Stock Splits and Bond Redemptions
Most home banking systems make it easy to buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds,
CDs, options, and other investments. One advantage in investing through your bank is that all of your holdings are consolidated in one place. That not only makes recordkeeping easier, but many banks will charge lower fees, or even waive them altogether, if you keep all of your assets at the bank. The more money you keep at the bank, the higher the interest the bank pays on deposits and the lower interest it charges on loans. Another advantage is that you are able to comparison-shop online for yields on CDs and other bank products.
Banks will list all of the different maturities of their certificates with the current yields, so you can pick the CD with the highest yield and maturity appropriate for your needs.
Banks will also automatically update the value of your securities portfolio, usually every night after the stock market has closed. In addition, the bank will keep track of reinvesting stock dividends and mutual fund capital gains distributions and will adjust for stock splits and bond redemptions. The bank also should keep track of your cost basis so that you can calculate your capital gains liability when you sell an investment. All of these recordkeeping chores would be a tremendous burden for you to track on your own.
