Trading
inside costco
places
ING DIRECT
Investing enhances
Costco program
FOR THE PAST decade ShareBuilder from
ING DIRECT Investing has been helping
Costco members invest with discounted pricing and benefits available exclusively to
Costco members. Over the years, the online
investing options available through the
Costco program have been enhanced to better serve Costco members. Now, at the program’s 10th anniversary, it’s even better.
“The Costco program has been highly
successful, growing by thousands of new
members each year,” says program manager
Jim Goforth. “In the last couple of years,
we’ve discovered our members wanted to
become more active in their investments.”
Seeing a growing number of Costco
members using ShareBuilder’s real-time
online trading feature in addition to the pro-
gram’s automatic investment options, Costco
asked ING DIRECT Investing to create a
real-time trade option available to Costco
members at a discounted price. At the same
time, the automatic trading options were
enhanced as well.
COMSTOCK
continued to increase,”
says Jim. As a result, ING
DIRECT Investing has
reduced the real-time
trade rate by 30 percent for
Costco members, from
$9.95 to $6.95 per trade.
“Customers can make
both real-time trades and
automatic investments in
ShareBuilder’s list of over
7,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds,” says Jim.
With automatic trades,
members can schedule
investments on a weekly, biweekly or monthly
basis. Since the new investment options were
implemented in February, “thousands of new
Costco members have enrolled in the program,” Jim says.
Executive Members who enroll in the
ShareBuilder program through Costco are eligible to receive a $50 account bonus after signing up and conducting their first trade.
1
Costco member Mitchell Stroum, who
has been using Costco’s ShareBuilder service
since 2008, cites “price, ease of use, instant
results and an easy website to navigate,” as the
program’s key attributes, and adds, “I have
used a broker before. This is so much easier. I
don’t have to call and find out if my trade went
through. It gives me peace of mind.”
2 C
Connecting
Go to
www.sharebuilder.com/gocostco today
for more information or to sign up.
Compare features
ShareBuilder
None
Yes
$6.95
Fidelity
$2,500
No
$7.95
E*Trade
$500
No
$9.99
Scottrade TD Ameritrade Schwab
Account minimum
Automatic investing
3
Online trades
4
$500
No
$7.00
None
No
$9.99
$1,000
No
$8.95
SOURCE: ING DIRECT INVES TING, ALL INFORMATION AS OF 4/23/12
AUGUST 2012 ;e Costco Connection 87
1. $50 Account Bonus: Executive Members must open a new ShareBuilder account to receive the account bonus. Additional terms and conditions apply. ShareBuilder is a service of ING DIRECT Investing,
Inc., a registered broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC. ING DIRECT Investing, Inc. is a subsidiary of ING Bank, fsb and is not affiliated with Costco. Securities products are: Not FDIC insured–Not Bank
guaranteed. May lose value. Costco is not a broker/dealer and will have no involvement in any account you establish with ING DIREC T Investing. ING Bank, fsb, and its subsidiaries, including ShareBuilder
Corporation, have been acquired by Capital One Financial Corporation and are no longer affiliated with ING Groep N.V. (“ING”). The trademarks ING, ING DIRECT, ING Lion, and the ING Lion logo, alone or as a
part of any trademark, logo, work or domain name are trademarks of ING and are used by permission.
2. While each story is a true experience of an actual customer, ING DIRECT Investing does not represent
that everyone will have a similar experience. Results will vary. These stories should not be considered investment advice or a guarantee of future performance.
3. Automatic investments are recurring or one-time purchases on Tuesdays. All sales are made real-time and are subject to real-time commissions.
4. For complete information, see ShareBuilder Pricing and Rates.
