Sogoinvest experience
Important note: My impression of Sogoinvest has gone downhill since writing this post. Do remember to also read this post.
Recently, I wrote about the new Sogoinvest brokerage. I decided to pull the trigger and apply for the Sogoinvest account today. The application is pretty standard among brokerage accounts. You need to key in your personal information, home information, employment information, etc. It took me about 10 minutes from start to finish to apply for a joint account. This included the time taken to print to PDF a copy of every page of the online application for my own safekeeping.On the night before my application, I shoot an email to Sogoinvest with some questions. I received a reply the next morning. Here are the questions and replies:
- Qn: Are there any charges for incoming DTC stock transfers? Ans: No.
- Qn: Do you support specific tax-lot sale? Ans: No, we will not accept request for specific tax-lot sale.
- Qn: Do you do a hard credit check for a margin account application? Ans: No, but we do an identity verification check and a check against the OFAC list.
- Qn: According to the FAQ, it seems like the only way to withdraw money is waiting for a check or by wire. Is there a possibility of a withdrawal by ACH to the original funding bank account? Ans: The FAQ should be updated soon, currently you can withdraw back to original account via ACH, given some paperwork to verify the bank account as yours.
- Qn: Do you offer streaming quotes? Ans: We do offer streaming L1 quotes, not L2.
After the application was submitted, it “could take up to one business day for the account to be activated”. An activation email will be sent when the account is ready.
Timeline:
Start 2006-08-03 : Application submitted online in the morning (PDT).
Update 2006-08-04 : Morning (PDT), received activation email in ~23 hours. Added ACH bank accounts and submitted transfer requests.
Update 2006-08-07 : Morning (PDT), ACH transfers debited from bank. Night (PDT), money posted into Sogoinvest and available for investing.
Update 2006-08-08 : Trading enabled. Fills seemed OK but the trading screen is very basic — no before/after market trading, no AON or AOK, no shorting. And to change the price of an already submitted limit order, you cannot just change the price and click submit (as in Izone). Instead, you need to cancel the entire order and re-submit a new one.
Stumble it!
August 7th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
I recently signed up for a Sogo Invest account as well. I’m curious about how quickly trades will be made and if price increases are coming.
August 12th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
[...] [This post continues from my earlier post on my Sogoinvest experience.] [...]
August 21st, 2006 at 1:34 pm
I signed up with Sogo Invest on 8/14/06. My inital deposit was an ACH withdrawal from my savings account which occurred on 8/16/06. As of today, 8/21/06, I HAVE YET to see the funds posted to my new account. After numerous emails and phone calls, I am told something new each day. Supposedly the last person that I spoke with claims that I can use my account tomorrow. As this point, I do not believe a word that they say. So far this company lacks credibility with me.
August 21st, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Hi Jeannette, thanks for your participation.
Yeah, I was quite positive when I first sign up with Sogoinvest but my impression has gone downhill since then. You must have already read my Sogoinvest update post, but briefly, Sogoinvest has the following unfair practices:
1. Start charging margin interest on day T+1, even before the trade settles.
2. Holding your ACH money hostage with no interest paid for 3 extra days (more days if it spans over the weekend) compared to other financial institutions.
August 25th, 2006 at 10:24 am
The nightmare continues with Sogo. I noticed 2 small withdrawals from Sogo on my checking account. I then checked my other bank account which is a money market account. I had 2 small withdrawals on that as well. I called Sogo, and it was explained as an error. These were supposed to be credits to these accounts, as they were “testing” the ACH system. Apparently they made a mistake and made withdrawals instead. One major problem for me, as I have already reached the maximum amount of withdrawals on my money market account, and will be charged 2 enormous fees for the withdrawals of 17 cents, and 44 cents! It gets better. It was explained, that they will credit the funds on Monday, and then they will make withdrawals yet again, only to re-credit again! In the meantime, they do not currently have a policy in place to refund me for the bank charges that I will incur for my over-limit of withdrawals from the account. Sogo is getting on my last nerve. They do not seem to have proper policies in place, nor it does it seem that anyone knows what they are doing. They are making it up as they go along.
August 25th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
I also noticed the same thing this morning. But for me, the withdrawals were my 4th and 5th and I haven’t hit the limit. I did call Sogo and the CSR said they would consider reimbursing the bank fees. You might want to call them again.
