Internet Surfer 2.0

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Internet Surfer 2.0 / Internet Surfer 2.0 (Wayzata Technology) (1996).iso / pc / text / mac / faqs.336 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-02-12 | 27.9 KB | 622 lines

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.336 F47 AB20.LARC.NASA.GOV and ZMODEM File transfer between Vax and Unix/PC/Amiga computers. Availability: S14, F15 S14 MRCserv@Janus.MtRoyal.AB.CA F15 WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL F = FTP S = Mail Server That's all I could find with a quick look. Dick Munroe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ,ZOO >Subject: Where to get ZOO v2.10 for MS-DOS, Unix and VMS >From: w8sdz@tacom-emh1.army.mil (Keith Petersen) > >It seems that no matter how often this information is posted, someone >will ask for it again in 2 or 3 days. PLEASE save this article! > >SIMTEL20: >========= >ZOO version 2.10 (needed for extracting files posted in Usenet >newsgroup comp.binaries.ibm.pc) is available via anonymous FTP from >WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (192.88.110.20) or mirror sites OAK.Oakland.Edu >(141.210.10.117), wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4), ftp.uu.net >(137.39.1.9), nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100), src.doc.ic.ac.uk >(146.169.3.7) or archie.au (139.130.4.6), by e-mail through the >BITNET/EARN file servers, or by uucp from UUNET's 1-900-GOT-SRCS. >See UUNET file uunet!~/info/archive-help for details. > >Garbo: >====== >If you do not know how to go about getting this material, users >are welcome to email ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) for the prerecorded >garbo.uwasa.fi instructions (long, circa 29Kb). North American users >are referred to the garbo mirror on wuarchive.wustl.edu. Australian >users are referred to the archie.au mirror. The mirrors may lag >occasionally, or might not have all the files. If you do not receive >Timo's reply within five days, please ask your own site's system manager >to construct a returnable mail path for you. > >Directory PD1:<MSDOS.ZOO> > Filename Type Length Date Description >============================================== >ZOO210.EXE B 55721 910712 Dhesi's make/extract/view ZOO archives, 910712 > > 73461 Jul 12 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/arcers/zoo210.exe > >Directory PD8:<MISC.UNIX> > Filename Type Length Date Description >============================================== >ZOO210.TAR-Z B 246115 910714 Dhesi's make/extract/view ZOO archives, C src > >237093 Aug 8 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/unix/arcers/zoo210.tar.Z > >Directory PD8:<MISC.VAXVMS> > Filename Type Length Date Description >============================================== >ZOO210.ARC B 289193 910801 Dhesi's make/extract/view ZOO archives, C src > >289193 Jul 5 1991 garbo.uwasa.fi:/vms/arcers/zoo210.arc >647168 Jun 24 13:42 garbo.uwasa.fi:/vms/arcers/zoo210.tar > >Keith >-- >Keith Petersen >Maintainer of the MSDOS, MISC and CP/M archives at SIMTEL20 [192.88.110.20] >Internet: w8sdz@TACOM-EMH1.Army.Mil or w8sdz@vela.acs.oakland.edu >Uucp: uunet!umich!vela!w8sdz BITNET: w8sdz@OAKLAND -- Dick Munroe Internet: munroe@dmc.com Doyle Munroe Consultants, Inc. UUCP: ...uunet!thehulk!munroe 267 Cox St. Office: (508) 568-1618 Hudson, Ma. USA FAX: (508) 562-1133 GET CONNECTED!!! Send mail to info@dmc.com to find out about DMConnection. Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu misc.invest:33569 news.answers:4572 Newsgroups: misc.invest,news.answers Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!ira.uka.de!rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!stepsun.uni-kl.de!uklirb!bogner.informatik.uni-kl.de!lott From: lott@informatik.uni-kl.de (Christopher Lott) Subject: misc.invest FAQ on general investment topics (part 1 of 2) Message-ID: <invest-faq-p1_724309206@informatik.uni-kl.de> Followup-To: misc.invest Summary: Answers to frequently asked questions about investments. Should be read by anyone who wishes to post to misc.invest. Originator: lott@bogner.informatik.uni-kl.de Keywords: invest, stock, bond, money, faq Sender: news@uklirb.informatik.uni-kl.de (Unix-News-System) Supersedes: <invest-faq-p1_723127741@informatik.uni-kl.de> Nntp-Posting-Host: bogner.informatik.uni-kl.de Reply-To: lott@informatik.uni-kl.de Organization: University of Kaiserslautern, Germany Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 05:00:14 