Safecharge Share Discussion Threads

[049balt] 10/1/2003 16:32

theape, thankyou for that, your anger is understanderable, I too have lost money by taking advice from the "paul kavanaghs" of this world, and would love to meet them face to face to tell them what i think. When i saw David Schwartz on tv. he was very bearish on shares for the next 15 years, yes 15 years of gloom, he warned investors to take profits when they get them, which sounds like good advise, he also predicted occasional rallies from time to time, he believes that we are now at the beginning of one of those rallies but it will be short lived. I would not advise anyone to buy shares based on what D.S. writes, i would not do so myself but there is no harm in having a debate on the subject.

[theape] 09/1/2003 12:37

I have posted many times that the man is an utter menace who does his research, and then draws utterly the wrong conclusion from them.

he plugged life assurers as a buy in the telegraph.

the WEEK before the sector plunged and BRT lost half its value. ( that was before it lost another half this week.)

the charts were obviously bearish, he just fancied calling a bottom ( which he has done a few times) and yet again got it spectacularly wrong.

he was punting the servive sector a little while back for the rally in the ft. oh dear AMEY.

BEARISH divergence means nothing to the man.

Research is fantastic and very interesting and I enjoy reading. His conclusions from that research are DUFF and will cost you money.

when a chart or a sector is NOT starting to rally up, when it has done on every other occasion there is a bottom.

IT DOES NOT mean its spectaculary cheap, and due for a bounce.
It is a bearish divergence and the rally is false until the signal confirms.

I may be harsh.

but if you'd followed his tips you would have lost a great deal of money.

I assume he already has which is why he now "writes" for a living.

[ignoble] 09/1/2003 12:23

The one thing that man learns from history is that man does'nt learn from history !

[049balt] 09/1/2003 11:22

theape, this is the only thread that i have started and i am definitely not his pr. agent but glad to see you join in, what was, until your post, a good discussion, i agree with sentiments expressed so far, and have asked Mr. Schwartz to explain why shares will go up simply because history says that they will in his reply he said very little to explain his theory, I have seen him on tv. last year and he did sound convincing. I do not base my investment decisions on what he says and it remains to be seen if he gets it right for this year, so far he has got it very wrong. regards 049 balt

[theape] 09/1/2003 01:37

lets keep this at the top, because 049 balt has started a couple of these threads, and so is obviously his PR agent doing some "guerilla marketing"

lets make sure he gets his moneys worth from whatever he's paying her.

[moregas] 09/1/2003 01:34

Rip off. My Mum made a stew this week..no salt not herbs..nowt. All good natural flavours.

[mhsmith] 08/1/2003 22:25

Not impressed with what I have seen recently. I'm sure this time last year Schwartz was claiming that history shows that three consecutive years of stock market falls are a rarity, and therefore the probability was that 2002 would be an up year.

As far as I can see, the guy makes a living telling people that becuase they have flipped three 'heads' in a row, the chances are that they will flip a 'tails'.

I'm much more a fan of Mystic Meg, who in her stock market outlook for 2002 envisages a pack of strange furry beasts, the colour red, and significance in the names 'Cliff' and 'Fall'.

[robsworth] 08/1/2003 22:22

Utter rubbish .

Down 20% at least .

[049balt] 08/1/2003 22:12

I have started this thread to try and discover what investors think about David Schwartz. Those of you that are not familiar with this stockmarket historian should go to www.schwartztrends.com. He is bullish on shares [short term] and is bearish on gold, and predicts that the ftse will end up 20% this year, all because history says it will!!. He sounds convincing.......... regards 049balt

[mad mac] 23/12/2000 01:00

Brewin Dolphin's 'Stocktrade' is easily the best online brokerage IMNSHO.

One of the more expensive at £14.50 for a trade or 0.2% for larger trades, but no annual charges other than the small CREST maintenance charge.