The CSR did say that for bank verification, they will make deposits but will not make the withdrawals. I made the CSR double-check this point and I sure hope she is correct.
August 29th, 2006 at 11:27 am
[...] It is difficult at this point to decide which is better, especially when Sogoinvest is very new and still improving on its offering; although I must say that I am not particularly thrilled with Sogoinvest’s ACH and margin interest accruing timeline. I have already written comments about these in my previous Sogoinvest experience posts [1] [2]. [...]
August 31st, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Stay away from SOGO INVEST. Non-existent customer service and they have sneaky ways of making money of the accounts. I mean be honest, we are all in this to make money. Tell us that the trade is $4 or $5. Dont cheat and say its $3 and then slap costs left and write. As indexfundfan said, they do have unfair practices. They are not SOGO INVEST, they are NO GO Invest!
August 31st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Indexcamp, thanks for your contribution.
Wow, what did Sogoinvest do to you? I am sitting out watching and kind of still hopeful that Sogoinvest might change its rules on ACH and margin interest. If they don’t improve in a few months, I would ACAT my holdings out.
September 1st, 2006 at 6:09 pm
I signed up for Sogo Investments a couple of days ago and it’s been horrible. They don’t respond to any emails, have no customer service, and take forever to fund your account. It took them more than a week and half to fund 1,000.00. I really got sick and tired of it and i’d rather pay a few extra bucks than go through this agian. I even had to file a claim against with my bank. It’s like they want you to stay with them no matter what. After i withdraw my funds, i’m staying far far away from Sogo Investments. I suggest TD Ameritrade or sharebuilder, there way better and actually write back.
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Raj , How long will it take to get your money out? Did it really take a week and a half to get the money there or did it SEEM like it did. That would make a difference to me . I was really thinking about opening an account with them next month(maybe) and was wondering if there service is that bad. Thanks for your time Raj and we would like to hear any further problems you are having with Sogoinvest.(“it’s only money, but it is MY money that I had to work to get, so lets not lose it now”)A quote in our local paper. Let us know before anybody else gets into trouble! Have a good weekend.
September 5th, 2006 at 12:25 am
Vacman, Well I’m really not kidding. It took a week and a half for them to complete the transaction(ACH). I’m not going to put down the company just because of what happend to me but my experience with them was not really that great. Infact from what other people wrote and my own research, the company is unknown and I really should have looked into it a little more before investing. It’s not like there going to steal your money, but they really make it hard on you. The first thing that I looked for was a SIPC certificate which means that your money is protected in your brokerage account from fraud(never use a brokerage without this). And then I thought that the fees were really low and it seemed to have great features(research, realtime trades, PR and M1 updates, etc). And although i can’t tell you if those worked good or not, I can tell you the service was nothing compared to some of the other brokerages i’ve had. I called them up three times and each time the same lady picks up the phone and tells me that it’s still going through. So, i waited a week until I finally canceled my ACH transfer and by that time it was processing and so I ended up disputing the charge with my bank. I just got the papers from Bank Of America and now they have it transfered so I’m probably going to ask my bank to get it back for me. So, if your going to use Sogo Invest, just remember that there’s a reason why there prices are so low. I didn’t actually buy anthing so I don’t know if it’s really that cheap, but just be careful and try investing a small amount of money first and see how it goes. I hope that helps….I’ll keep you guys informed.
September 5th, 2006 at 12:28 am
Lol, sorry i ment L1, not M1. Don’t know what i was thinking.
September 5th, 2006 at 8:41 am
Raj, thanks for providing feedback. Sogoinvest is said to be improving on the ACH timeline. We’ll see what happens.
