I agree. For instance, I use Schwab's online services, and everything is fairly comprehensive and automatic. (Note: This is not meant to be an endorsement of Schwab).
A good number of my trades happened before the online brokers were recording trade information over a long period (this was in the '90s), so I have to rely on my paper trail for accuracy until I can put everything into a tracking form. Also, Schwab is OK. I didn't like e-Trade and I've heard about problems with ScottTrade also.
Does Quicken integrate with your brokerage account? How do you do the data entry?
I believe my brokerage offers an option to download transaction data into Quicken for Mac, but I don't use it. Updating stock prices in Quicken is as simple as clicking a button; this is very handy.
Personally, I deliberately enter all brokerage transactions manually. Yes, this takes more time than downloading transactions, but I do this so that I can think about my investments. What did I just buy? How much commission did I pay? Is my investment mix right? OK, I got a dividend -- what's the yield? What is the ROI of this investment? Stuff like that.
I'm not a day trader, so it's not like I have hundreds and hundreds of transactions a month.
Manual entry forces me to think more carefully about what I'm doing. It's a bit like switching your SLR to manual focus, manual exposure on a tripod.
For something like my investments, it's worth putting in a little extra attention. But that's just me.
There were some studies done on stock split announcements and those did increase the prices, at least for the short term.
Concerning Berkshire Hathaway, yes, I realize that Buffett created BRK-B (1/30 the share value) as a way for more people to invest in the company. The 50-to-1 split of BRK-B (now trading around $80) was to allow shareholders of Burlington Northern to have a piece of the action as well, but had the additional aftereffect of getting Berkshire Hathaway on the S&P 500 and may pave the way for them getting on the Dow 30.
Regardless of the split situation, it is a good day for AAPL shareholders.
Right, a company can generate a bit of short-term excitement by announcing a split, but it doesn't last. It's really just a gimmick, unless and until the price of a single share goes so high (BRK) that an ordinary investor could not buy a single one. Of course if AAPL had not split twice over the last 13 years, the share price would be pushing $1,000 now -- which probably would be in that territory. But GOOG doesn't seem troubled by theirs reaching $600.
Right, a company can generate a bit of short-term excitement by announcing a split, but it doesn't last. It's really just a gimmick, unless and until the price of a single share goes so high (BRK) that an ordinary investor could not buy a single one. Of course if AAPL had not split twice over the last 13 years, the share price would be pushing $1,000 now -- which probably would be in that territory. But GOOG doesn't seem troubled by theirs reaching $600.
If I recall correctly, Eric Schmidt has been quoted that he admired Buffett's policy of no-dividends/no-splits. Of course, this was before Buffett split BRK-B 50-for-1, so who knows what Eric thinks now.
Buffett has been known to change his tune from time to time if a situation arises that benefits the shareholder. I don't foresee Buffett splitting BRK-A (which has proportionally more voting rights than BRK-B) in the future though.
I believe my brokerage offers an option to download transaction data into Quicken for Mac, but I don't use it. Updating stock prices in Quicken is as simple as clicking a button; this is very handy.
Personally, I deliberately enter all brokerage transactions manually. Yes, this takes more time than downloading transactions, but I do this so that I can think about my investments. What did I just buy? How much commission did I pay? Is my investment mix right? OK, I got a dividend -- what's the yield? What is the ROI of this investment? Stuff like that.
I'm not a day trader, so it's not like I have hundreds and hundreds of transactions a month.
Manual entry forces me to think more carefully about what I'm doing. It's a bit like switching your SLR to manual focus, manual exposure on a tripod.
For something like my investments, it's worth putting in a little extra attention. But that's just me.
I enter trans manually also. I have had a few errors on my Schwab statements over the years, and I only found them by reconciling the trans I entered against the statements. If one downloads transactions from Schwab, the reconciling step is redundant. Regarding tax accounting, I have found Quicken to be very inaccurate in computing cost bases, when positions were legged in and out. I have just been using Apple Works and now Numbers spreadsheets, so I am also interested in hearing if anyone has found a good trading accounting package for Mac. Regarding splitting the stock, Dr Millmoss touched on the only reason I can think of in his last post. Sometimes parents and grandparents like to get children started in investing by buying them a single share of stock. They would be more likely to do this for $60 than $240.
Comments
I agree. For instance, I use Schwab's online services, and everything is fairly comprehensive and automatic. (Note: This is not meant to be an endorsement of Schwab).
A good number of my trades happened before the online brokers were recording trade information over a long period (this was in the '90s), so I have to rely on my paper trail for accuracy until I can put everything into a tracking form. Also, Schwab is OK. I didn't like e-Trade and I've heard about problems with ScottTrade also.
