As an aside, while surfing the other day I clicked on a banner for Salomon Smith Barney, and perused their site. What a joke. They have a major problem trying to serve the direct customer and their elite broker directed (i.e., Commission) customers. Their site is so inadequate compared to other sites like SI, MktWatch, CNBC, etc. I know the other big guys like DLJ doing a much better job of connecting online with DLJ Direct, but it was a real disappointment. I went there because of their "free" list of "Core Holdings for the Millenium" promoted in the banner ad. Here they are:
KO (coke), HD, PG, MCD, WMT, DIS, XON, AIG, FNM, WFC, BMY, JNN MRK PFE, BA DD GE CSCO HWP IBM INTC LU MSFT WCOM.
Of these the techs are good buys, and HD and WMT. The others I would wait and see, if ever, to buy.
As for internet guidance, I could find very little there, but if you request a broker to call you (oh, brother.), you can probably get their internet reports, but who wants to have a broker calling them. Also they imply they have a self directed trading service, but it was confusing, no demo, and the "fee" structure was complex, vague, and no specific cost numbers (like % of capital base, per transaction charge) were listed.
It's so different from the internet discount broker environment I use.
I know their target group is the rich, but a lot of people who trade direct are getting rich, and I don't see them ever becoming a SSB or ML customer.
I know I won't.
buckhead26 |