September 6th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Raj, Thanks for your response. I ,like indexfundfan would like to here everything you have to say GOOD or BAD and let everybody decide on the facts what we should do about opening an account with SOGO.Let us know how long it take to get your money back!!! You’ll get it back!!!! I REALLY don’t think SOGO is out to take your money but it is a matter of how fast and how WELL they handle OUR MONEY.. There is a little of me that says, “IT’S A NEW COMPANY GIVE THEM A CHANCE” and there is a little of me that says”WHY GO WITH SOMEONE NEW ,LIKE SOGOINVEST, WHEN MY CURRENT BROKER IS DOING JUST FINE” except the trade cost is cheaper with SOGOinvest. Buying stock or ETF’s is more than the cost of the trade, it’s how well they handled our trade.(from ach to trade time to settlement day and our paper trail) Let us know Raj how things are going. Vacman
September 8th, 2006 at 11:00 am
I too am not happy with SogoInvest, they took a week to fund the account and for 2 days after the money was withdrawn from my Checking account, it sat in Limbo apparently, coz it was not in my Checking account and not in my SogoInvest account, finally it is there and now these are the problems I see:
1) From the Account page I type in a Symbol and click on “Go” .. it says “CreateXMLRequest() not able to get Request Object” ??
2) So I go to the Trade -> Real Time Trade page and type a symbol and click on Quote and it does NOTHING!!!!
3) If you try and get a quote anywhere else it gives a 20 minute delayed quote!!!!!
This system sucks. How can they be handling Nasdaq trades if they cant get a webpage right!!!
September 8th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Ok, So they need ActiveX enabled or the quote system does not work in the website, They should atleast tell you that. I should’nt have to debug my system to figure it out. But will overlook and trade a few times before I come to a final conclusion (the quest for cheaper trades goes on eh
September 8th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Srujan, Are you sure it is not just your computer acting up. If you go to yahoo, you can get streaming quotes for free. But, yeah Sogo stinks!
September 8th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Raj, did you get your money out yet? Or are you going to stay with Sogo for a while?Let us know what is happening. Have a good weekend. Vacman
September 8th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Vacman, I asked my bank and decided it’s a lot quicker to get the money straight from Sogo than go through the process they told me. It really is just quicker and easier and so i sent them a withdrawl form. They should send me a check back soon.
Oh and just wanted to ask, what broker are you using and how long have you been trading?
Well anyway, You have a great weekend too.
September 9th, 2006 at 5:39 am
Raj,I use Scottrade for all Stocks and Funds and Sharebuilder for all ETF’s. I’ve been very happy with both. Not a single problem at all. Sharebuilder pays 4.45 interest on MM and Scottrade pays 1.75 interest on MM. Scottrade is coming out within 30 days with ACH’s so I can tranfer money fast.I really like Sharebuilder because for $12.00 a month I get 6 trades(Tues buys). Let us know anything new or if you have any other questions write back. Have a good weekend.( My Favorite is problably Sharebuilder,except selling) Vacman
September 9th, 2006 at 6:03 am
Thanks for continuing the discussion. By the way, Sogoinvest’s statement for August is out but when I click on the link, nothing happens. Can anyone open the statement at all?
Vacman, if you purchase several ETF’s regularly a month, you might also want to look at http://www.buyandhold.com. For $15 a month, you get unlimited window trades, executed 3 times a day, for both buys and sells. See
http://buyandhold.com/bh/en/help/helpdesk/trading.html
September 9th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
indexfundfan, yeah I looked at BuyamdHold but they don’t have a lot of the ETF’s I like. But thanks for the info. Indexfundfan, do you know how I can can get a copy of a monthly statement at Sogoinvest Brokerage? I wonder if Sogo will fax me a copy without a name or account#? I would like to see how their statements are? Yeah, I like that Buyandhold buys 3 times a day!!!!Do you know if you buy $500.00 of Walgreen Co at BuyandHold ,do they take the whole $500.00 or do they buy $499,98 dollars worth.?( because of the fractions)At Sharebuilder they take the whole $500.00 and use it all and give you fractions up to .1234 decimals to the right. Vacman
September 9th, 2006 at 11:48 pm
vacman, I had an account with buyandhold 5 years ago. At that time, they round the shares you buy up to 3 decimal places, so for those stocks with higher prices, you could possibly end up with $499.98.
