Hi Larry, On the subject of Folio's...
what assurance do you have that you will get your money back?
Well I don't know that its full proof, but it appears that they are regulated by the National Association of Securities Dealers and have some insurance in place at this time.
Account Protection
FOLIOfn is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)
Through Lloyd's of London, FOLIOfn customers receive additional account protection of $4 million (does not cover losses that stem from declining investment values)
What do I think?
Well I don't know that I can put an answer in concrete just yet. At first I thought that each individual could save commission costs with more exposure and control on diversification. But you loose some control on price with trades being placed daily at a specific time. I don't know if that means anything in real dollars (expense or profit wise) over time. What I don't understand at this point is how you trade the Folio? I'll take a look and see if I can make sense of the process. But...
There's no commission to rebalance a Personal Fund.
That one statement has my attention and I'm sure there are some limitations and rules. I envision a unique and specific control feature that I don't have in my tool chest at present. Then again, if I had that tool, I may be chasing my own tail.<ggg>
Other Thoughts:
Control Your Capital Gains
You incur no unwanted annual capital gains distributions with FOLIO Investing, since unlike with mutual funds, you own the underlying stocks yourself
You decide when to sell, thus you control the timing of your capital gains
That has always been a thorn in my side with Funds. I know there is legislative talk to change this, but we have to deal with the here and now. I don't think it is fair for anyone to have to pay Capital Gains on an issue that they have not sold. Maybe this is away to overcome that unfairness.
Just as a thought, I wonder how this would work for the retired?
Choose From More Than 100 Ready-to-Go-Folios . . .
Adjust them to your liking anytime, free of charge
Includes Folios that have been created specifically to appeal to socially responsible investors
Closed-end bond fund Folios offer fixed-income asset allocation options
Folios containing stocks recommended by popular magazines, Web sites, and industry analysts are also available
If we change the stocks in a Ready-to-go Folio you own, we'll alert you by email.
I see a Red Flag in that last statement!!! What do they mean by "If we Change"?
Or Build Your Own Folios
Construct your own Folios from the nearly 3,500 stocks available in our twice-daily trading windows
Our window stocks represent approximately 96% of the total U.S. market capitalization and 98% of the daily U.S. trading volume (based on 1/4/01 data). They include 85% of Value Line Timeliness 1 and 2 stocks (based on 11/30/00 rankings) and every stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq 100 index, S&P 500, and the S&P Mid-Cap 400
Here is a question for Tom? Correct me if wrong, but its not the Value Lime Timeliness 1 and 2 stocks that you research. But then again I think you could build your own 1X UOPIX and weight it as you envision.
Purchase Fractional Shares
Dollar-based ordering means you don't need to worry about buying whole shares
I see this as an asset. What is the downside?
Protect Your Trade
To protect your orders from sudden price movements, you can set up your account to automatically cancel any buy order if the overall Folio value moves up--and any sell order if the overall Folio value moves down--by a set percentage that you choose
Answer that one. Are they giving you the benefit of "Stop Limit" orders?
This is getting long, so I'll stop here for now. If this is something that the thread is not interested in, then I'll stop for good. <smile>
They have a a 90 day Watch List trial that may help with understanding the mechanics.
If you aren't quite ready to start investing, you can open a Watch Account and try us free for 90 days--with no fees and no obligation. You can create up to three Folios in your Watch Account and test drive our services without using real money.
FWIW
Keith |
