It seems that the most popular firms for on-line investing all of which provide excellent platforms and services are; Scottrade; Chas.Schwab; TDAmeritrade; Fidelity; E-Trade and Thinkorswim.
Please remember, the cheapest is not always the best.
Cheap is not a good criteria for selecting a brokerage firm, you should be looking at the firm's trading platform, their services and the type of business they are doing. If you want cheap, go to Sharebuilder but if you want good you go elsewhere.
It seems that the most popular firms for on-line investing all of which provide excellent platforms and services are; Scottrade; Chas.Schwab; TDAmeritrade; Fidelity; E-Trade and Thinkorswim. For buisiness reason I use Fidelity for investment trades but for trading I use Scottrade & Ameritrade, and for options
I use Thinkorswim. But you must decide what's best for you not what's best for someone else.
There are different types of broker companies, but discount brokers are mainly the ones you hear a lot. discount brokers are cheaper, but they don't give advice. You are pretty much on your own. If you want a broker that helps you with your investments, prepare to spend more on trades and what not. Discount brokers include fidelity, tdameritrade, scottrade, tradeking,etc. More expensive brokers would be companies like merril lynch, schwab, vanguard.
Not all funds are offered though the specific broker. For example, if you want a specific mutual fund from fidelity, you might only be able to buy that fund if you have a fidelity account. Although the chance of you wanting a specific fund that isn't offered in the specific broker you've chosen is very slim, some companies will require you to invest more for that fund if you have a different broker.
Vanguard has some nice funds that are doing raelly well, but it is expensive to maintain. If I didn't mind the cost, I would choose vanguard. But since I do, and I do a lot of trading on my own, I chose to go with tdameritrade and fidelity. (I have both). I don't really deal with customer service, although I do lean more toward fidelity than ameritrade.
Wish you hurry up and decide so that you could stop asking this question
Best luck
try one like fidelity or tdameritrade or schwab and see how you like it; you can always SWITCH!!
I advise you since you seem to have the money, take online investment classes to learn how to invest your money yourself. Why pay other people to do it for you? That's how people lost half their life savings, relying on brokers to invest their money.
Vanguard in my experience is expensive for buying individual stocks, they are great for buying their mutual funds.
Fidelity, Schwab, TDAmeritrade and Scottrade are all good. There are lower cost ones but I don't trade enough to make it worthwhile to accept what I've read for poorer customer service at the highly discounted ones. I don't blame them, they need to make a profit and if you cut fees, that's less money for the company to provide services.
Which brokerage company is better for trading stocks, and ETF's, and for opening up an IRA account for a long term investor. Also for having a good customer service. Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab or Vanguard?
