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Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

nytimes.com

51–60 of 115 posts

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#51
post #19

I rely on Matt Levine to explain, more clearly than I could, how brokerages make money ("The Trades Will Be Free Now"): https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-02/the-tr... Let me highlight a key passage: "Even this understates the change, because the actual way that stock brokers work today is that you keep some cash in your brokerage account to fund potential trades, and the broker earns interest on that…

this is a good explanation too, and from a local. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2019/6/26/how-brokerages-make-mone... The writing was on the wall for E-Trade. Banking is in an ebb of consolidation. E-Trade and TD Ameritrade had to sell once Interactive Brokers / Schwab started that game of dropping commission. They didnt add enough other value besides stock trading. They are a component to a larger banking suite. I have…

Yeah, I've been meaning to consolidate accounts for a while now and just haven't gotten around to it. There was value in the E-Trades and Ameritrades when their commissions were a lot lower than Fidelity, etc. So even if you had an account with one of the traditional brokerages for 401ks, etc. it made sense to have an Etrade account for various personal stock trading. That's not true any longer and there's at least some mental overhead to tracking multiple accounts.

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#52
post #51
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a good explanation too, and from a local. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2019/6/26/how-brokerages-make-mone... The writing was on the wall for E-Trade. Banking is in an ebb of consolidation. E-Trade and TD Ameritrade had to sell once Interactive Brokers / Schwab started that game of dropping commission. They didnt add enough other value besides stock trading. They are a component to a larger banking suite. I have…

Yeah, I've been meaning to consolidate accounts for a while now and just haven't gotten around to it. There was value in the E-Trades and Ameritrades when their commissions were a lot lower than Fidelity, etc. So even if you had an account with one of the traditional brokerages for 401ks, etc. it made sense to have an Etrade account for various personal stock trading. That's not true any longer and there's at least s…

Fidelity having IRA, HSA, and a 2% cash back Visa (Citi and Paypal are Mastercard for 2%) is a really attractive bundle.

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#53
post #24
post #21

If you're considering using E-Trade you may want to consider that E-Trade does not take responsibility if they are hacked. They group cybersecurity events and software malfunction under "Force Majeure" events ("acts of God"). That means if your retirement savings vanish because they are hacked you're out of luck. See https://content.etrade.com/etrade/estation/pdf/10118customer... Fidelity and Vanguard don't have such…

Do you believe the usual insurance programmes will not help in the event of a hack? https://us.etrade.com/l/f/asset-protection Basically everyone has $500k insured in their trading account. Are you concerned about people with more than that, or concerned that it wouldn't cover hacking?

FDIC payouts are extremely rare. As far as I know, it only kicks in if the entire bank fails. I don’t think it covers fraud.

Having said that, I’d be surprised if E Trade were not legally required to cover losses in the event of account break ins, regardless of what their customer agreement says.

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#54
post #24
post #21

If you're considering using E-Trade you may want to consider that E-Trade does not take responsibility if they are hacked. They group cybersecurity events and software malfunction under "Force Majeure" events ("acts of God"). That means if your retirement savings vanish because they are hacked you're out of luck. See https://content.etrade.com/etrade/estation/pdf/10118customer... Fidelity and Vanguard don't have such…

Do you believe the usual insurance programmes will not help in the event of a hack? https://us.etrade.com/l/f/asset-protection Basically everyone has $500k insured in their trading account. Are you concerned about people with more than that, or concerned that it wouldn't cover hacking?

It would not be absurd for normal people to have > $500k in their retirement accounts, especially if they are close to retirement.

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't used apple pay since touch-less cards came out. It'll be interesting to see how they pivot to something beyond pure convenience. I highly doubt the target consumer cares about security. It'll also be interesting to see how far tech companies are willing to partner given increased regulation and scrutiny when finance is involved

Huh, so the friction for you is the actual swipe or chip read? To me the benefit of Apple Pay is not bringing your wallet everywhere, or not taking it out if you already have your phone in your hand.

I use a phone case that holds my cards, so I've got my cards with me already. For me it's how much faster Apple Pay is. Also works way better when I travel out of the U.S., because U.S. cards overseas end up being chip-and-sig, they have to go find a pen, etcetera etcetera. Tap phone, done.

I also like the integration that the Apple Card has with Apple Wallet. I'm not all-in on Apple, I don't own a Mac anymore, but the iPhone and closely related bits are just really nice.

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#57

I rely on Matt Levine to explain, more clearly than I could, how brokerages make money ("The Trades Will Be Free Now"): https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-02/the-tr... Let me highlight a key passage: "Even this understates the change, because the actual way that stock brokers work today is that you keep some cash in your brokerage account to fund potential trades, and the broker earns interest on that…

Summary: if you can make a financial service that people want, it is EASY to make money.

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#58
post #54
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe the usual insurance programmes will not help in the event of a hack? https://us.etrade.com/l/f/asset-protection Basically everyone has $500k insured in their trading account. Are you concerned about people with more than that, or concerned that it wouldn't cover hacking?

It would not be absurd for normal people to have > $500k in their retirement accounts, especially if they are close to retirement.

I am guessing you mean 500k cash. Regardless, I'm not sure if your point holds. If I have $1m in stocks, and my account is hacked, the stocks are sold, and the money funneled out, am I protected?

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#59
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 0% interest rates in Europe, do you think this will encourage large savers to get their money invested? I think the idea of negative interest rates is absurd however it might encourage Europeans to invest more money versus stashing in savings accounts

With the dollar getting so strong and since we are now post brexit, I expect capital flight. The people running the show have zero understanding of how banking works. And no, I’m not being arrogant - negative rates destroy capital, which is not what you want in a bank. If you look at the largest European banks, they are all very weak (due to many factors, not just this one). However, negative rates is making them wea…

What would be the solution for this? Which actors/groups ought to do what? Could you explain this a bit? Thanks!

Re: Morgan Stanley to Buy E-Trade for $13B

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can transfer stocks, Robinhood implemented that a 12-18 months ago (and E*TRADE has/had it)

https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/360001474726/tr...

Lol well, that’s unfortunate- how long has that been and when was that posted?
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