September 10th, 2006 at 5:34 am
Thanks for the info Indexfundfan. I don’t see why we would want to go the fractional way, if it ends up being $499.98. Here is the way I see it!!! #1. buy whole shares only so you keep track of the whole shares easier. #2. buy fractional shares only and keep track of the investment only .(example: $250.00, $300.00, $500.00, $750.00)It’s easier FOR ME to see that I’ve invested $2,000.00 in Walgreen Co. or $3,000.00 into Walmart Co. If we buy 67.123 Shares through Buy/Hold you would also have a cost basis of $1,998.56(example) With Sharebuilder you would have 67.1234 shares with a cost basis of $2,000.00(example).I think FOR ME that it is easier to figure my cost basis (and look at it weekly)and when I do sell the stock that my cost basis is $2,000.00.(easier) Maybe I’m looking at it wrong but I like to keep my investment plan as easy and simplier as possible! I’ll guit talking. Vacman
September 10th, 2006 at 7:19 am
Vacman, I understand your concerns. But the 3 decimal places was 5 years ago. They might have moved to 5 decimals now for all we know. Maybe you want to ask them in an email?
September 13th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
[...] [This post continues from my earlier post on my Sogoinvest experience.] [...]
September 14th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
[...] Sogoinvest has been reasonably receptive to client feedback. I have provided feedback to them through various channels, including emails, this blog [1] [2] and through Grant’s TheCornerOffice blog. [...]
September 15th, 2006 at 5:20 am
Hello Raj, At 9/8/06 you applied for a check from Sogoinvest, did you receive the check yet or are you going to stay with Sogo for a while, then decide? Let us know what’s happening. Sounds like Sogo is listening to the people. (from these past post)I still want to open an account but I still remember some past post about they deposited 2 times when they were supose to withraw 2 times from my checking account.(they may not have it together YET) Sound to me they are trying!!!!! I still say that “ALL BROKERS HAVE AN ISSUE OF SOMETHING, THAT WE DON’T LIKE” (for example: Sharebuilder only buys on Tuesdays, I guess the other 4 days the market isn’t open for business) but I can say that Sogoinvest is at least trying!!!!Vacman
September 15th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Vacman, I actually changed my mind and told them to confirm a wire transfer(a lot faster). I did it yesterday and it has not been deposited yet so I guess i’ll call them up again. And you are right when you say, “ALL BROKERS HAVE AN ISSUE OF SOMETHING, THAT WE DON’T LIKE”. I have used etrade, sharebuilder, and TDA and all were great, but they all have higher fees compared to Sogo. I hope that you are right when you say that there trying because I can assure you i will never go back to Sogo. It’s not the fact that they are such a samll brokerage firm, it’s because they are so unorganized. I wrote in my previous post that they don’t respond to your emails and phone calls. Like when I called them yesterday about my wire transfer and the guy told me that he would call me right back when he got my fax. LOL, I waited and waited until i called back. And guess what, then they couldn’t find it! The new customer representitive said, “we did recieve it but we are trying to locate it”. But, agian maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s just bad luck. Anyway, I hope that they change there policies after you open your account. GOOD LUCK Vacman!
September 16th, 2006 at 4:45 am
Raj,Thanks for your response.I think I’ll wait 60 days(maybe never)to open an acccount.Sharebuilder and Scott have both been good to me I’ll prob. stay with them. I really like the idea that I can make 2 trades for $6 dollars with Sogo and when Scott is $7 a trade. Like I said before it’s not only about the trade cost that I’m looking for!!! The number one thing that I look for in a online broker is how well they respond to our e-mails, telephone calls and how well they handle my transactions.(ach’s,the buys and the sells and my paper trail). Sogo still hasn’t responded to my e-mail, NOW almost 2 weeks old !!!! After I experience that kind of (NO Response)service I’m very leeeeery on depositing my money into there house. Raj, let us know if anything changes!!! HEY , Indexfundfan do you buy any individual stocks at all?I buy stocks AND etf’s myself, after seeing my own track record I think that my etf’s are prob. the way to go.I got the same amount of money in stocks than i do in my eTF’s. And I will decide after this year which way I’m going to go with my new investments. Both of you have a great weekend. See you in Church!! Vacman
September 16th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Raj & Vacman, thanks for your feedback.
I intend to give Sogoinvest another try, since they have satisfactorily addressed the two main issues I had with them. You might want to email them again from another email address since your first email might somehow be lost already. Recently, my emails through their secure email system were answered very promptly, all within an hour of sending. But maybe that’s because they have flagged me as a “troublemaker” and wants to pacify the comments I made ont the internet. LOL
Currrently I do not own any individual stock, other then my company stock which I am periodically diversifying out. I used mostly Vanguard’s funds and a couple of ETFs.
