Covestor and CVIM Blog

Covestor on Wallstrip

Today our CEO Rikki Tahta makes an appearance on the fantastic daily video show Wallstrip. We are big fans of Lindsays' so great to see Rikki on there. It is also his birthday today so VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY 'Rikki Rikki Tahta' from everyone here at Covestor!

Feature Update: Charting vs. Pros

Another great piece of functionality well worth checking out, the comparative charting feature has been further updated to allow you to compare you own performance - or that of any member you are viewing to one of the 50 largest professional funds! See how you compare over time, and ultimately whether your money is better spent following a brilliant individual or invested in an expensive mutual fund. Even in testing in the Covestor office we were pretty impressed to see our COO, Simon Veingard outperforming pretty much all of them since March - doesn't say much for the big guys...

New Feature: Comparative Charting

Today we put live a new feature allowing members to play with charts to view performance against a range of comparisons. Rather than just comparing a members performance vs their chosen benchmark you can now use a drop down to compare their performance to any benchmark, to yourself or to any other members that you are tracking.

Click on the drop down next to the charts to evaluate your own or another members performance. We will soon be adding further comparisons such as the ability to compare performance to professionals - watch out Fidelity...

Covestor Co-Founder talks to WJR

Covestor Co-Founder and COO, Simon Veingard spoke this last weekend with WJR Radio Internet Advisor hosts Gary Baker and Foster Braun.

You can listen here: 

How the Rich Invest

There was an excellent post yesterday in the Wall Street Journal Online on How the Rich Invest.

The summary was:  the rich don't invest in ETFs and Mutual Funds - but allocate more to actively managed opportunities like Hedge funds that are out of the reach of the less rich.  Grossly oversimplifying the article - the cut off for Rich in this case is $5m-10m range and the reason they don't invest in ETFs and Mutual Funds is they CAN invest in other actively managed instruments wheras the small guy (sub $1m assets) can't.

But the article also ends

Hedge funds and private equity also remain largely the purview of the wealthy, since their minimum investment levels are often in the millions (granted, fund of funds and pensions have made it a little easier for the little guy to get in).

That’s not to say that hedge funds and private equity returns are necessarily BETTER than mutual funds and ETFs. With returns for “private money” under pressure, with fees going up, and investments becoming more and more correlated, I would argue that while the rich may have more exlcusive investments, they don’t always get better returns.

and that is precisely  what we are all about at Covestor.  The institutions don't have any lock on talent and the world's changed - thanks to the SEC and the Internet - I have the same access and costs as the big hedge funds or bloated mutual fund managers - so there should be a free market, and a way for real talent to shine and be rewarded.

New Feature: Member Invitations

Following a number of feedback requests from members we have just launched the capability for members to issue invitation codes to friends or colleagues they deem to be qualified, proven self-investors.

Each existing member initially has two membership invitations. To send these out, and to track those you have already sent, go to MyAccount/Settings/Invitations. As ever let us know your thoughts...

Covestor in the news

Covestor has had some excellent coverage in the press over the last few days. See our Chairman and Co-Founder, Rikki Tahta, talking on CNBC's working lunch yesterday:

New Feature: Live Site Demo

Since going into public beta we have had a number of requests for an overview of site functionality and for access to demo accounts. Yesterday we therefore posted a new flash demo. It offers a tour of the site and highlights the key featutres and terminology on Covestor.

This is a large file and so will take time to load, particularly if you have a slow connection. Let us know if you are unable to access it or have feedback on aspects you think we could still help to clarify. Enjoy!

Click here to see the Live Site Demo

Beta launch - Covestor Site Live!

We are pleased to announce that the Covestor beta site has now moved to a live platform and is open to the world! A couple of great mentions already on Giga Om and on Mashable and we are up and running

Welcome to all of our new members and a big thank you to all of our Alpha users for their help and feedback! Let us know at Covestor if there is anything you would like us to clarify on the blog and we will do our best to respond.