbers, we’ve bumped up our full-year 2003 earnings estimate by $0.10, bringing it to $0.60 per share. Meanwhile, we anticipate second-quarter earnings could drop by about 70%, as a cooling industry and heavy pricing wars will likely drag down performance.

The automotive branch is still seeing the perks of a solid product mix. Over the first quarter, Ford was the only domestic auto manufacturer to gain market share in the US. The gain was fueled by the introduction of new higher-end products and the addition of new options, which pushed revenue per unit up to $868—a 4% increase compared to last year. On the flip side, the company managed to trim about $640 million in expenses, smashing its original $500 million target.

Since Ford Motor Company holds a neutral ranking for Timeliness, don't expect it to suddenly accelerate. Even with that big Q1 earnings jump, the company is stuck in a brutal fight within the auto sector. We think the automaker will keep feeling the squeeze on market share, especially since cutthroat competition is creating a tough pricing landscape that's bound to eat into margins.

For investors looking toward the 2006-2008 window, this stock offers better-than-average upside potential. That said, we consider this a play for risk-tolerant investors only; the company's heavy debt load and growing pension liabilities are definitely red flags. Plus, if the economy doesn't actually bounce back in the second half of the year, these shares will probably slide right back down to the lows we saw earlier this year.

Jamie Newman40 (😁),

Aside from all the reports coming out of the "official" news outlets, I tend to rely on what I know about Ford firsthand, given that my line of work is tied quite closely to them—specifically within the "Big Three."

When I piece all these factors together, I get a gut feeling that Ford will see growth of roughly 1-2% weekly through the end of October, before perhaps taking a slight dip.

Here is my reasoning. First off, Ford is celebrating its 100th anniversary and is rolling out some special offers to mark the occasion. Secondly, following the July shutdown, production kicks off for the new series of the F-150 across three renovated plants (Dearborn, Norfolk, and Kentucky). Since that truck is their absolute bestseller, we should see strong sales throughout at least the first three months.

Of course, Ford releases its quarterly earnings on the last day of October, and I don't expect those numbers to be bad. If the stock maintains this current momentum, I think it could easily reach the $14-$15 range by then, which seems like a realistic target based on their performance so far this year.

Because of that, I have to disagree with your final sentence:

Moreover, if a second-half economic recovery is unable to materialize, these shares are likely to retest the lows set earlier this year.

In my view, Ford isn't going to drop to that $6.58 "52-week low" this year. They might approach it early next year, but I honestly doubt it. Regardless, it won't affect me personally, as I likely won't even be holding them by that point. 😁

By the way, seeing Ford climb 3% today (up about $0.33) really put a smile on my face. 👍

To prevent us from cluttering this thread with our ongoing discussions about stocks and online banking, I’m going to spin up a brand-new topic dedicated solely to those subjects. Moderator, if you think it makes sense, please feel free to move any posts that don't quite fit here over to the new thread.

meb@net - I've been using Wells Fargo for over two years now—ever since they launched—and I can say I'm more than satisfied.
The app is top-tier. 🙂 It’s far more advanced than the competitors out there. Some banks actually hand out physical lists with printed access codes?? That is pure primitivism...
I pay a $17 annual fee, but it's worth it just to avoid those transaction fees you get at a teller window.
I have full control over all my accounts and loans—both my personal ones and any authorized ones.
At my company, we use both MEB@net and the Federal Reserve, and I can confirm that Wells Fargo is much more up-to-date, stable, and straightforward... easily a 5/5.
Regards 👍

Is there any bank here that lets you set up and close CDs through Online Banking?

Been using PayPal for over a year now and it’s pretty solid for my personal stuff. Used to rely on telebanking, but having to set everything up on every single computer just isn't practical...

With PayPal, I love that I can log in from basically anywhere on the planet to pay bills, move cash around, or even handle foreign currency transfers lately.
The transaction fee is basically nothing ($0.33), so it's worth it.
They annoy me with some other random fees, but that's beside the point here.

The Token is fine—way better than those smart cards.

My company uses the business version of PayPal, but it’s definitely not user-friendly. Their help desk is a total mess too; you end up waiting forever. Plus, sometimes orders just fail for no reason, even when they pass all the checks. They use smart cards for this, so there are always bugs... but I guess businesses need that extra security, so maybe they'll iron it out eventually.

I’ve switched over to using Federal Reserve Online Banking, and honestly, I couldn't be happier with the move. I used to deal with JPMorgan Chase, but I finally pulled the plug on them. It was driving me absolutely insane—whenever I needed funds to hit my account, it would take them five whole days just to process everything.😠

I switched from my local bank to the Federal Reserve solely for the Online Banking features. I no longer waste my life standing in lines just to pay the electric bill, gas, phone, or utilities. I handle about twenty bills a month; I just upload the statements to my computer, set the due dates, and forget about them. I get an inbox notification once the payment clears, making the whole process simple, secure, and a massive time and money saver. They provided my Token free of charge, and the transaction fee is only $0.33 for standard amounts. For larger transfers, the fee bumps up, but it’s still significantly cheaper than going to the Post Office or a local branch.
Soon, you'll be able to file taxes, renew a driver's license, or pull official government certificates online. If nothing else, having reliable internet access is worth it.

Not really related to the topic at hand, but I find it interesting that they're being mentioned (in a good way, of course). 😁 I used to work at Wells Fargo back when I was living in the States, and now that I've moved up to Canada, I'm working on a project for Harris Bank.

As for Online Banking... I’m currently deep in the weeds working on the development of the Bank of Marts. According to some recent reports—looking at stuff from Bank of Montreal and Harris Bank—processing transactions online is roughly 300 times cheaper than handling them through a physical branch. It’s all just basic math, really. Anyway, there seems to be this growing trend among major banks across North America where they're offloading real estate holdings and just shutting down branches altogether.

boldcyclist18 said:because when I actually needed that money to hit my account, they took five whole days just to process the transaction, which nearly drove me insane.😠

YES, it’s enough to make you lose your mind. JPMorgan Chase is just so incredibly slow and outdated.
I’m going to withdraw cash at a main branch today, and yet it won't even show up in my Online Banking for another two days. I am constantly teetering on the edge of an overdraft, so this kind of incompetence is absolutely pathetic.