Where is the best place to invest with online?

Question

I'm new to investing and was wondering if some more experinced people could help. I've been looking at places like Sogo Invest, Sharebuilder, E*Trade, etc. Anybody have any advice for me? I would sure appreciate it, thanks.

Answer 1

There are a lot of good brokerages depending on what you like and how you trade.

Barron's has a great article on brokerages that they publish each year. (Latest one was in March 6, 2006 though the 2007 article “just” came out). Kiplinger does one too.

Here’s the link to the 2006 Barron’s article.
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1550280182488.html

Here’s the link to the new Barron’s 2007 – Best online Brokers 3/5/07
http://online.barrons.com/public/article/SB117288684364425609-wsYkdd74F9ukYSQgQJifDpHYwsY_20070402.html?mod=mktw

Here’s the link to the Kiplinger’s July 2006 article which isn’t bad either.
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2006/07/brokers.html


For basic stuff, E*Trade, Ameritrade, and Scottrade are sufficient. For more complex trades, I'd recommend Optionsxpress, ThinkorSwim, or interactivebrokers.

Based on what you put in your question, I'd recommend one of the first three, but all are very good. Cheapest probably is scottrade (of the larger online firms). Yes there are cheaper like interactivebrokers, but you'll have to get used to their software based platform (which is doable). They're only about $1/contract on options!

Brokerages like Fidelity are horrible for anyone with any decent experience. They can do basic buy and sell orders, but beyond that, they’ve got to be one of the worst “top” brokers out there. Not only are most of their customer service staff ignorant in what many transactions are, but their fills are usually slow, the statements are unusable (based on “last transaction vs. current conditions!!!), and they take forever to resolve any issues. That said, for BASIC buy and sell orders, they’re not too bad. It’s just a matter if you want to be with a broker that can grow with your experience.

So, decide what's important to you as a trader and compare the brokers! You can use the article, or go to each website as they all seem to have comparison charts!

And if there are particular things that you want to mention as being most important to you (such as executions, cust svc, cheapest trade - which you mentioned, flexibility on allowing you to do certain types of trades, stop and stop limit orders, contingent orders, great graphing, what if scenarios, training, etc), I'll be glad to help discuss this with you too!

If you have any questions, let me know.

Hope that helps!

P.S. I just found a link to a review of reviews as well! Here it is:
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/internet/online-brokers/reviews.html

Motley fool also does a small comparison of the “cheap” firms. Here’s that link.

http://www.fool.com/dbc/tables/compare.htm?source=ifldbcdbx0000001

Answer 2

sogo I do not recommend took me three months and multiple faxes to get my $25 back from them. Sharebuilder good for investing ONLY. They are NOT a day trading site. Etrade had some good offers but right now I am happy with Scottrade.

Answer 3

you can visit http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/forum i've been a member of the forum since 2005 and I learned a lot from the members. the forum offers a variety of discussion on almost any moneymaking opportunity online and offline.

Answer 4

Are you looking for stocks or mutual funds?