I'm wondering how many of you saw the article in USA today about social media and "mirror investing"?
Its an interesting idea and I was wondering what you guys thought about it?
Thanks, Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA
I'm wondering how many of you saw the article in USA today about social media and "mirror investing"?
Its an interesting idea and I was wondering what you guys thought about it?
Thanks, Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA
"Riding along with" successful investors online has some of the same drawbacks as buying the latest hot mutual fund that had superior returns last year. There is no guarantte that next year will be the same, and often it is worse. Successful investing, especially among inexperienced people, probably is more a matter of avoiding pitfalls, scams, blind alleys, and excessive fees and charges than it is in finding a product that is consistenty profitable or that is just about to take off and yield big profits.
My guess is that the real promise of the internet will be quite different. It will educate people about the pitfalls. It will put investors in touch with others-- not gurus who will steer them to specific investment choices, but rather to people who will inform them about things to avoid and how to get the most for their money when making choices.
The internet empowers people to "do it themselves," to act in their own best interests, and to accomplish things not previously possible because of lack of information.
I say let grownups be grownups and not worry about people following the wrong guru, or that their trading fees go up. They can use it for a small proportion of their portfolio, or follow an impeccable guru such as an ivy league university endowment manager. I believe Yale endowment trades are quickly provided to students who want to emulate it, although not automatically. I would hope a brokerage could set up a small-delay pipeline funded simply by their motive to increase trade frequency.
But the practical problem seems to be extortionate advisor fees in the current implementations. They only mentioned one brokerage I recognized, and I can't see any mention of autotrade on TDameritrade site. A deeper google dredges up a trading partner site where you have to link autotrade to an expensive newsletter
Do they have one that rates the newsletters that rate the newsletters?
Chip
Mark Hulbert has a newsletter that ranks newsletters. Here is Kiplinger's take on him:
BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.