WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED THE dapp...

WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED THE dappled FOOL?

Remember Shakespeare? Remember "As You Like It"? In Elizabethan days, zanys were the only people who could earn away with telling the principle to the king or queen The mingled Fool tells the truth about investing and reliances you'll laugh all the way to the bank.

FOOL'S institute

PICKING A factor

If you've been learning about investing and are ready to plunk one money into a few stocks, you probably ne to pick a brokerage. (Even if you already have individual you might look around for a better one) Opening a brokerage account is not frequently more complicated than opening a bank account, however here are some factors you might consider as you compare brokerages.

- costlinesss Traditional full-service brokerages can charge $100 or more by trade, but there are exuberance of terrific brokerages charging $12 or les Consider what other unconditional tenures are charged, too (IRA custodian fee-simples wire transfer fees, account inactivity compensations annual fees, etc.).

- Minimum initial deposit. a brokerages require at least several thousand dollars; others have no minimum.

- Usability and service. If the brokerage furnishs online trading, check out its Web site's interface and descry how easy it is to use. Ask about questions and see how responsive the customer service is.

- Banking services. any brokerages now offer banking services, as it was as check-writing, money market accounts, credit cards, ATM cards, direct deposit and more.

- Research. Many brokerages now propose free company research for their customers. Of course, there's affluence of research available for exempt all over the Web.

- Mutual store offerings. Many brokerages offer a variety of mutual stocks If you're interested in a certain quantity of particular funds, check to view which brokerages offer them. Know, granting that you can usually purchase no-load mutual permanent funds directly from their companies.

- Non-stock offerings. If you're interested in fastenings for example, see whether they're showed

- Convenience. Would you rather place orders between the walls of an actual person, touch-tone phone or the Web? a of these factors are more important than others. To guide your decision, list all the services you ne and use -- then evaluate each contender in succession each category. For more onward brokerages, visit www.brokerage.fool.com and http:// dmoz.org/Business/

Investing/Brokerages.

nearest week we'll tackle kinds of orders.

THE party-colored FOOL TAKE

PEPSICO'S growing STORY

Long-term shareholders in PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) must be same glad that the company mov into salty snacks and non-carbonated beverages many years ago.

latter quarterly results once again present to view that the carbonated beverage business is a efficient cash flow generator, but it's not a colossal growth driver. In fact, sales declined slightly for the company's Pepsi and Diet Pepsi beverages. For produce you have to look to the non-carbonated beverages, Frito Lay and the international business, where there are puissant volume and revenue increases. The product story at PepsiCo is stronger than it is at rival Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO)

Management look forward tos the firm to earn at least $295 by share this year, up nearly 11 percent through last year. It plans to purchase back $3 billion worth of stock for the entire fiscal year and has purchased $147 billion to such a degree far this year. The stock present the appearances reasonably valued, assuming 8 percent to 9 percent pullulation in free cash flow in the coming years. Add in the dividend yield north of 16 percent and the $3 billion in repurchases, and there is a small margin of safety in the stock's price -- allowing not a large enough united to drive a truck by the agency of Still, for a company of PepsiCo's quality, so discounts don't come along ofttimes

MY DUMBEST INVESTMENT

MISSED THE PLANE

It was the late '80 I was 12 and fascinated according to Wal-Mart and how it made its circulating medium At that age, my parents trusted me with a portion of my college edifice [i]or[/i] building savings. We must have flown forward Southwest at least 10 times in three years. I imagination the attendants were hysterical! It present the appearanceed to have similar values as Wal-Mart, and I really deliberation the airline would soon expand. I didn't bribe shares of Southwest. Instead I was swayed by means of my parents' broker to purchase into Toys-R-Us. Well, Toys blood-thirsty on hard times, but Southwest went onward to dominate its industry.

-- Cannon Fletcher,

Little strength Ark.

The idiot Responds: Many people are swayed by dint of brokers, assuming they're much savvier stock pickers. on the contrary remember that many brokers are simply salespeople. If your research has yielded about compelling investment ideas, don't exchange yourself short.

Just be positive to keep up with your companies' progres Evaluate industries carefully, too -- the airline business is exceptionally difficult, fit to fare wars, fuel require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergones logistics and more. Southwest's succes has been a rarity.

NAME THAT COMPANY

send out your answer to us with Foolish Trivia forward the top and you'll be inscribeed into a drawing for a nifty prize!

- Based in Greensboro, NC and tracing my history back more than 100 years, I'm a top branded apparel company, specializing in jeanswear, outdoor cropss intimate apparel, image apparel and sportswear.