Comments on: SmartMoney 2008 Broker Survey

By: Kumar

Kumar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:33:13 +0000

Information given in this survey is very good and helpful to investor @ pricing and know better about brokers. One point I would like to make is the survey should also include the pricing for the touchtone trading system, since during day while you at work, the telephone is the only means available for trading if need to. As online trading are not permitted and blocked.

By: Lo. Price

Lo. Price — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:04:01 +0000

I just read the annual broker review in SmartMoney’s latest issue. Personally, I didn’t get much out of it and was not very impressed by the research that went into the article or the information presented in it. I kind of got the feeling the SmartMoney staff considered it a comprehensive check of each broker’s customer service by calling each one of them once or sending them an email. It would have been interesting to me for them to spell out the top ways individuals use brokers these days (both full-service and discount). Obviously, different brokers appeal to different people depending on their intended use for the broker. Personally, I am a small-time investor, mainly interested in buying ETFs in regular taxed accounts. I signed up with Zecco because commissions and fees trump all else in my book, yet they didn’t even win that category in the SmartMoney survey.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:25:16 +0000

thanks dj .. I’ll check it out. hope you’re all having a great long weekend

By: jim

jim — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:40:38 +0000

Hi Ron – I’m working on tightening things up so that it first in a 1024 resolution. Thanks!

By: Ron White

Ron White — Sat, 24 May 2008 12:23:59 +0000

except it doesn’t fit into 1024×768 screen resolution…

By: fred@opc

fred@opc — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:22:17 +0000

Jim, nice site upgrade… like the new look.

By: dj

dj — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:12:54 +0000

No Scottrade, they use to be #1.

Starting out you could always do something like Sharebuilder. I think ING bought them last year. Sometimes you can buy directly from the company. Checkout some place like http://www.dripadvice.com. Also checkout investment clubs or someplace like http://www.manifestinvesting.com.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:26:14 +0000

Good find!

As a general question (to Jim et al.)… For non-retirement investing, I have holdings in a handful of mutual funds that I’m happy about but would like to gain some experience trading stocks.. I’m fairly savvy at seeing broader opportunities and I think if I put my money out there it would motivate me to dedicate more time to learning how to become a more savvy investor…

So .. I was wondering what’s the minimum I should consider putting in play at one of these online discount brokerages (eg. TD Ameritrade)? Is it 500? 1000? 2500? My goal in the beginning would be to break even on earnings vs. transaction fees… so $500 doesn’t seem like enough.

Thanks for your thoughts!
Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend
-Dave