September 20th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Hey,Indexfundfan, Grant and Raj. I just e-mailed Sogoinvest about a question and within 20 mins. they responded to me. And it wasn’t a canned response! Usually they send a response saying they will get back to me within X number of days, but this was a REAL response!!!Maybe they are coming around in the service area. I like what I’m seeing so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!!( or they see by my name (vacman)and my E-mail address who i am). Any how, maybe this is a REAL turning point!! I HOPE SO!!! (by the way, I still haven’t heard from Scottrade’s e-mail response from 10 days ago)????? Vacman
September 20th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Hi Vacman, it’s good to hear that. Yap, I believe Sogoinvest is improving.
September 21st, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Hey Raj, Did you recieve your money from Sogoinvest?How long did it take?Vacman
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Hey Vacman, i got my money =). Well the transfer is going through as i speak, but yeah it’s back and it i’m glad all that confusion is over with. Sogo should work on it’s customer support a little more and should allow customers to initiate transfers online instead of mail service(this is what i had to do). One thing i should tell you is that they will not allow you to withdrawl money without a voided check, withdrawl form, and a bank account form. And all of this must be mailed which is such a pain in the neck since all other brokerages allow you to wire and ACH in minutes instead of days. And you cannot wire money out if you ACH it in which is sooooooooooooo supid. If Sogo wants to compete, they need to inovate and give customers more control. Oh and it’s gonna take about 2 days.(maybe tommorow or monday)
-Raj
September 23rd, 2006 at 11:26 am
Hey Indexfundfan, I NEED help ,Go to Zecco.com. This is a new discount broker coming out in 15 days. FREE TRADES. $0 trade cost. They are going to let advertizers pay for their web-site. Indexfundfan why would Zecco let OR WANT Sogoinvest to advertize on their site. I still wonder why SOGOINVEST would want to advertize on a competitor’s web-site!!!!!Are Both being stupid or am I not getting something here? Anybody got any thoughts? Raj,Grant,AND anyother? This REALLY shouldn’t make sense for Sogoinvest to even help Zecco.com unless they are working together on this new Company!!( ah , maybe that is it ) Anybody at Sogoinvest have a response for us all ,(sogo reads this site)to know what’s going on here?????? Vacman
September 23rd, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Vacman, I read about Zecco a few days back on the FWF forum. You might want to read some of the comments there. One comment was that Zecco aims to be a financial portal, and the free trade part is just to draw people in. Thereafter, free trades will be removed and they hope that people will remain.
September 23rd, 2006 at 5:40 pm
INDEXFUNDFAN,I HEARD ABOUT ZECCO TODAY.FREETRADE WAS FREE THEN THEY CLOSED(WELL THEY MOVED EVERYBODY OVER TO IZONE)HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND. VACMAN
September 24th, 2006 at 6:24 am
Indexfundfan, at Zecco your stock trading will be free for starters, and free to stay. So, we would be pleased to welcome you as an account holder on October 9. See you at Zecco.
September 25th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I have been wondering about zecco with their attepmted free trades. There is definitely a catch to that deal. The thought crossed my mind about waiting but I think I am going to go with sogo. Free trades didn’t work before and it probably will not work now which is why I agree with Vacman. It’s bait, and enough people will probably pay once they already have an account.
