A lot of people have a hard time deciding which brokerage to use for their investing. Some of the one you see on the television charge outrageous commissions. For the reasons below, I like both Scottrade and Sharebuilder, but each for something different.
Scottrade is an online discount brokerage that allows you to trade just about any security. The reason I love Scottrade is because they charge a flat $7 commission for almost all trades. This is not the cheapest, but it is close and the platform they provide you to trade on is extremely reliable (which is not the case with some cheaper brokerages). I primarily use Scottrade for purchasing individual stocks that I plan to sell once it reaches a pre-determined gain. Also, Scottrade has a great stock screener that you can use to filter stocks that meet your criteria.
Sharebuilder, on the other hand, is great for automatic investing. I use this strategy for my balanced portfolio which consists primarily of ETFs. The reason Sharebuilder works well for this is because they have an automatic investing program, where the commission for each buy is only $4, or if you see my post about Savings and Costco, you could lower your trades to $3. They do charge a higher commission to sell your positions, but I think the savings on the front end do balance out, and it make Sharebuilder something worth checking out!
- Robert
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