Easy Equities good or bad?

martin said:
Hi Justin,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions regarding EE. I have a question as someone fairly new to managing some of my own investments. How does EE handle dividend payouts on whole and partially owned shares? Are they automatically reinvested or would they reflect as an additional amount in one's available balance?

If anyone else can answer this, please feel free to do so.
Click to expand...

They are paid to the money account and you'll need to reinvest it yourself.
 
Shalin_ZN said:
Okay one-post-wonder, we can't just take your word for it. We're gonna need need proof.

What company was this, when did you see your name on the SR and how did you get access to the SR, so that one of us can verify this.

I really hope this isn't another horrendous marketing attempt from EE. If it is, their PR person needs to be fired, especially after the way that Romi made his first appearance.

BTW, EE's own website says that the shares are registered in "their" name with you marked as the beneficial owner.
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JustinPearse said:
HI Toothless,

This discussion and your post has just been brought to my attention by an unconcerned EasyEquities client who thankfully alerted me to the post so that I could respond.

Your post is factually incorrect. EasyEquities is not in any way, shape or form a scheme. It's very much a legitimate business that is regulated by the FSB, that provides investors with a low-cost and easy-to-use platform giving them the ability to invest on the stock exchange. Ownership of whole shares are in the name of the Investor. If you go and look at the share registers of the respective companies in which the investors hold shares, it is their names that sit on those share registers as the owner of the shares.

If you have a look at the "What Protections do you have" section at the bottom of Page 3 of our Terms and Conditions available here https://www.easyequities.co.za/Content/Documents/EASYEQUITIES_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf, you will see it clearly explained that whole securities belong to the investor and are kept separate from our estate and our assets. The fact that they are held in safe custody by a nominee company is common practice in the Financial Services industry.

The fractional shares (an innovative concept we have devised to give Investors with lower sums of money the ability to get invested on the stock exchange) work on a more complex basis where the Investor does not own the underlying reference instrument, but the Investor has a contractual claim against us under the transaction. I will get further clarity on how the Investor protection works on fractional shares, but I need the assistance of our CFO in order to simplify the explanation before I am happy to communicate it but I can state categorically that they operate in a manner that offers INvestors protection in an insolvency event. This is also explained in our T's and Cs'.

If you have any particular questions/queries/concerns, please feel free to raise them with me and I'll be delighted to answer / explain them further. If you'd like to come into our offices and chat with someone to allay any fears you have, we would welcome that too.
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I guess that counts as evidence.
 
Hi Justin

Wrt fractional shares:
Assume I buy
Month 1 : 0.4 of a share for R100
Month 2 : 0.4 of a share for R110
Month 3 : 0.4 of a share for R105

I state different rand value every month because share prices always change with time.


At the end of month 3 : I will have purchased 1.2 of the share for R315

Is there a process to convert 1 share to whole share in the investors name while the 0.2 of the share remains as fractional?

If yes, how does this process work?
When will this process be triggered ? Automatically or manually (on request)

Thanks
 
midnightcaller said:
Hi Justin

Wrt fractional shares:
Assume I buy
Month 1 : 0.4 of a share for R100
Month 2 : 0.4 of a share for R110
Month 3 : 0.4 of a share for R105

I state different rand value every month because share prices always change with time.


At the end of month 3 : I will have purchased 1.2 of the share for R315

Is there a process to convert 1 share to whole share in the investors name while the 0.2 of the share remains as fractional?

If yes, how does this process work?
When will this process be triggered ? Automatically or manually (on request)

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes. It's an automatic process that is triggered when the holding exceeds a full share and the fractionals are converted into the whole share - in the investors name - with the 0.2 of the share remaining as a fractional.
 
Can anyone (Justin?) tell me where to brush up on rules w.r.t. which investment options are allowed as TFSA?

This stemmed from noting that on Easy Equities not all investment options from the normal investment account is available under the TFSA account, now of course I wouldn't expect to be able to invest directly in the stock of a listed company for example, but even the ETF options are more limited under TFSA (ABSA NewGold for example).

I'm assuming it is due to legislation / official TFSA rules rather than an EE business decision?
 
NarrowBandFtw said:
Can anyone (Justin?) tell me where to brush up on rules w.r.t. which investment options are allowed as TFSA?

This stemmed from noting that on Easy Equities not all investment options from the normal investment account is available under the TFSA account, now of course I wouldn't expect to be able to invest directly in the stock of a listed company for example, but even the ETF options are more limited under TFSA (ABSA NewGold for example).

I'm assuming it is due to legislation / official TFSA rules rather than an EE business decision?
Click to expand...

This may help
http://www.treasury.gov.za/comm_media/press/2015/2105022001 - TFSA Media Statement.pdf

And this maybe:

TFSA_ETFS_allowed_Jun15.png
 
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Hamster said:
This may help
http://www.treasury.gov.za/comm_media/press/2015/2105022001 - TFSA Media Statement.pdf

And this maybe:

View attachment 331935
Click to expand...

Thanks Hamster, it did help a bit, seems under the diversification requirement the underlying investment must be CISCA registered, which apparently most ETF's are, but not all, and most ETN's are not
http://www.iol.co.za/business/personal-finance/tax/tax-free-savings-accounts-what-you-should-know-1.1921253

So ABSA NewGold which is an ETF, but seemingly not CISCA registered http://www.iol.co.za/business/personal-finance/is-newgold-an-etf-or-a-more-risky-etn-1.1075015, is not an option ... weird effect in the name of diversification; I mean we can invest TFSA in SA government bonds, but not gold?

I know which one I trust more in the current market ...
 
pratlou said:
How can i open TFSA for my little sister? EE doesnt allow me to register stating "Must be atleast 18 to register"
Click to expand...

contact the call center. they have a application form where you need to sign guardianship for the minor so that you manage the account in their name.

they are sometimes sticky about the linked bank account though - think it needs to be in the minor's name.


*edit* - Shalin_ZN gave you the link to the forms :)
 
Hi Guys

I was wondering whether anyone could help me.
I have been using EE for a while now, and I absolutely love it.
I am moving to Europe in a year and a half, and I was wondering whether any of you know of an Easy Equities equivalent in Europe or the UK.
I am planning on systematically moving some of my savings over, so I will have a euro or pound portfolio when I get there, and also so I can start getting to know the companies on their stock exchanges.
I have been looking around, trying to find something, but I am rather new at this and I dont always understand their fee systems.
The online brokers I can find, which I think would be similar to Easy Equities, seem to be very expensive to me, ie. 4euro per transaction, and seeing as I will only be able to invest a few hundred, or maybe thousand Rand per month, this doesnt seem viable to me.

Sorry if this should be in a thread of its own, but Ive read literally every page of this thread in the last 2 days, and I believe that you guys would probably know how to help me better than anyone.

Thanx in advance
 
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