From: Rich Carreiro 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Brokers - What's the Attraction?
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 22:32:44 CST
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"Elizabeth Richardson"  writes:

> How do you keep the transactions for Fund X separate from Fund Y?

Broker does that for me.  At the end of the year I get a statement of
all transactions, broken out per-security (stock, bond, fund, or
option).

> Do you know what you have when you sell shares of Fund X?

What do you mean by "what you have"?  It's trivial to know how many
shares of each thing I have -- every broker has that.

My broker also has per-security cost-basis tracking.  I can view all
my open lots anytime I want on a per-security basis.  For funds I have
the option of actual lot or single-category average basis tracking.
For all securities I can place specific ID orders online.  Better than
anything I've seen at any fund company.  They even (correctly) adjust
basis and holding period for wash sales.

> Can you easily find your purchase history?

Yes.

And this is all with a discount broker.  No full-service
brokers required.


-- 
Rich Carreiro                            rlcarr@animato.arlington.ma.us