Matt may think it’s all about Zecco. I think it’s all about advisers.

Zecco? Really Matt? Honestly, for investors who are holding big accounts at Zecco, Schwab isn’t likely to be an issue in any case. Zecco, for those who don’t know the firm, is a super-low-discount broker, offering everything from bargain basement foreign exchange trading to $5 options. A few ETFs are unlikely to even be on the radar of Zecco customers.

I think the real target for Schwab’s new ETFs is the money Schwab’s existing customers have in ETFs.

Schwab’s huge. They custody $1.3 trillion for their 5.3 million customers, and process over 300,000 trades each and every day. Perhaps most importantly, Schwab acts as the back end for over 6,000 independent advisers in their adviser services business.

It’s a mistake to think that Schwab, as a broker, is in the transaction business. Fundamentally, they’re in the banking business. Schwab makes 35-40

Every time the United States goes through a recession, the pundits all race to be the first to proclaim that “Buy and Hold” is dead.  I can’t watch a financial news channel or read a financial website without some mention of this proclamation.  Well I’m growing tired of it, and if it were up to me, I’d prohibit anyone else from making this point for the rest of 2009.

Buy and Hold is not dead, and I’m on a mission to prove it.  Buy and Hold has worked brilliantly for decades, and it will continue to do so in the future.  The stock you bought in 2007 is worth less now than what you bought it for?  Oh boohoo, go cry me a river…somewhere else.  The economy has peaks and troughs, and we’re in the middle of one of the more serious

There’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel— finally. Most of the really well respected, long term investors are advising their audiences to hang in there, to stop the panic selling, and to look for the great companies that have withstood the economic downturns of the past.

Buffet, Bogle, Gross, Schwab, and company offer sound advice— don’t run and hide, it’s time to hit the Wall Street Mall and go shopping! They’ve seen the indicators; they’ve been there before. So have many of you. Clearly, it’s time for action.

With IGV stock prices down 50% or more, and income securities as low or lower, Chuck Jaffe points out in MarketWatch that the case for loading up on managed Closed End Funds (CEFs) is a strong one. The great companies are in garage sale mode, and managed CEFs are selling at …