September 25th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
I decided to write a wish-list for Zecco:
http://www.indextown.com/archives/2006/09/25/trade-for-free-at-zecco/
We will see how it turns out…
October 9th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
I called Zecco and E-mailed them also(Free Trades,etc.)They come thru on their phones and their E-mails BUT their answers aren’t always the same. (One person said an ACH money transfer would take 7 days and another rep says it will take 2 days!!!)I think a person should REALLY,Really, really wait to see and sign up with them when they are more mature.Sogoinvest IS MORE MATURE than Zecco. (if you know what i’m saying) I KEEP THINKING IN THE BACK OF MY MIND ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT FREETRADE.COM (They DID “CLOSE ALL ACCOUNTS” AND moved their customers over to IZONE.COM after a period of time.!!!!!)If i was a newbie in the investment world and needed to start investing new money AND didn’t have a broker I’d would give Scottrade a try!!!! WHY? #1 Local offices (all within 50 miles of your house usually) #2 $500 to get started #3 $7.00 trades(not the cheapest but very,very good though.)#4 They do have a really really good web-site!!#5. They are of GOOD size.(not going to move you over to another broker or go out of business.) #6 They haven’t screwed ANY my accounts.(so I think they will do a good job on yours as well)#7 They have been honest to a high degree with me.(I’m not connected to Scottrade in any way,except I have an account with Scott.) If you are going to open an account, Open an account with a broker that suits your needs. If you are going to trade 25 times a week in and out then I wouldn’t go with Scottrade because that would cost you $175.00 a week. ( other options would be. IB,mbtrading,Foliofn,Sogoinvest) If you are going to buy only every week then Sharebuilder would be good. I better go for now there is so much I would like to say but better wait. Vacman
October 11th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Vacman, so I assume you are still using Scottrade and Sharebuilder? Did you try to open a Sogoinvest account (yet)?
October 11th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Indexfundfan, that is true I only have the two. (so far) ha,ha, I still would like to buy anytime for $3.00 a trade though!!!!I don’t think I will open an account with Sogo or Zecco.(as of today,Ha,ha) Indexfundfan, do you have more brokers than just Sogo?
October 11th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Vacman, for stock / ETFs, I use Izone and Sogoinvest, although recently, my purchases were made using Sogoinvest due to its lower fees. I also used to have a Brownco account but it has been bought over by Etrade.
October 12th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
I was just over on Zecco.com forum and was reading some comments about Zecco and their services. One person said that he heard that another person signed in and got into another person’s account.THAT HAPPENED WITH ME ON THE ZECCO.COM SITE AS WELL.!!!!!! I e-mailed them and they said give us your e-mail etc. and we’ll check into it. I never responded because I was sure I won’t be using them!!! With Zecco you can just register with them and chat on the forum. that’s what I did. I got registered and go into someone else’s account. His name and other things were there right in front of me. Instead of doing anything about it, I BACKED OUT of the site and went back to google and went trolling. I hope to let everybody know to “watch out” for what you are doing when you signing up with a broker. I’m just concerned and hope someone would like to know.!!(with any broker) Vacman
October 13th, 2006 at 7:40 am
Wow, that doesn’t sound good at all.
October 14th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Indexfundfan,Grant and whom ever wants to comment. I have an Sharebuilder account, and I keep thinking why am I buying through them when I can buy with Scottrade for $7.00 limits. Sharebuilder buys are $4.00 a trade AND ONLY on Tuesdays! It takes me all week to make money so only buying on Tuesdays is prob. Ok! I don’t sell alot but I do buy every week(I sell only 4 or so times a year). Am I not thinking right or is this a good way to invest using DCA using weekly buys. I thought about buying thru Sogoinvest and after I made money this week just go deposit money into Sogo and on Modays make a Limit order for less -.25 a share off and I know sometime during the week it will get bought. With Sharebuilder you put the buy in and it will get bought on Tuesday no matter what price.(I found they usually buy around 11:00) With Sogoinvest I’m really not paying any cost because on my limit order.Indexfundfan and Grant what would you recommend? Any thoughts? I really like their system but you know “business is business”. Vacman
October 14th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Vacman, I do not have a Sharebuilder account. But I do see that buying / selling stocks with Sogoinvest is cheaper and also much more flexible. Plus, transfer (ACAT) out is free from Sogoinvest, so you can always try Sogoinvest for a while, and if you don’t like them, transfer your holdings in kind out for free to your favorite broker.
October 15th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Indexfundfan, right now, that’s what I’m thinking also.Vacman
October 15th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Indexfundfan, have you ever bought stocks through Soginvest by using their Automated buys. You put in a order to Buy $500.00 dollars of xyz company and the next day Sogo makes your purchase and also buys fractional shares? If yes, do they buy $500.00 of xyz company or do they buy $499.96 dollars.(because of the fracionals shares.) With Sharebuilder they take $500.00 (to the penny) and buy shares. Are their monthly statements easy to understand? Do they show what your last months balances are on the current months statement as well. Sharebuilder shows last months values then shows this months value with an increase or decrease value.How many decimals to the right does Sogo go?If you buy fractional shares!(example:12.123456 shares)Thanks , Vacman
October 15th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Vacman, I have not used Sogoinvest’s fractional shares purchase. As for their statement, they only list the holdings at the end of the month. It does not list the change in value.
