{"id":12169,"date":"2012-03-16T09:10:36","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T13:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=12169"},"modified":"2012-03-16T09:41:52","modified_gmt":"2012-03-16T13:41:52","slug":"fidelity-rips-me-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=12169","title":{"rendered":"Fidelity rips me off. Long-term interest rates start rising."},"content":{"rendered":"

Fidelity rips its customers off with misleading software: <\/strong>The story: A talented friend takes over a mutual fund. I figure I’ll buy a little. I spend $25,000. When I check my Fidelity online the next day, it\u00a0 shows I’m down $1,438.44 on that purchase. How can that be?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Turns out that Fidelity and the fund had charged me a 5.75% front end load, which I believe Fidelity did not adequately disclose. <\/span><\/p>\n

I call Fidelity yesterday, asked what happened. They explained the fee.\u00a0 I say I wanted the transaction reversed on the basis of their misleading and inadequate disclosure. They tell me — in no uncertain and in extremely unpleasant tones — to go pound sand. In other words, “Get lost.” Take my business elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several lessons here:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. There are always fees. That’s why Wall Street is in business — to collect fees. It loves fees.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

2. CHECK. CHECK. CHECK.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Don’t believe most everything your on-line broker tells you. Before I hit the button that said “Place Order,” this is the screen that Fidelity gave me yesterday. So where are the fees?
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicely hidden and totally disguised. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Paving Path to Fraud on Wall Street. <\/strong>The return of the Rip-Off Factor on Wall Street.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Just days before Greg Smith publicly criticized Goldman Sachs, a bill removing safeguards for investors sailed through the House. It is now on the floor of the Senate.<\/p>\n

Read today’s New York Times.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Something is happening to long-term interest rates.<\/strong><\/span> A reader sent me this chart late yesterday:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TBT is moving up. Finally.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/span>Latest “brilliant” computer fix-it ideas:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Turn off the annoying sounds Windows makes when it starts and shuts down. Go into Control Panel \/ Sounds \/ Sounds and choose the “sound scheme” called No Sounds. <\/em>This works in all versions of Windows. My new, quiet computers are a bliss.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

2. I’m still using Office 2003 . I poll my kids how they like Office 2010, which their companies had foisted on them. Universal answer: NO. They hated it. Few new benefits, no faster searching and a huge amount of wasted time learning new places for dong old things. Or as Claire wrote, “It was so annoying learning the new places Microsoft hid functions.” They call agreed “change is usually bad with software.” In short, if it works, don’t mess with it. And don’t upgrade unless you’ve tested the new upgrade and you can see the benefits of newness.<\/p>\n

3. My second screen (the external Toshiba one) conked out — because I had unplugged the screen and taken the laptop traveling. Only way to fix it? Reinstall the Displaylink drivers. Re-installing software and hardware drivers is typically a lot faster than trying to figure out what went wrong and coax them back into action.<\/p>\n

4. Every so often, I think I should “upgrade” from Windows XP and Windows 7. And every time I try, I end up asking myself, “What did I gain?” Speed? Reliability? Ease of use? And the answer, once again, is “None of the above.” Fortunately I only experiment with new software on my “test” computers\u00a0 — not the ones I use for real work. I continue to marvel at the arrogance of software companies who destroy perfectly fine software with their “new” ideas. In the trade it’s called\u00a0 “feature creep.” To me, it’s just plain arrogance. And Microsoft is the absolute worst, despite their stock having risen recently.<\/p>\n

5. If you’re using Win 7, however, do use the 64-bit version. You’ll get the ability to access much more than XP’s tiny 3 gigabytes of RAM memory. I’m playing with a new ThinkPad X220 which has 8 gigs of\u00a0 RAM memory. The problem with 64-bit operating systems is much old software doesn’t work. For example, my favorite, old synchng software called FileSync doesn’t work. But Microsoft’s free SyncToy 2.1 does. Microsoft describes SyncToy as:<\/p>\n

