Published in Barron's
Columns and featured published in Barron's.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Test-Driving Luxury Sites
Note to readers: This article was published in conjunction with Barron’s annual luxury car issue. The article was short (by my standards) since there is a table accompanying the piece, plus an ad and a fair amount of white space. I’ve restored some of the comments that didn’t get into print.
CAR MANUFACTURERS SEEM TO THINK their websites must be packed with flash and glamour. Flash animations of vehicles travel the screens of many without prompting. And most make it way easy to find a live sales rep at a dealership. Yet key consumer information is often hard to locate.
Still, shopping for a car on the “Net is a great way to get a head start on the purchase process: You can get a feel for how much you’ll have to pay without leaving your desk. Just don’t expect to be able to complete the process online.
One of the better online offerings is http://www.bmwusa.com), “>BMW’s (http://www.bmwusa.com), which provides a 360-degree-view of your chosen vehicle, including interior and exterior colors. There’s just enough animation to keep the site interesting, but not so much that your browser bogs down. You can find a local dealer, and even search through dealers’ used-I mean, “pre-owned"-inventory, and save your searches for future reference. There’s also a section under the “Vehicles” menu where you can look at coming models.
http://www.cadillac.com)">Cadillac’s site (http://www.cadillac.com) lets you put together the car you want, and then search through the inventory at dealerships nearby to find whether an exact match is available. The Website gives you the ability to easily contact a GM certified Internet Manager to help answer your questions.
I like the “Which Lexus Fits My Budget?” feature on the http://www.lexus.com), “>Lexus site (http://www.lexus.com), found under the “Financial Services” tab. This site also gives those interested in Lexus hybrids tips for getting the most out of their cars.
http://www.audiusa.com)">Audi (http://www.audiusa.com) seems to assume that you know all of its models specifics, since the details aren’t available online. The configuration tool begins with choosing a model, even though there are no data, beyond the MSRP, to help you make that choice. Once you put a car together, you’re directed to a dealer for a quote.
http://www.infiniti.com) “>Infiniti (http://www.infiniti.com) not only lets you select a vehicle; you can get pre-approved for financing as well. The “Help Me Decide” feature, available on the first two screens of the configuration utility, provides useful information that is buried on most other sites.
I BOUGHT MY “MOMMY CAR,” a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE, on http://www.carsdirect.com). “>CarsDirect (http://www.carsdirect.com). Shopping online was ideal at the time, as I was just completing a move from Japan back to the U.S. Time was my most precious resource, so doing the research and getting 95% of the way through the buying process without human intervention (a.k.a. pushy salespeople) was an enormous help.
The purchase process has changed at CarsDirect, however. Now you can only get as far as specifying the features you want before being prompted to have a human being call you with a quote-and a sales pitch. You can deal directly with the CarsDirect staff, or you can opt to talk things over with a local dealer.
The site lets you compare up to four vehicles side-by-side—very helpful in sorting out specs such as headroom, legroom and exterior dimensions.
When I bought my Caravan—at the time a hot model—I paid $8,000 below what a dealer had quoted me on the same car (down to the vehicle identification number). CarsDirect even delivered the car to my home, and we finalized the deal at my living room table.
The good deals aren’t quite as apparent now, however. Most luxury-car models are quoted at their MSRPs, and can’t be bought directly from CarsDirect. Instead, it virtually escorts you to a dealer to complete the transaction. Times have changed, and not entirely for the better.
Table: The Internet Highway
Most of these Websites offer terrific graphics, sound clips and animation and, frequently, the ability to view a vehicle from many angles. Some are light on key data, however—even price.
Site Address What’s There
Audi http://www.audiusa.com Little detail on each model available. Configuration tool, however, is fun.
BMW http://www.bmwusa.com “Build Your BMW” feature lets you specify your desired options and provides a quote.
Cadillac http://www.cadillac.com User-friendly path to explore and compare models, configure one, get a quote.
Ferrari http://www.ferrariusa.com Lots of pretty pictures, but not much information.
Infiniti http://www.infiniti.com “Help Me Decide” offers useful configuration details. Financing pre-approval possible here.
Jaguar http://www.jaguarusa.com Flashy intro page. Pricing and offers easy to find. Can search for used vehicles, too.
Lexus http://www.lexus.com Good financing tools, lots of useful info on the “Models” page.
Maserati http://www.maserati.com Great graphics, photos and video. Nothing on pricing; maybe buyers don’t care.
Mercedes http://www.mbusa.com Very comprehensive. Good configuration tools. Lots of video.