GMT Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Expires: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 05:00:06 GMT Lines: 967 Archive-name: investment-faq/general/part1 Last-modified: Mon Dec 14 06:00:02 MET 1992 Compiler: Christopher Lott, lott@informatik.uni-kl.de This is the general FAQ for misc.invest, part 1 of 2. This FAQ discusses issues pertaining to money and investment instruments, specifically stocks, bonds, and things like options and life insurance. For extensive information on mutual funds, see the mutual fund FAQ, which is posted regularly to misc.invest and maintained by timlee@btr.btr.com Subjects more appropriate to misc.consumers are not included here. Disclaimers: This information is guaranteed to change over time and is probably out of date already. Mention of a product does not constitute an endorsement. Answers to questions closer to the bottom of the list may rely on information given in prior answers. Readers outside the USA should not necessarily rely on US-800 telephone numbers. All prices are listed in US dollars unless otherwise specified. This FAQ is freely distributable, is posted every 14 days, and is available from the news.answers archive on host rtfm.mit.edu. Using FTP, fetch the files "/pub/usenet/news.answers/investment-faq/general/*" If you don't have FTP access, send an e-mail request to "mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu" with the body "send usenet/news.answers/investment-faq/general/*" No other FTP archive is currently known to the compiler for misc.invest information and programs. Please send comments and new submissions to the compiler. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS PART Sources for Historical Stock Information Beginning Investor's Advice American Depository Receipts (ADR) Beta Books About Investing (especially stocks) Bull and Bear Lore Computing the Rate of Return on Monthly Investments Computing Compound Return Discount Brokers Dollar Cost and Value Averaging Direct Investing and DRIPS Future and Present Value of Money How Can I Get Rich Really Quickly? Hedging Investment Associations (AAII and NAIC) Life Insurance ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Sources for Historical Stock Information From: bakken@cs.arizona.edu, nfs@princeton.edu, gary@intrepid.com, discar@nosc.mil, irving@Happy-Man.com, ddavis@gain.com, krshah@us.oracle.com There are no free sources for historical stock information on the Internet. Paid services include: + Prodigy. US$13/month for basic service includes 15 minute delayed quotes on stocks at NO additional charge. Available via local dial-up all over the US. + Compuserve. US$7.95/month for basic service includes 15-mi delayed quotes on stocks and options at no additional charge. Historical quotes are available for an additional charge. Available via local dial-up all over the US. + Genie. US$4.95/month for today's closing quotes. Genie Professional service (price not given) gives historical quotes, stock reports, different investment s/w, access to Charles Schwab and online trading. + Farpoint. ($4 or $8/week for an IBM-compatible diskette) provides daily high, low, close, and volume for for approximately 6000 stocks. They offer historical data from 1 July 89 to present. Write to Farpoint, 3412 Milwaukee Avenue, Suite 477, Northbrook, Illinois 60062. + Historical Data Services in Kansas City, MO. They carry stock quotes, commodities, indexes, mutual funds. Daily stock quotes, per year: $0.75 Contact them at 800-677-7369. + Dow Jones News Retrieval. Stock, bond, mutual, index quotes as well as news articles on companies, and misc. analysis packages. US $25 per month flat rate for the after hours service (8pm-5am local time). Available via dailup over Tymnet and SprintNet; available via Internet. + Standard & Poor's Compustat (most complete and most expensive). + Disclosure's "Compact Disclosure" on CD (only $6,000 a year). + Value Line's Database Bulletin Boards for historical stock information include: + The Farpoint BBS in Chicago keeps about 3 years back data on a boatlaod of stocks. Free use up to 2 hours a day, they ask for a contribution. Quotes updated weekly. [ Phone number? ] + The Business Center BBS in San Diego carries most issues on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX. It is free but limits on-line time to 20 minutes. Phone number is +1 (619) 482-8675. [ Compiler's note: Anyone have a list of other sources? ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Beginning Investor's Advice From: pearson_steven@tandem.com, egreen@east.sun.com Investing is just one aspect of personal finance. People often seem to have the itch to try their hand at investing before they get the rest of their act together. This is a big mistake. For this reason, it's a good idea for "new investors" to hit the library and read maybe read three different overall guides to personal finance - three for different perspectives, and because common themes will emerge (repetition implies authority?). Anyway, what I'm talking about are books like: Madigan and Kasoff, The First-Time Investor, ISBN 0-13-942376-1 Andrew Tobias, [Still] the Only [Other] Investment Guide You Will Ever Need. (3 versions with slightly different titles, all very similar.) Sylvia Porter's Money magazine's Money Guide Another good source is the Mutual Fund Education Alliance (MFEA); write them at MFEA, 1900 Erie Street, Suite 120, Kansas City, MO 64116. What I am specifically NOT talking about is most anything that appears on a list of investing/stock market books that are posted in misc.invest from time to time. You know, Market Logic, One Up on Wall Street, Beating the Dow, Winning on Wall Street, The Intelligent Investor, etc. These are not general enough. They are investment books, not personal finance books. Many "beginning investors" have no business investing in stocks. The books recommended above give good overall money management, budgeting, purchasing, insurance, taxes, estate issues, and investing backgrounds from which to build a personal framework. Only after that should one explore particular investments. If someone needs to unload some cash in the meantime, they should put it in a money market fund, or yes, even a bank account, until they complete their basic training. While I sympathize with those who view this education as a daunting task, I don't see any better answer. People who know next to nothing and always depend on "professional advisors" to hand-hold them through all transactions are simply sheep asking to be fleeced (they may not actually be fleeced, but most of them will at least get their tails bobbed). In the long run, you are the only person ultimately responsible for your own financial situation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: American Depository Receipts (ADR) From: ask@cbnews.cb.att.com An American Depository Receipt is a share of stock of an investment in shares of a non-US corporation. For example, BigCitibank might purchase 25 million shares of a non-US stock. Call it EuroGlom Corporation (EGC). Perhaps EGC trades on the Paris exchange, where BigCitibank bought them. BigCitibank would then register with the SEC and offer for sale shares of EGC ADRs. EGC ADRs are valued in dollars, and BigCitibank could apply to the NYSE to list them. In effect, they are repackaged EGC shares, backed by EGC shares owned by BigCitibank, and they would then trade like any other stock on the NYSE. BigCitibank would take a management fee for their efforts, and the number of EGC shares represented by EGC ADRs would effectively decrease, so the price would go down a slight amount; or EGC itself might pay BigCitibank their fee in return for helping to establish a US market for EGC. Naturally, currency fluctuations will affect the US Dollar price of the ADR. Dividends paid by EGC are received by BigCitibank and distributed proportionally to EGC ADR holders. If EGC withholds (foreign) tax on the dividends before this distribution, then BigCitibank will withhold a proportional amount before distributing the dividend to ADR holders, and will report on a Form 1099-Div both the gross dividend and the amount of foreign tax withheld. Most of the time the foreign nation permits US holders (BigCitibank in this case) to vote their shares on all or most issues, and ADR holders will receive ballots which will be received by BigCitibank and voted in proportion to ADR Shareholder's vote. I don't know if BigCitibank has the option of voting shares which ADR holders failed to vote. Having said this, however, for the most part ADRs look and feel pretty much like any other stock. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Beta From: RKSHUKLA@SUVM.SYR.EDU,ajayshah@almaak.usc.edu,rbp@investor.pgh.pa.us Beta is the sensitivity of a stock's returns to the returns on some market index (e.g., S&P 500). Beta values can be roughly characterized as follows: b < 0 Negative beta is possible but not likely. People thought gold stocks should have negative betas but that hasn't been true b = 0 Cash under your mattress, assuming no inflation 0 < b < 1 Dull investments (e.g., utility stocks) b = 1 Matching the index (e.g., for the S&P 500, an index fund) b > 1 Anything more volatile than the index (e.g., small cap. funds) b -> infinity Impossible, because the stock would be expected to go to zero on any market decline. 2-3 is probably as high as you will get More interesting is the idea that securities MAY have different betas in up and down markets. Forbes used to (and may still) rate mutual funds for bull and bear market performance. Here is an example showing the inner details of the beta calculation process: Suppose we collected end-of-the-month prices and any dividends for a stock and the S&P 500 index for 61 months (0..60). We need n + 1 price observations to calculate n holding period returns, so since we would like to index the returns as 1..60, the prices are indexed 0..60. Also, professional beta services use monthly data over a five year period. Now, calculate monthly holding period returns using the prices and dividends. For example, the return for month 2 will be calculated as: r_2 = ( p_2 - p_1 + d_2 ) / p_1 Here r denotes return, p denotes price, and d denotes dividend. The following table of monthly data may help in visualizing the process. Monthly data is preferred in the profession because investors' horizons are said to be monthly. =========================================== # Date Price Dividend(*) Return =========================================== 0 12/31/86 45.20 0.00 -- 1 01/31/87 47.00 0.00 0.0398 2 02/28/87 46.75 0.30 0.0011 . ... ... ... ... 59 11/30/91 46.75 0.30 0.0011 60 12/31/91 48.00 0.00 0.0267 =========================================== (*) Dividend refers to the dividend paid during the period. They are assumed to be paid on the date. For example, the dividend of 0.30 could have been paid between 02/01/87 and 02/28/87, but is assumed to be paid on 02/28/87. So now we'll have a series of 60 returns on the stock and the index (1...61). Plot the returns on a graph and fit the best-fit line (visually or using some least squares process): | * / stock | * * */ * returns| * * / * | * / * | * /* * * | / * * | / * | | +------------------------- index returns The slope of the line is Beta. Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, and others use a very similar process (they differ in which index they use and in some econometric nuances). Now what does Beta mean? A lot of disservice has been done to Beta in the popular press because of trying to simplify the concept. A beta of 1.5 does *not* mean that is the market goes up by 10 points, the stock will go up by 15 points. It even *doesn't* mean that if the market has a return (over some period, say a month) of 2%, the stock will have a return of 3%. To understand Beta, look at the equation of the line we just fitted: stock return = alpha + beta * index return Technically speaking, alpha is the intercept in the estimation model. It is expected to be equal to risk-free rate times (1 - beta). But it is best ignored by most people. In another (very similar equation) the intercept, which is also called alpha, is a measure of superior performance. Therefore, by computing the derivative, we can write: Change in stock return = beta * change in index return So, truly and technically speaking, if the market return is 2% above its mean, the stock return would be 3% above its mean, if the stock beta is 1.5. One shot at interpreting beta is the following. On a day the (S&P-type) market index goes up by 1%, a stock with beta of 1.5 will go up by 1.5% + epsilon. Thus it won't go up by exactly 1.5%, but by something different. The good thing is that the epsilon values for different stocks are guaranteed to be uncorrelated with each other. Hence in a diversified portfolio, you can expect all the epsilons (of different stocks) to cancel out. Thus if you hold a diversified portfolio, the beta of a stock characterizes that stock's response to fluctuations in the market portfolio. So in a diversified portfolio, the beta of stock X is a good summary of its risk properties with respect to the "systematic risk", which is fluctuations in the market index. A stock with high beta responds strongly to variations in the market, and a stock with low beta is relatively insensitive to variations in the market. E.g. if you had a portfolio of beta 1.2, and decided to add a stock with beta 1.5, then