by Kingsley on January 9, 2010
Beginning January 19, 2010, Schwab will be lowering its commission [PDF] from US$12.95 to US$8.95 per trade. That’s a whopping 30-percent off, for a total of 60-percent savings for every stock we buy-and-sell. The $8.95 fee is currently offered only to the rich (one millon dollars or more) or active traders (at least 120 times per year), so that’s great news for the other Schwab customers, who’re neither rich nor active, like me, to be included with the lower fee structure.
I don’t know how that’s going to impact Schwab, whether it will gain enough new customers to cover the loss in revenue from lowering its fees to current customers, or whether it will motivate current customers to trade more because of the lower fees. I hope it works out both ways for Schwab, for I plan to do more trading in 2010, not due to the discount, but because I will be selling my long-term holdings and regrouping my portfolio.
by Kingsley on January 21, 2009
“Invest in and for the future. Right now. Pass it on.”
by Kingsley on January 1, 2009
It’s a new year. A new day. Though 2008 was a year of losses, I’m still thankful for the much that I have left. I am also thankful the global crisis hit early in my life, where I can still recover, and learn the signs to stay away from the next one. Not so lucky are those who are near or at retirement age.
Finally, I am thankful that my losses are only financial, which are not nearly as important as losses that are personal and dear to my heart. To put things in perspective, 2008 was a year of big losses, but also a year of big personal growth and gain. I am forever wiser for it.
Happy New Year! Happy 2009!
by Kingsley on December 31, 2008
2008 has been a year of big losses for me, at least financially. I lost big on my properties, and even bigger on my stocks. Yet, I am only one of the many casualties of the global economic crisis. Never have I experienced anything that hit so swiftly, so hard. Sure, I read about it in books, and heard from elders who lived through it, but it never registered, as though it could never happen to me.
Now that I have experienced it first-hand, I can learn to respect its ferocity, its impartialness. Everyone is a target. We can’t stop it when it hits, but we can try to get out of the way early, to cut our losses.
Patience is a virtue, not a cliché. Don’t rush into decisions when they are money decisions. If you spend more time picking clothes than you do stocks, then that says a lot about your lack of taste in stocks.
Love your investments but don’t fall in love with them. It clouds good judgement. It makes you hang on when it’s time to let go.
Those are the rules I shall live by to prevent myself from becoming a casualty again when the next crisis hits.