Page 6 WIRE www.sunnewspapers.net BUSINESS NEWS The Sun /Saturday, April 26, 2014
US stocks drop sharply Wishy-washy
NEWYORK (AP) -The The Standard & Poor's last two months, were once sector lower, making it one b ro k e r
stockmarket fell sharply 500 fell 15.21 points, or again a hotbed of selling. of the worst performing ear Mr. Berko: We
Friday, dragged down by 0.8 percent, to 1,863.40. Amazon, the world's sectors in the S&P 500. have a rollover
disappointing quarterly The Dow Jones industrial largest online store, sank Nefflix fell more than D individual retire-
results from Amazon and average lost 140.19 points, $33.32, or 10 percent, to 6 percent, Priceline lost ment account with a
Ford. Escalating tensions or 0.9 percent, to 16,361.46 $303.83. Amazon reported 5 percent, Farcebook fell market value of $318, 000.
between the U.S. and and the Nasdaq composite late Thursday an increase 5 percent and Twitter lost It's very important to
Russia over Ukraine also lost 72.78 points, or in first-quarter profit, but more than 7 percent. us, and we've had the alcolm
weighed on the market. 1.8 percent, to 4,075.56. the company also said that Investors have had little same broker since my
Worried investors sold Friday's sell-off was spending on investments patience for companies husband left his previous Berko
their risky assets and enough to push the Dow, will likely lead to an op- missing their forecasts employer and went into
moved into the traditional S&P 500 and Nasdaq into erating loss in the second this quarter, said Scott business for himself four
havens: bonds, gold the red for the week quarter. Clemons, chief investment years ago. Now we have A good stockbroker
and stocks that pay high Technology stocks, which The retail giant dragged strategist at Brown Brothers enough income to fund is proactive. He's also
dividends like utilities. have been volatile for the the rest of the technology Harriman. a simplified employee knowledgeable, well-
pension IRA, but the read, experienced, caring,
problem is our broker. He understanding and
Credit card PA-\7ment systems, Part 2 never gives us any advice. confident in his deci-
If we find a stock we like, sions. All stockbrokers
he says, "It's up to you" make mistakes; good
n my April 12th col- Express), rewards program percent. or "If you think it's OK," stockbrokers admit their
unin, I wrote about SCORE cards, corporate cards In addition to the and his most negative mistakes and correct
the structure of the Counselor and government cards. transaction fees there comment is, "The stock them. Good stockbrokers
credit card payment sys- Different fees apply to each are usually monthly isn't on our approved have an experienced
tem. You can refer to that type, some a lot higher fees such as minimum list." How can we get him assistant who minds all
article for an overview of than others. Another factor volume fees, statement to be more aggressive in the bureaucratic details,
the system. Merchants Bill is bartching the frequen- fees, service fees or his recommendations? minutiae and paperwork.
must arrange for a bank McCabe cy with which transactions a host of others. The He's such a nice person, I doubt that anything
or other financial insti- "MCIM N are uploaded in batches seemingly simple process and we dont want to hurt you might say to this
tution to process credit for processing. The more of choosing a provider is his feelings. SD, Fort fellow would change
card transactions. Some frequent, the better the complicated because of Walton Beach, Fla. the way he conducts his
knowledge of the fee of parties involved in rate. the complexity of the sys- Dear SD: Good stock- business; rather, your
structure will help with processing transactions Plans are often offered tem and the fee structure brokers give their clients criticism could offend
that process. from merchant to with rates in three tiers. that pays for it. good advice, which is him. I know lots of nice
There are two types of merchant's bank to card- Qualified rates card Beware of making a what they are paid to guys like your broker.
