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Sharebuilder Bought by ING Direct
By JLP | November 19, 2007
I had no idea. I just got this email from Sharebuilder:
ShareBuilder has some exciting news. As of November 15, ShareBuilder has been acquired by ING DIRECT, the nation’s largest direct bank with over 5.5 million customers and $75 billion in U.S. assets (part of Netherlands-based ING, NYSE: ING). ING DIRECT shares our vision of helping Americans increase their savings.
ING DIRECT is widely recognized for offering some of the most popular and easy-to-use savings products. Joining the ING DIRECT family will benefit you by providing simple and innovative products and services that can help you meet your saving and investing goals including savings, checking and mortgages.
Rest assured there have been no changes made to your ShareBuilder account. You can continue to use the same account number, login and password, and can access your account anytime at sharebuilder.com. Over the next few weeks, you’ll begin to see ShareBuilder adopt ING DIRECT’s signature Orange color. Also, get ready to see some innovative new products, services and additional value as ShareBuilder becomes part of ING DIRECT.
We look forward to sharing more information with you over the coming months. If you have any questions, we invite you to contact us at 1-800-747-2537.
The ShareBuilder team is really excited by what this news means for you!
Best regards,
Dan Greenshields
President
ShareBuilder Securities Corporation
Interesting…
Topics: Business News |
November 19th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt I had no idea. I just got this email from Sharebuilder: ShareBuilder has some exciting news. As of November 15, ShareBuilder has been acquired by ING DIRECT, the nation’s largest direct bank with over 5.5 million customers and $75 billion in U.S. assets (part of Netherlands-based ING, NYSE: ING). ING DIRECT shares our vision of helping Americans increase their savings. ING DIRECT is widely recognized for offering some of the most popular and easy-to-use savings products. Joining the ING DIRE [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
I got the same email!!!! Thank god it’s ING and not ETRADE !!!!!
November 20th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Now if they would lower their sell price to 4.00; that’s my main deal breaker with them. Have almost 20 shares of a stock in there slowly growing from dividends but I’m estimating that it will take like 2 years to get my money back if I sold. Anything after that would be profit
I was going to invest more when I did the math and selling would hurt my bottom line if I invested in more than 1 stock or if I decided to switch or get rid of one.
November 20th, 2007 at 4:57 am
Merckeing - I am with you!!! Got about 400.00 in portfolio growing great but not for the taking of profit it is…not at these sale prices…maybe getting with aglobal big boy will give global little boy a price break…
November 20th, 2007 at 6:40 am
Sounds like good news to me!
November 20th, 2007 at 10:58 am
That’ll be interesting. ING’s investment offerings are pretty weak right now, it’s definitely a good match for a merger!
November 20th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Im sure we all received the same email, I heard talks about it. But now it’s confirmed
November 24th, 2007 at 2:30 am
Not to sound unsympathetic but you should not be buying stocks or ETFs via Sharebuilder with tiny amounts where the trading commissions take up all your profit. Work through the math — 5% commission for $1000/yr invested per stock/ETF.
November 24th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Thanks, MossySF
Great tips..
Thanks..:)
November 24th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
[...] ING snares Sharebuilder, JLP shares the email release. [...]
November 26th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Congrats to ING. This is a good fit for them. I am not sure why American banks haven’t learned from them…. few American banks seem to offer competitive products. I wish ING would implement a CD ladder page… a actual visual ladder that one could plug in and fill up (like a puzzle). That would be neat. Every bank I have gone to and suggested this has turned the idea down. So why not make it easier for people so save and visualize what they need to do? Also - one commentator suggested commissions would eat up the profits on small incremental investing. Good point, but wouldn’t it also depend on how one used the service? The site says dividend reinvestments are free. I called and asked about this and a representative confirmed it. There is a commission on initial purchases, but subsequent dividend reinvestments are free. So for some segment of the investing public if done correctly, this might be considered a good deal… certainly better than going to some other brokers. Also, many companies with DRP’s operated through transfer agents have fees and commissions (some higher and lower than others)… so the comment about “costs” is relevant. On the other hand… if you are a small saver and investor do not let commissions keep you from starting out with long haul investing in GOOD companies. They are out there and they will have their ups and downs (just like the markets)… but there are still some great companies with decent dividends that investors should pay attention too. GOOD INVESTING to all!
November 27th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Every brokerage I’ve ever used offers free dividend reinvestment so that’s not unique to Sharebuilder.
SB offers $4 trades for automated buys — otherwise, it’s regular $16 trading commissions. This means $4 x 12 is your minimum commissions for a year. And you want to be diversified right? That’s minimum 3 ETFs or 20 individual stocks. So now you’re staring at $150 in commissions for ETFs or $1000 in commissions for stocks. On $1000 invested into ETFs via SB, you need a 15% return just to cover commissions. I don’t know of anybody reputable who claims they have stock picking abilities to get 25% returns.
The point isn’t to not invest at all when you only have small amounts of money — it’s to not buy individual stocks. There are plenty of mutual fund families that have no minimums if you commit to an automated investment schedule at $50/mo or $100/mo. ING is one of them. T.Rowe Price is another good option. These funds won’t offer you Vanguard-level rock bottom expense ratios but paying 0.80% is still way better than 15% commissions!
November 28th, 2007 at 9:51 am
I agree to a point and then disagree on another. Everyone has their own unique experiences. So many people are against investing in individual stocks… but I am not one of them.
The individual can invest intelligently for the long term in individual stocks without brokers, without life planners or financial planners, and lots of hand holding and do it for low costs… but one does have to have a focused plan, a lot of discipline and work to diversify their investments. Many are not comfortable or do not have the time or energy to do the work involved. As you nicely point out, the mutual fund industry loves this group and meets many of their needs!
I too have dealt with brokers and sometimes there is some sort of gotcha in their DRP option. I stopped using one broker because of it. I certificated the shares, enrolled in the company’s individual DRP instead. Clearly some are more comfortable with professional management than others, sometimes for good reason and sometimes for sentimental or comfort reasons. One size does not fit all.
Btw, ING does have the option of lowering Sharebuilders commision structure and making changes to the programs. Personally I would not use sharebuilder as there are less expensive alternatives around… but it is all how ING integrates Sharebuilder into the company that could make a difference to *me*. Fwiw, I was once a huge fan of ING and still am to some degree but not as much as before. 1) I LOVE the fact that ING makes saving simple and easy with almost zero gotchas… few US based banks have done that. 2) But ING’s rates have not remained as competitive as they once were. Granted we are going through some interesting times right now (some bank CD and stock yields are very high as are the corresponding risks) and bank safety is paramount (yield isn’t always everything). The subprime mess isn’t over and the effects according to some experts will last for many years to come (2-10).
Overall ING is a great company and the ShareBuilder acquisition positions them to grow. I wish them well as well as the readers of AllFinancialMatters. I read this blog for educational purposes… so keep up the great work JLP and readers and those who chose to comment!