New to online investing. Which broker should I go with?

[thirteen]

I was looking at scottrade, mostly on a recommendation from a friend a while back. I was also looking into sharebuilder. Can anyone recommend one of these or even another that I may not be aware of that would be a good starting point for someone new to investing.

Thanks.

[Fishhead24]

Take a long look at E-TRADE......they offer many pluses, one being a savings account connected to your brokerage account that earns a high interest rate(currently 5.05%).

One can instantly transfer from the savings to the brokerage account at E-trade with a few simple clicks and be trading in no time.

[thirteen]

[ QUOTE ]
Take a long look at E-TRADE......they offer many pluses, one being a savings account connected to your brokerage account that earns a high interest rate(currently 5.05%).

One can instantly transfer from the savings to the brokerage account at E-trade with a few simple clicks and be trading in no time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds pretty good. Any idea what the account minimum is for an investment account? I didn't see anything about minimums in their help section.

[Ray Zee]

if you are investing then fidelity or vanguard may be the best. but for active trading lots of others have lower fees if thats what you are looking for. but that isnt investing. two entirely different balls of wax.

[thirteen]

[ QUOTE ]
if you are investing then fidelity or vanguard may be the best. but for active trading lots of others have lower fees if thats what you are looking for. but that isnt investing. two entirely different balls of wax.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not likely that I'll be actively trading, looking more for longer term investments. Probably only a few trades a year if even that. Basically taking a small amount of money that I can comfortably use to learn about stock investing. It's possible that if I get more comfortable with it I will invest more as time goes on but its likely that won't happen till next year.

I'll check into fidelity and vanguard. Thank you.

[smartalecc5]

I use fidelity and it is very complete and would recommend it.

[Jeff W]

I use E*Trade and I regret it. If it weren't a hassle to switch brokerages, I'd use Wells Fargo. You do need at least $25k to receive the free trades WF.

[mtgordon]

Zecco is free FWIW

[gull]

Zecco (and Wells Fargo if you have $25k) are both free. I'd look into them. SogoInvest is also a cheap brokerage.

Scottrade is a little more expensive, but it has branches all across the country so you can talk to people face to face. In addition, it is unlikely to be acquired, which might be a problem with Zecco in the next decade. In the past, some extreme discount brokerages get bought by bigger players and their rules change. Another positive about Scottrade is that it's free to transfer out. It sucks to have a brokerage that you have to pay to leave. If you want a referral to Scottrade, PM me (it nets us each 3 free trades).

If you want to invest directly in funds, I would recommend Vanguard over Fidelity, although both are great options.

[thirteen]

Thanks for all the replies to this thread. I'll be choosing one this weekend.

Zecco is very intriguing but I have some concerns since they seem like a very small player. Anyone have hands on experience with the software? Is it comparable to some of the bigger players?

gull, if i go with scottrade I'll pm you. Thanks.