After the stock market gains of the 1990’s, and the big name
IPO’s of the last few years, it seems that everyone is talking about the stock
market. Of course, in order to invest in
the next Google, you usually several thousand—or tens of thousands to get in on
the hot stock market properties.
In actuality, however there is a way for the small investor
to begin to acquire stocks on a small scale.
That way is called Sharebuilder.
Sharebuilder is a company that allows you to invest in stocks in dollar
amounts, not shares of stock. With this
method, you can actually invest as little as $5 or $10 in Microsoft or Intel
and own fractional shares of stocks.
While it may seem odd to own 12.453 shares of a company’s
stock, these are real shares. By owning
fractional shares of stock, you will have all of the rights and privileges that
come with ownership. You will be able to
vote for corporate board members, decide on company issues, and even be invited
to attend annual stockholder meetings.
Of course, with all good things, there are some
restrictions. First, Sharebuilder only
places order for partial shares of stock once a week. Each week, you tell Sharebuilder how much
money you want to invest, and which stocks you would like to purchase. Each Tuesday, the company purchases these
stocks with your money—and for all of their members.
The cost for buying shares is $4.00 per stock purchased. Of course, they do have three different
membership levels, ranging from the single fee to recurring monthly fees as
high as $20. These fees lower the individual
weekly purchase price per stock, and gives you access to other investor tools.
For people who may want to buy stocks in real-time,
Sharebuilder also offers this to their members.
Of course, the fees for purchasing stocks in real-time is comparable to
other brokerage firms.
Finally, when you are ready to sell your stocks, the fee to
do this is more than $4.00. In fact, the
commission charged by Sharebuilder to sell stocks in a particular company is
the same as the fee for real-time trades, depending on your membership
level.
This means that you are probably not going to be buying and
selling stocks on a regular basis.
Instead, you will be buying stocks and holding on to them. Of course, for the long-term investor—or the
individual with who needs help to remain focused on the overall goal—this may
be a great feature of the program.