October 16th, 2006 at 1:04 am
Thanks Indexfundfan
October 25th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Wow, I started off
here. That led me here. And now I am here. I see you guys are all over the place. How much time does it take out of your day to blog and how much do you spend on trading or research? I am fascinated.
October 26th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Hi Rachael, thanks for commenting. I think people who blogs does it as a hobby, and as such will not consider the time spent as ‘wasted’.
October 30th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Rachael, I just blog on 2 or 3 places. It takes about 10 minutes a days for me sometimes on a Friday night I may blog for 2 hours then I never get back on for 4 or 5 days. I really learn from Indexfundfun and Grant and some others at Brightinvesting. You have to want to learn and help others, is why I do the blogging.I really learn more from others.(I hope others learn from me) Again I’m thankful for Grant,Indexfundfan,Raj and others for giving me their insights!! Very helpful. Thanks Vacman
November 17th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
I recently decided to close my sogoinvest account. After selling my stock, I requested an ACH withdrawal from my sogoinvest account to my checking account. It’s interesting how they’ll let you deposit funds electronically via ACH for funding your account, however when you want to withdraw funds you have to fax them a form and a copy of a voided check.
I requested an ACH withdrawal on 10/30/06 and am still waiting today, 11/17/06. I’ve made numerous phone calls and left messages for numerous individuals, each time I call they ask if I can call back the next morning. Today when I called they say they processed the ACH to my checking account on 11/7/06, however upon logging in to my sogoinvest account I see my balance is still in the account and I’ve seen no deposit in my checking account.
I’d say get your money out while you can. Also file complaints with the better business bureau, federal trade comission and new york state attorney general’s office.
November 19th, 2006 at 3:55 am
Wow – I have recently been trading with SogoInvest. I have only been an account holder for about 3weeks now. I have had nothing but positive expereinces with them. Granted I have only been transferring in – lol. However, I opened an account on monday and it was funded by thursday. I Also use sharebuilder but have been thinking about oving to sogoinvest for the cheaper fees. So far my expereince has been equal to my sharebuilder exp. I trade weekly and like the fact that I can do it anyday of the week compared to sharebuilder (Tue). I’m also looking into zecco but will wait and see on that one. Maybe give them a year or two to iron out the bugs.
November 19th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
So far, I have only been adding money to Sogoinvest, so I have not encountered the funds withdrawal problem. But mrtismo’s comment does raise a serious concern and I hope Sogoinvest would implement the online ACH withdrawal soon.
For myself, if I ever need to close the Sogoinvest account, I would use the free ACAT out to transfer out my shares in-kind, and side-stepping the delayed ACH out problem.
November 27th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Indexfan,
Planning to dollar cost in to each month:
SPY 14%; VTV 7%; IWC 7%; VBR 7%; EFA 7%; EFV 7%; DLS 14%; VWO 7%; 30% AGG
I see you that you have used buyandhold. What do you think about them?
Do you suggest any other option?
Thanks.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Jan,
I like the look of your ETF portfolio: 35% US, 35% foreign and 30% bonds, and very diversified. The only negative I can think of are the transaction fees if you need to invest in 9 ETFs every month.
Based on that, I can see why you want to use buyandhold — one fixed fee of $15 lets you make any number of purchases every month.
I used them back in 2000; and I guess I can say that the brokerage works but I remember I do tend not to get the best fill prices since buyandhold uses essentially market orders to fill your purchases. If the ETF is thinly traded, you could lose out quite a bit on the spread between the bid-ask prices.
You also need to consider that $15 adds up quite quickly to $180 a year.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Indexfan,
Thanks for your feedback.
If ETF is bought with in the daily price range,
I am ok with it as its a periodic investment.
I hope this is the case.
Is there a way to lower yearly cost (lower than $180).
Zecco doesn’t charge commission. But they don’t offer
dollar based investment.
