E Trade
Weekly Roundup: The UN-BROKE Edition
This Friday night, May 29 at 9:00pm ET, ABC will air a special titled Unbroke: What You Need to Know about Money. The hour-long program will feature a number of celebrities including The Jonas Brothers, Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, and even the talking E*Trade Babies.
It will be interesting to hear the mainstream, pop culture take on how to solve personal finance issues. TheStreet.com will be providing some commentary about the show via Twitter, and has invited a few personal finance bloggers to joing in. If you happen to be watching with the laptop handy, you can follow our conversation on Twitter by following the hashtag #unbroketv.
The Fab Five
Building a Compost Bin. I’ve largely skipped the gardening season this year, and unless I work up a late summer/early fall garden this year may be a total wash. Still, manufacturing some sort of compost bin is on my to-do list, and this is an excellent resource on the subject. (@ Gather Little by Little)
I Survived - But Just Barely. This post from Ron was an instant classic! He runs down a diverse list of things he’s “survived” over the years, despite dire predictions from the media. (@ The Wisdom Journal)
Finding Your Passion. Over the last twelve years or so I’ve held a variety of jobs that seemed to fit my passion, only to later discover that wasn’t it and burn out. The lesson I have learned over time is that no “job” is my passion; my passion is to build something on my own. Too bad I’m too broke to be an entrepreneur! (@ Million Dollar Journey)
50 Bad Money Habits That Will Leave You Eating Alpo for Dinner. Often times it is the examples of what not to do that make the strongest impression. That’s the case with this incredible resource of things not to do to experience financial success. (@ My Super-Charged Life)
Some Thoughts on Angel Food Ministries. I’m including this one because, like many of you, I have long been interested in Angel Food Ministries. Trent provides an objective look at the service, and shares a few of the highlights, and low-lights, of their organization. (@ The Simple Dollar)
The Best of the Rest
- Pathetic Propane Proportions
- How to Host a Simple Game Night
- How to Have a Happy Childhood
- 55 Best Ways to Save Money
- How to Choose Happiness With Words
- Keep the House or Save for Retirement?
- Some Bank Bonus Offers
- Credit Scores for College Graduates
- My Employer Stopped Matching My 401k - Should I Still Contribute?
Site of the Week
KidsBowlFree.com. Hat tip to Frugal Dad reader Jasie who introduced us to this site earlier in the week. According to the site you can receive up to two free games of bowling each day during the summer for your kids, and you have the opportunity to pay a one-time fee for a “family pass” which allows up to four family members (including adults) to bowl a couple games each day as well.
Unfortunately, our local bowling center was not listed as a participant, but if your local lanes are participating this could be a frugal way to get the kids out of the house for a few hours during the summer.
Post from: Frugal Dad
Consumer Reports Gives High Grades to Low-Cost Brokers
This report is from Consumer Reports:
“Discount brokers did a better job shepherding clients through the stock market upheaval of the past year than traditional investment banks, according to Consumer Reports survey of the most satisfying brokerage firm services.
Topping the list in overall satisfaction was USAA, available only to current and former military personnel and their families. USAA earned high marks for account service, Web site ease of use, transactions and phone services. Vanguard followed closely in the Ratings and Edward Jones had high marks for phone services.
Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed almost 9,000 online subscribers asking them about their experiences with their brokerage firms regarding several services including transactions and general customer service, Web site ease of use, online transactions and their instances of problems with phone and personal service between January 2008 and 2009.
Rounding out the list of brokerage firms that respondents found to provide high scores for services were Schwab, Scottrade, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and T. Rowe Price. Though half of survey respondents said their investment portfolios plummeted, most respondents were relatively happy with the level of service and advice they received.
However, bigger brokerages, such as Merrill Lynch and Ameriprise, placed lower in the Ratings earning below average scores for their Web sites. Ameriprise also received relatively low marks for phone service. The survey revealed some additional complaints, even among discount brokers. E-Trade clients reported a higher number of phone-service problems and said they were unable to find information on the company’s Web site 35 percent of the time.
E-Trade, Scottrade, and TD Ameritrade were among the lower-rated companies for financial advice, which is not surprising because they are bare-bones discounters. Unexpected fees continue to irk clients, about 4 percent said they were hit with unexpected fees. Banc of America clients reported the most, with 11 percent saying they were charged unexpected fees. For more information on the survey and complete broker service ratings check out Consumer Reports May issue or visit www.ConsumerReports.org starting May 6, 2009. “
— 30 —
|
