Software Makes Taking Stock of Portfolio Easy
If you use a broker to trade securities but have always wished for a greater sense of privacy and control over your investments, there are several PC software products that can help.
Two leading discount brokerages, Charles Schwab & Co. and Fidelity Investments, offer software that lets you trade securities and track your portfolio. You execute your own trades, without a broker’s assistance. It’s like having a direct line to Wall Street. And both companies offer a 10% discount on the commissions they charge for telephone orders.
Fidelity On-line Xpress (FOX) and Equalizer from Schwab keep detailed records on each of your investment accounts. With the software, you can get up-to-date information on your Fidelity account: number of shares owned, the value of each share and the market value of your portfolio.
Both programs can also be used to keep track of investments made with other brokers, but you have to manually enter the securities and number of shares. Both programs track taxable events. FOX data can be used with leading tax preparation programs. The Equalizer prints out reports that can be stapled to your tax return.
As discount brokers, neither Schwab nor Fidelity offer investment advice. But for an added fee you can use the software to log on to financial information services that offer a wide array of market research and analysis. Investors who prefer personalized, hands-on advice may be better off with a full-service broker.
The Schwab software gives you a summary report on your gains or losses for each security. Unlike the Fidelity software, the program tells how much commission, if any, you’ll pay before you place an order.
The FOX software has a “turbo trading” option that takes you on-line with the company mainframe. You can obtain quotes, execute trades and get immediate confirmation. Unlike most on-line services, there are no delays from the official ticker. There is no charge for this service.
A major difference between the two programs is the user interface. Equalizer, which has been around for several years, is a bit old-fashioned. You can’t use a mouse and there are no pull-down menus. Commands are issued by pressing the appropriate keys. FOX, which runs under MS-DOS, has a Windows-like look and feel. Both companies will publish Windows versions in 1993.
Trades executed via FOX, according to Fidelity’s Janice Dolnick, are sent immediately to the various market exchanges and trading systems. Transactions made through Schwab are reviewed by a Schwab employee who, unless there is a problem with the order, passes it immediately to the exchange, according to a company spokesman. Both programs verify that you have adequate funds or credit to make your trades.
Both programs offer a link to the investment research and analysis services of Dow Jones News/Retrieval and Standard & Poor’s MarketScope. FOX also links to Telescan, a market research service.
Both programs require an IBM-compatible PC and a modem. For information on Equalizer ($69), visit a Schwab office or call 800-648-4248. For information on FOX ($89), call Fidelity at 800-544-7272.
You don’t need either of these programs to execute on-line trades or follow the markets. All the major on-line services offer stock trading via a variety of discount brokers. Any subscriber (with either a Macintosh or an IBM-compatible) can execute trades on-line and take advantage of the service’s research facilities.
Prodigy’s Strategic Investor, for example, provides details on thousands of stocks, bonds and mutual funds. CompuServe’s FundWatch Online from Money Magazine allows you to look up information on more than 1,500 mutual funds. Both Prodigy and CompuServe allow you to search for a fund by name or symbol. Or you can have the program do your research for you by asking it to locate funds that meet your investment goals.
You can, for example, tell the system to limit investments to securities that meet a specified level of risk. The services offer numerous other investment databases, usually with a surcharge. All the services offer stock and fund quotes as part of the basic service.
For the financial markets junkie, another option is Smart Investor ($99.95) from Reality Software at 800-346-2024. This program, which requires 11 megabytes of disk space, comes with an enormous database on thousands of stocks, mutual funds and corporate bonds. A modem link ($9.95 a month) provides monthly updates. The program goes way beyond just reporting performance and making trades. It actually analyzes data from thousands of securities and makes buy and sell recommendations based on your own investment philosophy, which you enter when you first use the program.
Computer File welcomes your comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Lawrence J. Magid, P.O. Box 620477, Woodside, Calif. 94062, or contact the L. Magid account on the MCI electronic mail system.
