I know this has been discussed at length here but I have a specific concern.

I have used Schwab for the last 7-8 years and they have steadily improved their online offerings but they are still lacking some important features. Specifically I want a online broker that keeps my trading records digitally for an extended period. Schwab does not keep track of purchase price, splits, dividends or any other information beyond 1-2 years. This is not a problem for day traders but I have some stocks which I have owned for 3-4 years and I have to manually go through my paper-records to look up purchase price, splits, etc.

Is there an online brokerage which makes it easy to monitor your long-term buys?

Thanks!

 

I recommend you keep this info in a spreadsheet and not rely on your broker to track it for you. It's such a minor point that you should be more concerned with how they function as a broker (speed of execution, market access, price, product range) rather than as an accountant.

 

I agree. You shouldn't depend on anyone you can't hold liable if your taxes are incorrect. The only people you can really hold liable is yourself and your CPA etc.

By the way, keeping the records for a few long term investments is much easier then keeping track of several trades a week.

I enter every sale in two different places, one saved online, one saved on my computer.

 

My broker sends me a detailed statement by email every day. They just get saved in an email folder and I tansfer key bits to an excel spreadsheet to track my overall P&L for the portfolio. They don't keep track of how much money you make or lose, it's not that sort of broker.

 

Thanks for the input. For tax purposes I go back to my records but I just want a nice dashboard feature with all of the generally correct information.

 

Use a Yahoo portfolio and a cheap broker.