My brokerage likewise reports cost basis in my monthly statements.
Quicken tracks this too, as well as ROI, dividend yield, etc.
Does Quicken integrate with your brokerage account? How do you do the data entry?
Does Quicken integrate with your brokerage account? How do you do the data entry?
It is integrated with Schwab, fwiw: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/...ount_downloads
Does Quicken integrate with your brokerage account? How do you do the data entry?
I believe my brokerage offers an option to download transaction data into Quicken for Mac, but I don't use it. Updating stock prices in Quicken is as simple as clicking a button; this is very handy.
Personally, I deliberately enter all brokerage transactions manually. Yes, this takes more time than downloading transactions, but I do this so that I can think about my investments. What did I just buy? How much commission did I pay? Is my investment mix right? OK, I got a dividend -- what's the yield? What is the ROI of this investment? Stuff like that.
I'm not a day trader, so it's not like I have hundreds and hundreds of transactions a month.
Manual entry forces me to think more carefully about what I'm doing. It's a bit like switching your SLR to manual focus, manual exposure on a tripod.
For something like my investments, it's worth putting in a little extra attention. But that's just me.
I told my dad to buy Apple stock when the first ipods came out lol. I always remind him of that.
Anyone here buy in at that point? I bet you're fat and happy now
I can answer your question and say yes. I got in at 32.31 dollars a share and am glad I did back then. I am only hoping that the stock splits soon...
There were some studies done on stock split announcements and those did increase the prices, at least for the short term.
Concerning Berkshire Hathaway, yes, I realize that Buffett created BRK-B (1/30 the share value) as a way for more people to invest in the company. The 50-to-1 split of BRK-B (now trading around $80) was to allow shareholders of Burlington Northern to have a piece of the action as well, but had the additional aftereffect of getting Berkshire Hathaway on the S&P 500 and may pave the way for them getting on the Dow 30.
Regardless of the split situation, it is a good day for AAPL shareholders.
Right, a company can generate a bit of short-term excitement by announcing a split, but it doesn't last. It's really just a gimmick, unless and until the price of a single share goes so high (BRK) that an ordinary investor could not buy a single one. Of course if AAPL had not split twice over the last 13 years, the share price would be pushing $1,000 now -- which probably would be in that territory. But GOOG doesn't seem troubled by theirs reaching $600.
Right, a company can generate a bit of short-term excitement by announcing a split, but it doesn't last. It's really just a gimmick, unless and until the price of a single share goes so high (BRK) that an ordinary investor could not buy a single one. Of course if AAPL had not split twice over the last 13 years, the share price would be pushing $1,000 now -- which probably would be in that territory. But GOOG doesn't seem troubled by theirs reaching $600.
If I recall correctly, Eric Schmidt has been quoted that he admired Buffett's policy of no-dividends/no-splits. Of course, this was before Buffett split BRK-B 50-for-1, so who knows what Eric thinks now.
Buffett has been known to change his tune from time to time if a situation arises that benefits the shareholder. I don't foresee Buffett splitting BRK-A (which has proportionally more voting rights than BRK-B) in the future though.
I believe my brokerage offers an option to download transaction data into Quicken for Mac, but I don't use it. Updating stock prices in Quicken is as simple as clicking a button; this is very handy.
Personally, I deliberately enter all brokerage transactions manually. Yes, this takes more time than downloading transactions, but I do this so that I can think about my investments. What did I just buy? How much commission did I pay? Is my investment mix right? OK, I got a dividend -- what's the yield? What is the ROI of this investment? Stuff like that.
I'm not a day trader, so it's not like I have hundreds and hundreds of transactions a month.
Manual entry forces me to think more carefully about what I'm doing. It's a bit like switching your SLR to manual focus, manual exposure on a tripod.
For something like my investments, it's worth putting in a little extra attention. But that's just me.
I enter trans manually also. I have had a few errors on my Schwab statements over the years, and I only found them by reconciling the trans I entered against the statements. If one downloads transactions from Schwab, the reconciling step is redundant. Regarding tax accounting, I have found Quicken to be very inaccurate in computing cost bases, when positions were legged in and out. I have just been using Apple Works and now Numbers spreadsheets, so I am also interested in hearing if anyone has found a good trading accounting package for Mac. Regarding splitting the stock, Dr Millmoss touched on the only reason I can think of in his last post. Sometimes parents and grandparents like to get children started in investing by buying them a single share of stock. They would be more likely to do this for $60 than $240.
But did you hold, or did you ever sell?
Still holding! It's all paper gain at the moment.