SyncToy 2.1 is a free application that synchronizes files and folders between locations. Typical uses include sharing files, such as photos, with other computers and creating backup copies of files and folders.<\/p>\n

Pick up a copy here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Lean Times for Dewey & LeBoeuf.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Fascinating story of a mammoth legal merger gone all wrong. Read the New York Times story here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How to retire in style<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I need to buy something.”\u00a0 — Jackie Mason<\/p>\n

Wonderful iPad video. <\/strong><\/span>The German video shows a father who has received an iPad as a gift from his daughter.\u00a0 She is asking him whether he likes his new ‘toy’ and he then …. well,\u00a0 wait till you see.\u00a0 You’ll die laughing. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Latest favorite “joke.”
\n<\/strong><\/span>Two women were for a stroll. One had a Doberman and the other, a Chihuahua . As they walked down the street, the one with the Doberman said to her friend, “Let’s go over to that bar for a drink.”<\/p>\n

The lady with the Chihuahua said, “We can’t go in there. We’ve got dogs with us.”<\/p>\n

The one with the Doberman said, “Just watch, and do as I do.”<\/p>\n

They walked over to the bar and the one with the Doberman put on a pair of dark glasses and started to walk in.<\/p>\n

The bouncer at the door said, “Sorry, lady, no pets allowed.”<\/p>\n

The woman with the Doberman said, “You don’t understand. This is my seeing-eye dog.”<\/p>\n

The bouncer said, “A Doberman?”<\/p>\n

The woman said, “Yes, they’re using them now. They’re very good.”<\/p>\n

The bouncer said, “OK, come on in.”<\/p>\n

The lady with the Chihuahua thought that convincing him that a Chihuahua was a seeing-eye dog may be a bit more difficult, but thought,”What the heck,” so she put on her dark glasses and started to walk in.<\/p>\n

Once again the bouncer said, “Sorry, lady, no pets allowed.” The woman said, “You don’t understand. This is my seeing-eye dog”<\/p>\n

The bouncer said, “A Chihuahua?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The woman replied: “A Chihuahua ? They gave me a Chihuahua?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harry Newton who notes the new iPad goes on sale today. Steal yourself for yet more photos of happy Apple fans lining up outside Apple retail stores in hopes of snaring one.\u00a0 TaskRabbit even sent out a mass email yesterday,<\/p>\n

“Get the latest iPad without the hassle. Hire a TaskRabbit to wait in line for you to get your hands on the latest Apple phenom!”<\/p>\n

TaskRabbit is one of the more brilliant startups of recent years. Should you need something done, you post the task and how much you’re willing to pay.\u00a0 One or several local “taskrabbits” will respond. Bingo, your problem solved.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Daughter Claire, a busy, successful lawyer,\u00a0 uses TaskRabbit all the time. Example: She and husband Ted recently flew from Boston to Portland, Oregon for son Michael’s surprise 30th birthday.\u00a0 She had TaskRabbit pick them up at Portland Airport with a bunch of\u00a0 “Happy Birthday” helium balloons and drive them to Michael’s house. The adventure went off perfectly, though they did get a little lost on the way to Michael’s Mansion. Cost $60. No extra charge for the tour.\u00a0 TaskRabbit checks all its people out before allowing them to become TaskRabbits. To use TaskRabbit, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

UBS upped its price target for Apple from $550 to $675. Apple closed last night at $588.81. Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal reviewed the new iPad favorably. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The finals of the Indian Wells Tennis are on this weekend. Check out the Tennis Channel and ESPN.<\/p>\n

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Fidelity rips its customers off with misleading software: The story: A talented friend takes over a mutual fund. I figure I’ll buy a little. I spend $25,000. When I check my Fidelity online the next day, it\u00a0 shows I’m down $1,438.44 on that purchase. How can that be? Turns out that Fidelity and the fund […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}