Can anyone recommend a decent investment broker?

I Find Karma (adam@cs.caltech.edu)
Wed, 1 Jul 1998 15:16:31 -0700


For those of you not paying attention, tech stocks went crazy today.
Microsoft was up a mere dollar to 109 3/8, but the big news were the
irrational exhuberance toward what I like to call "the three tech stocks
whose current market cap makes less sense than any other company",
namely:

1. Netscape was up almost 9 dollars today, closing around 36.
(Up 33% in one day?!)

2. Yahoo was up more than 12 dollars today, closing around 170.
(It was at 61 on February 25.)

3. Amazon was up 14 and a half dollars today, closing around 114.
(It was at 44 on June 5.)

Someone made a killing today, and it wasn't me. But I have to sell my
Microsoft stock to pay for my wedding, and 109 is sounding like a pretty
sweet price...

So, stock bubbles aside, I need to switch brokerage firms, because my
current broker at Tucker Anthony is clueless and takes huge commissions.
So I want to roll over my account to someone who is more clueful and
takes smaller commissions. I am not ready yet to self-broker, so please
don't suggest to me a discount broker or one of those Web auto-trade
companies. I'm looking for someone I can grow with for at least the
next five years, when and if I ever make any money.

I think I've narrowed it down to Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab. Anyone
have any good experiences with any of them? (And no, Rohit, I am not
going to Merrill Lynch -- they charge even more than Tucker Anthony!)

In a completely unrelated note, Tim Byars wrote:
> From tbyars@earthlink.net Wed Jul 1 14:39:26 1998
> To: fork@xent.ics.uci.edu
> Subject: RE: Is WISEN worth missing a personal invitation to Billg's house?
>
> > Oh man... is there any way I can get a refund on my WISEN commitment?
>
> Adam,
>
> This is not a problem. I will go in your place.
> Things like this should be handled by professionals.
>
> let me know,
> Tim

so you heard it here first: Tim Byars will be giving my WISEN talk for
me so I can go enjoy myself on Billland. Thanks, Tim!!

(This ought to spice up WISEN a little, eh Jim? :)

----
adam@cs.caltech.edu

Communism failed because it can't account for ethereal things like
haircuts and financial services.
-- Robert Harley