Highly mobile investors can now access account information and market news and trade stocks from a variety of devices such as pagers, mobile phones and handheld computers like the PalmPilot. So you can manage your portfolio from the commuter train, airport lounge or even golf course. And such capability is fast becoming a standard offering from online brokers. Palm Inc. And the service was recently extended to include Web-enabled phones on the Sprint PCS network. The service is currently available through the Palm III or V, and the company plans to extend that to two-way pagers and wireless phones later in the year, says a Schwab spokesperson.
Some brokers charge a service fee on top of that.
There are other sacrifices you make for mobility, including unreliable connections, clumsy text entry and simplified Web pages that have been tailored for small screens. Nevertheless, adoption of these devices is growing fast and is expected to continue growing as the technology improves. Fidelity says the firm had 60,600 customers signed up for its InstantBroker wireless service at the end of April. Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright and reprint information.