"The more enemies I make, the closer I know I'm getting to the truth"
CL, would you like to fire your broker and invest fee-free ?
Is the following news item something GPGI could look into, and join the
movement ? Might be a way to get exposure, and help investors buy large
numbers of presently under $1 gpgi shares without a comission fee.
Berst Alert
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1999
Fire Your Broker! How to Invest Fee-Free
Jesse Berst, Editorial Director
ZDNet AnchorDesk
I hate middlemen. I get computers directly from the manufacturer.
Tickets directly from the airline. Milk directly from the cow.
OK, the last one's not true, but you get my drift.
What if you could invest in public companies without going through a
stockbroker -- online or otherwise? And pay no fee. Not the hefty
commissions a brick-and-mortar brokerage charges. Not even the $10 per
trade you spend online.
Perhaps you've heard of Direct Stock Plans. Some 1,600 companies --
mostly blue chips -- use DSPs to sell shares directly to investors.
Until now, however, DSP investing was a tedious and time-consuming
process.
No longer. A private Seattle-area company named Netstock Direct makes
DSP investing so simple that I'm naming it a "Berst-Kept Secret" -- my
way of recognizing underhyped companies with undervalued ideas. Here's
why:
•Aggregation: One-stop DSP investing in hundreds of companies (with more
coming online all the time). •Research: In-depth (and concise)
investment info. •Convenient: Web-based transactions. •Low Costs: No
broker-involvement means low to non-existent transaction fees.
"But Jesse," you protest, "you always say there's no free lunch." Still
true. But in this case, Netstock Direct passes the lunch-check to the
public companies seeking investors -- not to you. And since those fees
are smaller than traditional costs (brochures, postage, service and
handling fees), DSP companies (and ultimately investors) save money.
Not to say Netstock Direct is perfect. Neither is DSP investing. Among
the drawbacks:
•Conservative: Not the best vehicle for day-traders seeking short-term
gains. •Limited Choices: Only a fraction of America's public companies
participate. •Limited Advice: There's no broker to guide your decisions.
•Order System: Netstock Direct's interface still needs simplification.
And if you listen to investment guru Warren Buffett, you won't mind that
the DSP method doesn't give access to Internet start-ups. He says you
shouldn't invest there anyway. (Click for more.)
Overall, Netstock Direct is a terrific way to bypass brokers and save
big bucks. Over the course of your investment life, those savings could
add up to thousands of dollars.
And that's why I hereby declare Netstock Direct a "Berst-Kept Secret." |