you know that you are slightly increasing the riskiness (and average return) of your portfolio. This conclusion is reached by merely comparing two numbers (1.2 and 1.5). That parsimony of computation is the major contribution of the notion of "beta". Conversely if you got cold feet about the variability of your beta = 1.2 portfolio, you could augment it with a few companies with beta less than 1. If you had wished to figure such conclusions without the notion of beta, you would have had to deal with large covariance matrices and nontrivial computations. Finally, a reference. See Malkiel, _A Random Walk Down Wall Street_, for more information on beta as an estimate of risk. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Books About Investing (especially stocks) From: jhc@iris.uucp, nfs@princeton.edu, ajayshah@rcf.usc.edu, rbeville@tekig5.pen.tek.com Books are organized alphabetically by author's last name. Author Title(s) ----- -------- Peter Bernstein Capital Ideas George S. Clason The Richest Man in Babylon Burton Crane The Sophicated Investor William Donoghue No-Load Mutual Fund Guide Louis Engel How to Buy Stocks Norman G. Fosback Stock Market Logic Benjamin Graham The Intelligent Investor, Security Analysis C. Colburn Hardy The Fact$ of Life Jiler How Charts Can Help You Gerald M. Loeb The Battle for Investment Survival Peter Lynch One Up on Wall Street Burton Malkiel A Random Walk Down Wall Street Sylvia Porter New Money Book for the 80s Pring Technical Analysis Explained Claude Rosenberg Stock Market Primer L. Louis Rukeyser How to Make Money in the Stock Market Charles Schwab How to be Your Own Stockbroker John A. Straley What About Mutual Funds Andrew Tobias [Still] Only [other] Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (3 books, very similar titles) Train Money Masters, New Money Masters Venita Van Caspel Money Dynamics for the 1990s Martin Zweig Winning on Wall Street ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Bull and Bear Lore From: keith@iscp.Bellcore.COM This information is excerpted from "The Lore and Legends of Wall Street," a book by Robert M. Sharp. During Gold Rush days in California, there were bull fights. Sometimes the bull faced a bear instead of a matador. Bulls throw the bear UP in the air using their horns to win (kill the bear); bears pull the bull DOWN to the ground to win (kill the bull). Somehow these terms became associated with the markets, probably due to trading in gold-mining stock. The terms 'bull' and 'bear' then told the market's direction. Later, Cornelius Varderbilt fought Daniel Drew for control of the Harlem Railroad. Some writer compared their fight to bull-bear fights in California. This usage apparently made the terms stick. BTW, Vanderbilt eventually won. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Computing the Rate of Return on Monthly Investments From: jedwards@ms.uky.edu Q: Assume $X is invested at the beginning of the year into some mutual fund or like account, with $Y added to the account every month. Now, down the road, if the value at any given month "i" is Vi, what conclusions can be drawn from it ? The relevant formula is F = P(1+i)**n - p((1+i)**n - 1)/i where F is the future value of your investment (i.e., the value after n periods), P is the present value of your investment (i.e., the amount of money you invest initially), p is the payment each period (p is negative if you are adding money to your account and positive if you are taking money out of your account), n is the number of periods you are interested in, and i is the interest rate per period. You cannot manipulate this formula to get a formula for i; you have to use some sort of iterative method or buy a financial calculator. One thing to keep in mind is that i is the interest rate *per period*. You may need to compound the rate to obtain a number you can compare apples-to-apples with other rates. For instance, a 1 year CD paying 12% interest is not as good an investment as an investment paying 1% per month for a year. If you put $1000 into each, you'll have $1120 in the CD at the end of the year but $1000*(1.01)**12 = $1126.82 in the other investment due to compounding. I always convert interest rates of any kind into a "simple 1-year CD equivalent" for the purposes of comparison. See also the 'irr' program which has been posted to misc.invest several times. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Computing Compound Return From: bakken@cs.arizona.edu, chen@digital.sps.mot.com To calculate the compounded return, just figure out the factor by which the investment multiplied. Say $1000 went to $3200 in 10 years. Take the 10th root of 3.2 (the multiplying factor) and you get a compounded return of 1.1233498 (12.3% per year). To see that this works, note that 1.1233498**10 = 3.2. Another way of saying the same thing: In my calculation, I assume all the gains are reinvested so following formula applies: TR = (1 + AR) ** YR where TR is total return, AR is annualized return, and YR is year. To calculate annualized return otherwise, following formula applies: AR = (10 ** (Log TR/ YR)) - 1 Thus a total return of 950% in 20 years would be equivalent of 11.914454% annualized return. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Discount Brokers From: davida@bonnie.ics.uci.edu, edwardz@ecs.comm.mot.com, gary@intrepid.com A discount broker is merely a way to save money for people who are looking out for themselves. According to Charles Schwab, the big difference between them and "the other guys" is that there is no analyst sitting in the back that will call you up and encourage you to purchase a stock. They have people there that can provide good financial advice--but only if you ask. If you walk in the door and say "I want to buy XXX", that's what they'll do. List of US discount brokers and phone numbers: Accutrade First National 800 762 5555 K. Aufhauser & Co. 800 368 3668 Brown & Co. 800 343 4300 Fidelity Brokerage 800 544 7272 Kennedy, Cabot, & Co. 800 252 0090 213 550 0711 Barry Murphy & Co. 800 221 2111 Norstar Brokerage 800-221-8210 Olde Discount 800 USA OLDE Pacific Brokerage Service 800 421 8395 213 939 1100 Andrew Peck Associates 800 221 5873 212 363 3770 Quick & Reilly 800 456 4049 Charles Schwab & Co. 800 442 5111 Scottsdale Securities 800 727 1995 818 440 9957 Stock Cross 800 225 6196 617 367 5700 Vanguard Discount 800 662 SHIP Waterhouse Securities 800 765 5185 Jack White & Co. 800 233 3411 Here is a table to compare commissions at various discount brokers. This is based on commission schedules gotten at various times in 1991 and 1992. These tables are for stocks only, not bonds or other investments. $2000 trades Firm 400@ 5 200@10 100@20 50@40 25@80 K. Aufhauser $ 43.49 $ 27.49 $ 25.49 $ 25.49 $ 25.49 Pacific Brokerage $ 38.00 $ 28.00 $ 28.00 $ 28.00 $ 28.00 Jack White & Co. $ 45.00 $ 39.00 $ 36.00 $ 34.50 $ 33.75 Kennedy, Cabot, & Co. $ 38.00 $ 38.00 $ 38.00 $ 23.00 $ 23.00 Bidwell & Co. $ 41.25 $ 31.25 $ 27.25 $ 25.75 $ 23.50 Quick & Reilly $ 50.00 $ 50.00 $ 49.00 $ 49.00 $ 49.00 Olde Discount $ 35.00 $ 50.00 $ 40.00 $ 40.00 $ 40.00 Vanguard Discount $ 57.00 $ 57.00 $ 48.00 $ 40.00 $ 40.00 Fidelity Brokerage $ 63.50 $ 63.50 $ 54.00 $ 54.00 $ 54.00 Charles Schwab $ 64.00 $ 64.00 $ 55.00 $ 55.00 $ 55.00 $8000 trades Firm 1600@ 5 800@10 400@20 200@40 100@80 K. Aufhauser $ 90.50 $ 61.50 $ 43.49 $ 27.49 $ 25.49 Pacific Brokerage $ 74.00 $ 63.00 $ 38.00 $ 28.00 $ 28.00 Jack White & Co. $ 81.00 $ 57.00 $ 45.00 $ 39.00 $ 36.00 Kennedy, Cabot, & Co. $ 123.00 $ 63.00 $ 38.00 $ 38.00 $ 38.00 Bidwell & Co. $ 84.75 $ 56.75 $ 45.25 $ 39.25 $ 30.25 Quick & Reilly $ 79.00 $ 79.00 $ 79.00 $ 79.00 $ 49.00 Olde Discount $ 67.50 $ 95.00 $ 70.00 $ 60.00 $ 40.00 Vanguard Discount $ 82.00 $ 82.00 $ 82.00 $ 82.00 $ 48.00 Fidelity Brokerage $ 109.00 $ 102.70 $ 102.70 $ 102.70 $ 54.00 Charles Schwab $ 120.00 $ 103.20 $ 103.20 $ 103.20 $ 55.00 $32000 trades Firm 6400@ 5 3200@10 1600@20 800@40 400@80 K. Aufhauser $ 194.50 $ 138.50 $ 90.50 $ 72.50 $ 67.50 Pacific Brokerage $ 218.00 $ 139.00 $ 91.00 $ 63.00 $ 38.00 Jack White & Co. $ 161.00 $ 97.00 $ 81.00 $ 57.00 $ 45.00 Kennedy, Cabot, & Co. $ 195.00 $ 99.00 $ 123.00 $ 63.00 $ 38.00 Bidwell & Co. $ 252.75 $ 140.75 $ 100.75 $ 88.75 $ 57.25 Quick & Reilly $ 222.00 $ 131.40 $ 131.40 $ 131.40 $ 131.40 Olde Discount $ 187.50 $ 215.00 $ 135.00 $ 115.00 $ 90.00 Vanguard Discount $ 156.00 $ 156.00 $ 156.00 $ 156.00 $ 156.00 Fidelity Brokerage $ 301.00 $ 173.00 $ 169.90 $ 169.90 $ 169.90 Charles Schwab $ 360.00 $ 200.00 $ 170.40 $ 170.40 $ 170.40 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Dollar Cost and Value Averaging From: suhre@trwrb.dsd.trw.com Dollar Cost Averaging purchases a fixed dollar amount each transaction (usually monthly via a mutual fund). When the fund declines, you purchase slightly more shares, and slightly less on increases. It turns out that you lower your average cost slightly, assuming the fund fluctuates up and down.