About 50 years ago, I had to call or visit a stock broker to buy or sell stocks. I would place the call. A few hours later the broker would call me back with the results of the transaction. The charge could be $50 or more.
About 30 years ago online trading began. Place an order and some time later the order would be processed. The charge was about $25 regardless of the size of the order.
About 20 years ago, the time lapse was shorter and the charge was $14.99.
About 15 years ago, many trades were “instantaneous”. Place the order and it would be filled. The charges also dropped down to $9.99.
Today, I was informed that the charge would be $6.99 next week.
Consider that many of these trades are untouched by human hands. Instead of a local broker calling a New York broker who would pass the order to broker on the exchange floor, each buy-sell order goes to a set of computers which fill the orders within seconds, and with only fractions of cents difference in the offer and sale.
Now if we could only automate CEO jobs. Think of the billions that could be saved across the economy by replacing these over-paid men and women. The savings could be passed on to the people who do the real work.
Showing posts with label stock broker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stock broker. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 01, 2017
Saturday, September 08, 2012
What is slower than the Postal Service?
Electronic fund transfers! From one corporation to another! In days, not hours!
On Tuesday I asked online for the cash balance of my brokerage account and the sales of some mutual fund shares, the proceeds of each to be transferred to my local checking account. Neither transaction was confirmed until Wednesday afternoon. My bank account did not show the deposits until eight o'clock Thursday. About 46 hours after I had made my request, I saw the result.
Two days is what it takes to send in one Netflix DVD and receive the next! In fact, the time from pickup to confirmation is less than 16 hours. I am notified of the shipment of the next DVD about noon and receive it before 10 the next morning. Hm! With a 12:30 pickup and a 10:00 delivery, that's less than 46 hours! A two-way transaction is faster than a one-way transaction!
The first is done completely by computers. The second is done by a lot of hard-working people, both government and corporate.
Oh, yes, the last two DVDs have been from southwestern Wisconsin, not from Duluth. Unbelievable, a Postal Service truck is faster than corporate computers!
On Tuesday I asked online for the cash balance of my brokerage account and the sales of some mutual fund shares, the proceeds of each to be transferred to my local checking account. Neither transaction was confirmed until Wednesday afternoon. My bank account did not show the deposits until eight o'clock Thursday. About 46 hours after I had made my request, I saw the result.
Two days is what it takes to send in one Netflix DVD and receive the next! In fact, the time from pickup to confirmation is less than 16 hours. I am notified of the shipment of the next DVD about noon and receive it before 10 the next morning. Hm! With a 12:30 pickup and a 10:00 delivery, that's less than 46 hours! A two-way transaction is faster than a one-way transaction!
The first is done completely by computers. The second is done by a lot of hard-working people, both government and corporate.
Oh, yes, the last two DVDs have been from southwestern Wisconsin, not from Duluth. Unbelievable, a Postal Service truck is faster than corporate computers!
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