How much of your portfolio is in Scottrade managed by you? What is your success?

Question

Where do you get help and what helps you make your decisions on what to invest in?

Answer 1

I have used Scottrade to manage the account of a friend via power of attorney. I used scottrade because it is reasonably priced for inactive trading. I was successful on behalf of my friend (30% annual return) but that has nothing to do with scottrade. I am experienced and merely picked them due to commission pricing. I think that sometimes option orders are slow to fill on Scottrade, but they are a brokerage for novice, and low to mildly active investors, not really for options traders. If you are looking for run of the mill stock investing through dollar cost averaging or other long term approach they are fine.

Answer 2

If you invest thru a discount broker like Scottrade, you manage your own portfolio and make your own decisions. If you deal with a full-price broker, you will be bombarded with recommendations for various investments often geared toward making commissions for your broker, and if you are lucky, a few good stocks may be among his recommendations.
If you want someone else to make the decisions, the best approach is to invest in a good mutual fund such as those managed by Vanguard.