Thanks.
Venkatesh
November 28th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
Jan,
One thing you can consider might be to stagger your investments, say out of the 9 ETFs, invest in 4 in Jan, the other 5 in Feb, and back to the first 4 in March and so on.
If you do so, you can look into using Sogoinvest’s Gold plan which for the price of $10 a month, gives you 5 free automatic trades. I believe their automatic trades are dollar-based.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Indexfan,
Foliofn has all the right tools for DCA for index portfolio.
They have both dollar based investing and withdrawal. They
provide automatic portfolio rebalancing. They also provide
check writing. Sogoinvest doesn’t provide these.
The fee is $199/year, $19 more than sogo. Not bad with large investment amount.
But the question is what happens if they close the shop?
Will their clients need to get their investment money from SIPC?
I see in sipc’s web site several brokerage/investment companies
cases were handled before. This one concern may be the reason Vanguard
has so many clients compared to Foliofn.
December 2nd, 2006 at 7:01 am
Jan, I think you’re right! BUT Foliofn can go out of business as well! With Foliofn you can’t get money deposited into your account EXCEPT by sending a check. The $199 yearly fee IS GREAT if you makes alot of trades(in and out) BUT the average person shouln’t be trading 200 times a month (like Foli is set up for!).Foliofn REALLY is for the person who is a trader!!!(or is DCA) A person who puts in $1,000.00 a month and devides that money into 20 different stocks)then it’s GREAT! I would rather devide up the $1,000.00 amount into 5 $200.00 purchases a month. I’d rather have 60 trades a year at a cost of $240.00 than have 240 trades at a cost of $199.00.(unless I’m a trader) I wouldn’t like to track 240 trades! Foliofn system is the BEST though!!! I would use Foli over Sogo IF Foli had EASY money transfers!
February 20th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
GOOD BLOG! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WITHDRAWL MY FUNDS SINCE 02-03-07. TODAY IS 2-20-07. NUMEROUS CALLS AND SEVERAL E-MAILS AND MESSAGES. I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE RUNAROUND SEVERAL TIMES AND I AM TIRED OF HEARING “ITS BEING PROCESSED.” SOGO IS A JOKE. THEY HAD NO PROBLEM TAKING MONEY OUT OF MY BANK ACOUNT IMMEDIATELY, BUT CANT SEEM TO GET IT BACK TO ME. MAKES ME WANT TO JUMP ON A FLIGHT TO NY AND SEE SOMEONE FACE-TO-FACE. 3 WEEKS FOR MY WITHDRAWL??? IM SO PISSED THEY ARE LUCKY IM NOT THEIR MAILMAN, CAUSE IM ABOUT TO GO POSTAL YOU KNOW? ITS TRUELY NOT WORTH THE CHEAPER FEES. SHAREBUILDER LET ME WITHDRAWL MY FUNDS ELECTRONICALLY, AND I HAD MY MONEY NEXT BUSINESS DAY! IN THIS COMPUTER AGE THERE IS NO EXCUSE. IF YOU CANT TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO STEAL PEOPLE FROM YOUR COMPETITION??? ILL GLADLY PAY TWICE THE FEES SOMEWHERE ELSE.
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 am
Hey M Coole,We are hearing that alot lately about Sogoinvest. Thanks for the update!! Sharebuilder does a good job! (except they only buy on Tues, But they do pay 4.43% int. till Tuesday buys)Thanks for your responding thoughts.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Thanks for all your comments.
For what is worth, I am moving to Wells Fargo’s free trade platform. I don’t trade often but I don’t see any reason to pay the $3 when I can trade for free.
Vacman, if you have $25k in securities to spare and DCA very regularly, you might want to look closer at Wells Fargo’s latest offering.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Yes I’m looking at that as well!!! BUT I trade some funds at Scottrade as well as stocks. I think I’ll see what you have to say about them!!! PLEASE let us know like ACH’S etc.!!! We’re waiting. I want to know MORE about how long it took to get your money from Sogoinvest to Wells’, etc!!!( I’m more likely to go with Wells instead of Sogoinvet because of their length of time in business is WAY longer that Sogos’) Really like to know how everything trades and their ACH’s !!!!! Bye, Vacman