I trade a lot of small stocks through them (including Ofex and non-CREST stocks)and have had perfect execution every time. I have NEVER had to wait on the telephone for them - and I often telephone to deal above NMS. They usually manage to get some price improvement without being asked to. They always call me back when they say they are going to.

They are also great in terms of cash management. Their online service usually offers genuine 1 day settlement of sales. Transferring money in and out is easy - by cheque, CHAPS, or BACS and they charge less than my own bank for a CHAPS transfer out. They pay interest on cash balances at 1% below the Bank of Scotland base rate.

I am one very happy customer and am gradually transferring most of my portfolio from other brokers (in particular E*TRADE) to them.

[technet] 23/12/2000 00:07

PW - I agree, which is why I'm prepared to pay more commission in order to use the bigger partner.

[gopher] 22/12/2000 20:21

Strange to say I visited C Schwab last Monday, they seemed quite paternalistic in their approach with an emphasis on ethics. The person I spoke to was ex Nat west and she stressed the difference between Schwab and Natwest where everyone was totally demotivated since the RBS takeover. Schwab is the sort of Company that the majority of ordinary people like to work for and in the end that shows through to the customer.

Aside from the occassional blip with their internet site they have always been very efficient at processing share splits/takeovers/right issues, imo that what you're paying discount brokerage to do - keep the paperwork straight.

[pw] 22/12/2000 11:57

I actually feel size and fiscal management are important aspect for my broking partner. I need to be sure that the company holding most of my wealth is actually going to be around to pay it out when I need it. You pay for what you get and economic reality always dawns later rather than sooner.

[hotei] 22/12/2000 11:16

Nice reaction to business downturn - bit of forward planning to try to avoid layoffs and spread the pain around, rather than focus it on a fewer number of individuals who'd be out on the street. In percentage terms, hit the senior people harder.

I went through a similar thing once at Hewlett Packard - senior managers 10% pay cut, middle managers 5%, everyone else no cut, but no rises either that year. Bill & Dave (jeez, I really am old enough to remember the founders) didn't draw a salary at all for six months. Remarkable effect on staff moral, seeing the senior guys take the pain of poor business performance rather than the little guys loosing their jobs.

[biomax] 22/12/2000 11:13

short on cs

[clem] 22/12/2000 10:54

The index was mothballed in September due to lack of nominations. Seems like our method is cleverer than even I thought.

[greystone] 22/12/2000 10:52

I can see 2001 being a year for conslidation in the Financial Services industry - whether it be brokerage houses or information services. There are currently too many companies chasing the same customer. CS and E*T (US) are big enough survive comfortably but I have serious doubts about the viability of many of the others.

[pippin] 22/12/2000 10:16

This lot could never succeed. No-one, including Bullie, can spell their name!

[pw] 22/12/2000 10:14

Assets under management have slipped back from them magic one trillion dollar mark. Now that's what I can a brokerage business.

[robber] 22/12/2000 10:10

presumably that explains why the refuse to respond to my request to close my account. :-(((

Neil

[addo] 22/12/2000 07:36

"Sackings will continue until morale improves"

I like that one !!

What ever happened to the ADVFN stock index, it would be lovely to see the current state of play. Might be worth kicking one off again in the new year !!

[bullshare] 22/12/2000 07:34

Seems that the management at CS, are showing to their staff that they are human and caring. They have cut their salaries. The 2 bosses cuts their salary down from $800,000 to $700,000.

The salaries of other senior managers will be trimmed by 10 to 20 percent in January and February. Junior officers will suffer a 5 percent salary reduction during the first two months of 2001.

And the rest of the staff, well no salary cuts, but they 'will be encouraged to take off 20 days leave unpaid'. I wonder what will encourage them, a big stick!!

Seems broking volumes have fallen by 20% in Oct/Nov and are still falling.

You can see why ADVFN has not yet piled into Broking. The writing has been on the wall for 'discount' brokerages. Now a premium on-line service is something different!