Anyone knows any info about ShareBuilder?

Question

Hello,
My husband and I are looking into investing. Has anyone used ShareBuilder? If so, what is your experience with it?
Please let me know if you highly recommend it or if there is a better choice to make as far as buying shares. Thank you.

Answer 1

I use share builder, it works great. With any on line broker or flesh and blood broker you need watch the fees.

I don't know what "mslider2" was talking about because you can do one time trades like Scotts trade with share builder too.

Share builder has three different fee schedules, one for regular monthly purchases called "automatic investment plan" one for "real time trading" and one for "options trading".

The fees for "automatic investment plan" are very good about the lowest I've found. You can set up a schedule to by one the stock of one company or EFT or mutual fund every month for $4 fee however if you only buy $40 worth of shares the you have lost 10%. However if you by $400 a month then it only cost 1%, very good. I have an automatic investment plan that has 6 monthly purchases (ETFs) for a fee of $12; I regularly invest $600 so the fee is only 2% of purchases per month. Through a broker it would be about $40 per investment or 40%

I'm a buy and hold investor so I don't do any real time trading or options trading, so I don't know how it compares to the other sites in that regard. A lot of sites that advertise very low trading fees usually have a catch. It maybe only $5 a trade but in the fine print you have to do 200 trades a year. So read all the details.

If you are looking to buy individual stocks you might want to see if you can buy them direct from the company. Some companies sell direct. Here again you have to watch the fees. I buy Exxon Mobile and Aqua America every month through a DRIP program using http://www.equiserve.com/shs/index_shs.htm
Some companies have very high purchase and reinvestment fees. I stay a way from those as there is almost always an equally good performer with no fees or company paid fees. All will have a sale fee of $10 to $15. Some like Piedmont Natural Gas don't use an on line management service and are very direct, I buy it through the mail, direct from the company.

Answer 2

I steered a friend to sharebuilder. He bought some Krispy Kreme stock because he liked the donuts. I told him about the financial problems and he got out quick enough to have not lost too much. When I suggested that they were on the mend with some new management, he got back in and made a few bucks. He's never told me of having any problems with them.

Sharebuilder isn't for everybody, but if, for instance, you liked some company and wanted to sock away some, possibly on a regular basis, it is a really good idea. Consider those who take the notion of cashing in their whole life insurance policy in order to "buy term and invest the difference"--this is a vehicle to "invest the difference". That can be important because most people don't. There are plenty of places where it can work and some where it won't. But I haven't heard anything bad from those who use it.

Answer 3

Share builder is ok from an idea standpoint, but probably doesnt work well in practice for making money if you are going to invest $4-$20 or so a month.

Reason: It's 2 little to make anything.
Let's say you invest $12 a month and pick 3 stocks($4 for each)
$4 would buy you 1/10th share a McDonalds
1/10 share of Coke cola
1/6 th share of yahoo

So, it's going to take you a year to purchase 1 share apiece.
If each share goes up $1, you have made a grand total of $3 and invested $144. That's before sharebuilder charges you fees for your trades. ( $12-$16 per trade)

A bank account at 2.5 percent will pay you that much. And of course stocks can go down as well.

Of course you can buy shares that are cheaper like PHY (about $3 a share) and quickly accumulate more shares.

I personally would reccommed something like Scottrade ($7 trades and $500 investment) where you can buy at least a few shares outright and trade them as you wish.

Answer 4

ShareBuilder has quite a few ways to invest your money, from live trades to paying an annual fee for a certain amount of free trades. I like them they have never done me wrong, and as a little investor, I can afford to buy stocks this way, as opposed to opening a brokerage account starting with $2000+ at most investment houses! :)

When considering the fees they charge, you should invest accordingly, meaning you should invest in stocks for the long term, and if you just want to be able to quickly buy a few shares when ever you want, say for example when ever you have $100 to spare for investing, maybe 5-6 times a year, then ShareBuilder.com is a good choice! :)

Answer 5

For those just starting out with a relatively small monthly contribution amount, individual stocks are probably not the best option because investing in individual stocks takes time and experience in order to properly research individual companies. For those with a relatively small amount of money to invest each month I would advise you to consider a no load, no transaction fee large cap mutual fund with a strong track record with stable management. Typically you can find one with an initial investment amount of $1000 which allows monthly contributions of as little as $100. Having said that, if sharebuilder appeals to you and you have the time to research individual stocks, I would never disuade someone from getting into the market and if Sharbuilder is the most attractive option for you and will get you started investing long term in the market then I would suggest that you open the account...do your research.

Answer 6

I was a former user of sharebuilder.

Advantages ability to buy fractional shares (meaning all dividends reinvested into the share and no cash back unless that is what you want) I like this especially when I had to deal with some strong ETFS pay the $12 a month fee INVEST for free up to six times and let it ride. Good help the ach was no problem and they have a very very quick turnaround from your bank to theirs (one day)

Disadvatntages the $12 does give you a reduced rate to SELL the shares but at over $14 that makes me very leery and it did hurt when I decided to sell (actually transferred my shares out to another broker) the selling fess are just way too high if they get it below $10 I would seriously consider going back to them. Another one if you decided to transferr your shares to another broker IT IS A PAIN to do so. You have to get a medallion stamp (found at your local bank) submit to them and any fractional sheares you have ion a stock or whatever they automatically sell them at that transferres day rate. (which isn't that bad but). It is good for a starter but the fees with them I just had to switch scottrade is a better choice in the long run.

Answer 7

I have been investing with Sharebuilder since 2003 - I love it. I'm in their Standard program which gives me 6 free trades a month, gain / loss tracking, no account minimums and good research tools. Check it out if your looking to do your own investing.

Check out their fee schedule - its very reasonable.