plans. One, card pres- holder's bank and back present transactions decision solely based on do. Good stockbrokers Being nice (not good)
ent plans, are used by again. Each processor using major credit the lowest credit card understand a client's is the way they attract
merchants who normally involved has to be paid a cards swiped through rate quoted. For example, objectives; they help new business. From my
can swipe a card in a fee. The more processors, a terminal and which if you have a lot of small their clients develop catbird seat, I think you
terminal. The second, the higher the fees. Look are bartched within 24 transactions, the flat fees realistic goals and set have three choices: 1) You
card not present plans, for a system with few hours carry the lowest add up quickly, or if you benchmarks to measure a can stay the course, use
are offered to merchants processors. rate, typically 1.5 to 2.5 have a lot of customers portfolio's progress. They Mr. Nice Guy to help you
who normally receive the The variable fee is percent. Mid qualified using government cards, are familiar with all of the with your tax returns (I
card information by mail, commonly called the rates card present the high variable rates issues in your portfolio. think this is a no-no) and
phone or Internet. Fees credit card rate. The rate transactions using on those add up quickly. They'll call when an issue do your own research. 2)
on transactions where depends upon a number rewards cards swiped Before signing a contact (or issues) drifts from You can say goodbye to
the card is not present of factors. The first has to through a terminal, with a provider, obtain your portfolio's objectives Mr. Nice Guy, move your
are higher because the do with the presence or transactions which are multiple quotes, com- and make suggestions account to a discount
risk of fraud is higher. absence of the physical keyed through a terminal pare them carefully and to direct the portfolio broker, probably save
The following describes card at the point of the and transactions which negotiate so as to keep back on course. Good 90 percent on your com-
card present plans. transaction. Transactions are bartched between 24 fees as low as possible. stockbrokers diligently mission costs and have
Fees are charged for processed when the and 48 hours carry the You can arrange to review your portfolio on access to a wider range
each transaction pro- card can be swiped or next highest rates, typi- receivefree advice on a a quarterly basis and will of research. Or 3) you can
cessed. There is a flat fee imprinted are charged a cally 2.5 to 3.5 percent. business issueftom a post you an easy-to-un- employ a professional
per transaction and a lower fee than not pres- Non qualified rates SCORE mentor by going understand copy of that money manager who can
variable fee charged as a ent transactions. Another card present and swiped to www.portcharlotte. review. He will measure do all the things Mr. Nice
percentage of each trans- factor is the type of card or number keyed cor- score. org, by calling 941 your portfolio's progress Guy isnt doing, which
action. Flat fees range presented. Rates vary porate and government 743-6179 or by mailing against a prominent probably would let you
from 20 cents to 35 cents by type of card. There cards and transactions us at port. charlotte@ benchmark so you can enjoy better investment
per transaction. The pri- are major association bartched after 48 hours scorevolunteerorg. determine how well it's results.
mary factor affecting the cards (VISA, MasterCard, are charged the highest Find information, on- meeting your long- and Email Malcolm Berko
flat rate is the number Discover and American rates, typically 3.5 to 4.5 line tools and downloads. short-term objectives. atmjberko@yahoo.com.
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A Publicly traded companies To Educate, Amuse & Enrich
(ones you can invest in on Fool's School influential in the Dow even The Motley Fool Take
the stock market) are required to though General Electric's market
report on their earnings and finan- value is roughly twice that of Visa. Gut Check Drilling for Dividends
cial condition each quarter. Once a The Dow Is Kind Fortunately, there are ways to build
year they issue comprehensive "10- indexes without weighting compo- In 1987 or thereabouts, I had With the average bank account
K" reports, along with their annual of Silly nents by stock price. The S&P 500 $ 1,000 and a dream of 'investing. offering less thm I percent in inter-
reports. In the intervening quarters, Launched way back in 1896, the index, for example, is a market-cap- I asked a friend, "Hey, why don't est, it makes sense to seek income
they issue less substantial "10- Dow Jones Industrial Average, weighted mdex giving the companies we put our money together and buy from dividend-paying stocks. If you
Q" reports. 10-K reports include known as "the Dow," gets more with the greatest market values the some stock in Apple?" I understood can stomach some risk, shares of
details on the company's recent attention than it really deserves. most influence. Even that though, the company's offerings, had used Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL) can reward
their computers in my previ- you handsomely, with a dividend
performance, risks and more, Why? Well, w1rile the S&P 500 can be problematic. The top 10 com- ous job, and had been reading that recently yielded I I percent!
and their financial statements are includes 500 big American com- values out of the 500, for example, about the company reorganiz- Seadrill is a Bermuda-based off-
audited by accounting firms. panies, and "total stock market make up about 18 percent of the ing, refocusing and rebound- shore drilling giant largely run by
I O-Q reports, though, are not mdexes such as the CRSP U. S. Total index's value. So the vast majority ing. The stock was near a 52-week Norwegians. It leases rigs to opera-
required to be audited. Market Cap Index include more of the index's component companies low, but everything seemed to point tors and collects "day rate" payments
thm 3,600, the Dow features just have little effect on it. Some indexes to it getting its act together, and for them. Seadrill has several advan-
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