What's the Best Online Financial Solution?

Financially Challenged asks "While lots of our techie contemporaries are making fistfuls of cash, I find myself stuck in a relatively impoverished academia. That will all change when I enter the real world in May. While I have little money now (hopefully some IPO magic of whatever company I work for will remedy this) I would still like to know what slashdot readers think the best online banking solutions are. Are there any hidden all-in-one total financial solutions that will let me keep track of my whole portfolio?"

One Stop Financial Management is a trap

Hi having graduated from a eco/comm programme and having been a suit before I saw the light streaming from my monitor I can tell you any and all one stop financial management solutions are a bad thing. It's a given that once a client is heavily vested you've got them by the whatevers and can lead them anywhere. The key to financial wisdom has always been diversify and this advise applies to services as much as to investments. Good luck

mbanx is bad.

I'm a charter member of mbanx (available in Canada and the USA). I've been banking with them for over two years now. I have a personal and a corporate account with them. I strongly recommend that people choose another bank though.

It took me two months to get my corporate cheques after opening my account. I had been told on three occaisions that the cheques had been printed and shipped and that the fact had been verified. When the cheques arrived they were printed wrong. I asked them to ship the cheques by courier and I went to the extent of asking for the name of the courier company and a tracking number. The told me they had shipped the cheques by purolator but didn't have a tracking number. I asked them to verify the facts. Later the cheques arrived via postal mail. When I asked for the phone number of a supervisor I was told there was none!

mbanx recently changed their pricing so that you have to pay for each time you view your account history on-line.

I won't be an mbanx customer for much longer but it takes a while to shop around and find another on-line bank who can provide everything I have at mbanx (on-line trading in US and Canadian funds, linked directly to my chequeing bank accounts, etc.).

I have tried to apply on-line to "President's Choise Financial" (actually run by CIBC I believe) but they never send me the enrollment package after I fill out the on-line application. I figure if they can't make a little CGI work, I'm not going to trust their banking system!

Paranoid considerations

Lotsa people do a full range online financial transactions online with no problems at all. But do read the service agreement: Most of the institutions that offer online banking & et cetera present lots of promises of absolute, airtight security... and in the fine print, you agree to take the full loss if someone manages to get hold of your login data and empties your accounts.

So you might want to bear this in mind when you decide which box(es) you will keep financial data on, and make connections from: This is a case where security really does matter. And BTW, you mignt want to see an independent security certification for the financial institution(s) in question.

This is probably redundant stuff to most /.ers, but someone had to mention it. So I did.

;o)

I also use Security First.

They are owned by Bank Canada now - I've been using them for about two years now, and they also offer credit cards that you can see along with your bank accounts.

They also have limited online reporting tools, and you can export your accounts in a Quicken format (although for me the online site offers all the tools I need and I don't use Quicken).

They let you schedule transactions if you like, or pay a one-time bill to a set of "Payees" that you can define and update. I use them to pay all my bills, and really like the web interface they have - very clean and simple.

They said they'd be offering online brokerage services soon as well, but the company they were going to use charges $19.95 per trade - I myself use Datek, and don't care too much that I have to go to seperate sites to manage my accounts. At least it's all online!

The only downside to SFNB is that they have no local ATM's (unless you live in Atlanta) so if you'd like to avoid an ATM fee you have to find a local credit union ATM that doesn't charge fees.

I don't do online banking or stock purchases...

Or I should say I don't yet. I have been looking for a 'one stop shopping' alternative myself and haven't seen much. It looks like one is best off to pick the best alternative for each area of financial services (bank, brokerage, etc.)

If you need to get education about the stock market along with free stock tracking and some cool Java interactive charting (which costs money anywhere else) you should check out the site my girlfriend works for: www.stockcharts.com [stockcharts.com]. Build up the hits there so she can get rich and take me on a trip!

Jack William Bell

Re:WingSpan

Wingspan bank has been a godsend. You get free use of many ATM's (They have an ATM search on there website and they work with several huge chains). They rebate up to 5.00 in other ATM fees from non-wingspan banks (another saver for those random 20.00 withdrawals for petty cash). 4-6% interest in a checking (i get an average of $5-$10.00 a month interest).

WingspanBank is the *first* bank i've ever had, where my money keeps its value. The interest is at good enough average that leaving money in the account over long periods keeps up with inflation and other costs, customer support answers and has answered within the first few rings of every time i have called. Online Bill Pay, free ACH transfers, Online Trading, Visa card, and very quick balances and payments.

Direct Deposits go in great, checks are payed in a timely matter, ATM/Visa Purchases actually show more then bank code (i hate that with other banks), So i can see where my money goes (the only leash i have for my girlfriend :).

So wingspan is my recommendation. Its an online bank, but operated by a national chain, so it has some establishment, while still showing great advances over the traditional offerings of other "pathetic online banks" :)

Review of banks/brokers at Gomez...

One site I've seen that reviews banks/brokers (along with user comments) is Gomez Advisors [gomez.com].

They rated my bank (SFNB [sfnb.com]) as one of the better banks overall, and I've really been happy with them so far.