Porsche http://www.porsche.com/usa Includes sound files, so you can hear that Porsche growl.
CarsDirect http://www.carsdirect.com Luxury-car quotes don’t offer much in the way of discounts. Car comparison is handy.
Published in Barron’s, September 25, 2006.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Refreshing the Screen
BETTER. FASTER. NEW AND IMPROVED. MORE POWERFUL. Software publishers survive by adding features and products to entice you to join their team, maintain your loyalty (if you’re already onboard) or come back (if you’ve signed on with a rival). Here are a variety of software publishers and online brokers striving for your attention—and your business.
INTERACTIVE BROKERS (http://www.interactivebrokers.com) has spruced up its tools for options traders by providing a new service, Options Intelligence Report, as well as volatility trading functionality.
Updated hourly, the Options Intelligence Report includes tables that highlight companies expected to have the greatest price movement. Examples include one table that ranks the top 20 gainers in implied volatility, another that shows the top 20 put/call ratios (suggesting negative sentiment) and yet another that lists the top 20 call/put ratios (suggesting positive sentiment).
IB has also given options traders the ability to enter options limit prices in volatility terms as well as price using its VolTrader, which is a new function in its software application, Traders WorkStation (TWS). You specify the option volatility and TWS calculates the limit price. When you enable volatility trading, the bid and ask values are displayed as volatility instead of price. You can also set up dynamic management of these volatility orders, under which TWS updates the limit price based on movements in the underlying price, canceling an order if the underlying price breaks through a high or low price range the user has specified.
Another interesting—albeit complicated—trading strategy automated in a recent update of TWS is called Exchange of Futures for Physical, which allows the swap of a long or short stock position for a corresponding one using single stock futures (futures contracts on individual stocks). In effect, the EFP strategy allows the user to reduce his margin costs, which have been rising of late along with other borrowing rates. Investors buying stocks on margin usually pay rates set by one broker. But the rate built into a single-stock future is often lower because it’s competitively quoted by various firms. IB is the only brokerage that allows trading of EFPs online, says Executive Vice President Steve Sanders.
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS (http://www.fidelity.com) has rolled out an update to its strategic trading application, Wealth-Lab Pro, which includes the integration of 10 years of historical macroeconomic data, such as gross domestic product and the consumer-price index, into the program’s modeling capabilities. Wealth-Lab Pro, introduced last year to Fidelity customers, allows active traders to create, back test and execute customized trading strategies. This new functionality is intended to enable traders to create their own trading systems keyed to the government’s release of 20 different economic figures.
Wealth-Lab Pro has also added Trend-line trading, which, among other things, lets the user set trade alerts that can be triggered when prices cross above or below a drawn trend line.
Wealth-Lab Pro is free to Fidelity customers who make 120 or more trades per year and have $25,000 or more in assets. Those with over $1 million in household accounts at Fidelity also qualify for the active trading tools and commissions of $8 per transaction for stocks.
AS THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY of Hurricane Katrina looms, Intuit has released its Quicken Home Inventory Manager (http://www.intuit.com), which offers a way for homeowners to document their possessions. Intuit’s personal finance program, Quicken, includes a text-based home inventory module, but that allows the user only to type in descriptions and values.
The new Home Inventory Manager, however, lets you attach detailed documentation—sales receipts, warranty records and photographs—to your records. If you purchased an item online, the electronic receipt from the vendor can be included, among other new capabilities.
Retailing for $29.99, the system integrates with Quicken to calculate your net worth. You can also subscribe to Quicken’s online backup service, which starts at $9.99 per year, so that you have a reliable copy of the file in case the computer you used to create it is destroyed.
FOLIOFN (http://www.FOLIOfn.com), which allows customers to trade baskets of stocks on a dollar basis, rather than a share basis, is adding 2,000 mid- and low-cap stocks to those that can be traded during two daily “windows” at relatively low cost. These stocks can be found under the “Tier 2” designation, which also includes many exchange-traded funds. Once it’s fully implemented, Tier 2 will increase the universe of securities that you can window- trade to more than 5,500.
Users, who pay a monthly fee ranging from $19.95 to $39.95, can customize any folio to meet preferences. Trading Tier 2 stocks will incur added fees of up to $2.95-$5.95 per transaction for most of FOLIOfn’s various membership plans.
Published in Barrons, August 28, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Latest Road Rage: Trading
HOW CAN YOU ROAD WARRIORS OUT THERE maintain control of your portfolio? One obvious way is to keep the bulk of frequently traded holdings with an online broker that offers wireless access to your account. Brokers have made real strides in the past couple of years, helping peripatetic customers stay in touch with their money.
