Expert: Paul Henneman - 10/31/2008

Question
I am a novice investor, dipping into Ins stocks such as Pru, Met Life, some GE and Chubb. I am using Sharebuilders.  I know what real time quotes are, and they differ from last trade quote (that can have a 20 minute delay).  My question is; what figure do I use if I want to buy (I am buying for the long term).  Thank you!

Answer
Donna,
   Thank you for your question! The real time quote is always the most accurate, and should be the figure you use to buy your stocks. However, if you are purchasing stocks for the long term, there is no need to spend any fees on real time quotes. If it is available at no charge to you on ShareBuilder, great. But if not, there is no need to pay any additional fees if you are trading long term. The difference between a 20 minute delayed quote and a real time quote will be statistically insignificant if you invest for a longer time period than a few months.
   If you do want real time quotes, Yahoo Finance now offers that for free. You can go to http://finance.yahoo.com enter a ticker, and view the real time quote at the top of the page, and the 20 minute delayed quote is also displayed just below.

I hope this helps! Please do not hesitate to follow up with me if I can be of any additional service.

Sincerely,
Paul Henneman
President
ValuEngine Inc
www.ValuEngine.com