Even if you don’t have a Fidelity (http://www.fidelity.com) account, you can log into Fidelity Anywhere from your Internet-enabled cellphone or wireless PDA and get delayed quotes, charts, watch lists, market news and leading market movers. Fidelity customers have it even better: They can log into their accounts and view real-time quotes, charts and news, and trade stocks, options and mutual funds. Customers with Java-enabled phones can use Fidelity’s Java application, which shows icons rather than text for the fund giant’s menu. Fidelity has put lots of effort into its wireless offerings, and it shows.
Thinkorswim (http://www.thinkorswim.com) also has two programs that allow you to access your account wirelessly while traveling. For instance, thinkAnywhere, which runs on Pocket PC and Pocket PC phones, lets you trade from multiple accounts. The options-trading screen displays multiple strike prices, and the order book shows all your open orders, as well as other order-related events. A position monitor even tracks the Greeks for your options holdings. If you don’t have a Pocket PC, you can use thinkMobile, which isn’t as versatile as thinkAnywhere but does allow you to place stock and single-options trades, cancel working orders and close current positions. Point your phone’s browser to http://www.tosmobile.com to get started.
SiebertNet (http://www.siebertnet.com) includes MobileBroker, providing wireless access to an existing Siebert account. MobileBroker lets you trade equities, mutual funds and options, as well as receive execution reports, real-time quotes and alerts, margin-call information, balances, positions, stock-specific news and account history. Siebert charges $29.95 per transaction placed via MobileBroker, unless you’re using a wireless Compaq Tablet PC, when the commission is $14.95 for up to 1,000 shares.
E*Trade is another rest stop for weary travelers in need of quotes and news. You can log on to http://www.etrade.com with your mobile device, even if you’re not a client. Account holders can trade stocks and options, view balances and check out alerts. You can even get directions to the nearest E*Trade Center if you crave some face time.
Later this year, MB Trading (http://www.mbtrading.com) will begin rolling out its new technologies, including Navigator Mobile, which will run on cellphones, Palms and other Java-enabled wireless devices. Mobile will provide real-time quotes, account management and many of the features found in MB Trading’s flagship product, the Navigator. “We have had an incredible amount of interest from our customers who travel and need market access,” says David Lipsett, MB Trading’s executive vice president.
Those who want to keep tabs on stocks and news while on the go, but don’t need to be logged in to their trading account, should check out AlphaTrade’s Jupiter. AlphaTrade (http://www.alphatrade.com) also offers a non-mobile application called E-Gate, which gives you quotes and charting for stocks traded on U.S. exchanges, in Canada and on the London Stock Exchange. You can sign up for both services, or get the wireless application independently.
Pricing starts at $17 a month if you sign up for either E-Gate or Jupiter; there’s also a $10 data-access fee. If you subscribe to E-Gate, you can add the Jupiter wireless program for another 10 bucks a month. Nasdaq TotalView is available for an additional $20 per month. You will also have to pay for quotes from the various exchanges, which will add at least $3 to your monthly bill. There’s a 14-day free trial.
INVESTOR ED: Have you ever wanted to know exactly what a clearing firm does? Or what happens to an order after you’ve entered it? A well-designed site, Path to Investing http://www.pathtoinvesting.org), was recently introduced by Lightbulb Press for the Foundation for Investor Education. It answers some of these fundamental, but often overlooked, questions.
The site offers advice about choosing a broker, including ways to verify that your broker is licensed and registered with the Securities Investor Protection Corp. Another suggestion: Check with the NASD to see if it has any complaints against the broker on file. The tab entitled “How Markets Work” is full of information that every online investor should know. It’s definitely worth a look.
MOVING TO A MAC? Several readers have asked about analysis and trading programs that run on Apple’s Macintosh system. The truth is, most online brokers offering software-based trading applications that an investor downloads and installs have packages that run only on a Windows-based machine. Thinkorswim’s (http://www.thinkorswim.com) Java-based trading application, however, runs as-is on a Macintosh. So, to use it, you won’t have to turn your old Mac into a virtual PC. (New Macs, which use Intel chips, greatly ease the use of Windows-based applications and can run them directly.)
We’d be very interested to know of any difficulties readers face when they’re making the PC-to-Mac transition. We’ll try to answer your questions in a coming column. Drop us a line at electronicinvestor@yahoo.com .
Published in Barron’s, August 14, 2006.
