BreadWithSpam[at]fractious.net wrote:
- quote -

Okay, here's one nice thing: They charge just $3/transaction for
dollar-cost averaging into non-NTF funds; I don't know of any other
broker that makes it (relatively) cheap to invest periodically in
non-NTF funds.

http://flagship3.vanguard.com/web/co...nSchedule.html
(Just to show that you can get to their pages without pop-ups :-)

- quote -

My understanding is that Schwab increased what they were charging
*NON*-NTF funds for shelf space (i.e. simply to be available, even with
a transaction fee, at Schwab):

- quote -

"Investors who shop for funds via Charles Schwab ... will no longer be
able to buy Longleaf Partners funs after June [2003]. Longleaf, whose
funds have been available on Schwab's transaction-fee-only supermarket,
objected to paying a new $20 account-maintenance fee per customer ....
Schwab has caused much consternation in the mutual fund industry this
year with plans to increase the fees it charges fund companies to use
its fund marketplaces."
http://news.morningstar.com/doc/news/0,2,90331,00.html

Perhaps Schwab increased charges for all funds?
--
Mark Freeland
nBeOwXs[at]pacbell.net

I forgot to mention that many brokerages are enticing new accounts
by allowing a number of free trades. So you can use this to try
several of them serially and re-establish your positions for free.
However some may have large charges for liquidating an account.

- quote -

If you are in Fidelity brokerage, you have exactly the same
freedom to swap within the family as Fid mutual fund holders.
I think this can be true for T Rowe Price. IIRC Vanguard doesn't
even allow Vang funds in it's joke of a brokerage.

- quote -

Scottrade allows virtually all funds, and only 90 holding periods.

- quote -

More like 3 months or less, and sometimes with such light penalties
that it hardly matters. However Fidelity has special punishment for
chronic offenders; one of the few pitfalls of their excellant service.

"HW \"Skip\" Weldon" <skip5700removethis[at]hotmail.com> writes:

- quote -

It's nice if they attempt to. But they don't _have_ to, and
therefore, you still need to keep track yourself to make sure
they're doing it right.

I've got a couple of positions, now something like 8 years
old, for which my brokerage never got the basis right. In
one case, they just never got it, even though I bought the
stock through them. And in the other case, I'd had a couple
of funds in two separate accounts with the brokerage. Due
to a screwup, they merged the positions. After I demanded
that they unmerge them back into their rightful accounts,
the basis they kept on file for those positions in both
accounts was completely wrong.

That all said, ever since then - something like 8 years -
they've been spot-on and quite convenient.

--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting

Another criteria (with taxable accounts) is that the account keep
track of tax basis.

-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

Tad Borek <borekfm[at]pacbell.net> writes:

- quote -

To further elaborate - if you have several funds with Vanguard,
_without_ an actual brokerage account, you can still swap
money between various Vanguard funds online, quickly and easily.

Now, I do think that Vanguard's web designers ought to be
fired. The site is annoying as hell, popping up new windows
all the time for every little thing. It was a lot nicer
before a redesign they did a couple of years ago. It took
them a while to get rid of some annoying javascript bugs, too.
But as annoying as I find it, it does work.

So if all you have are Vanguard funds, it's kind of no-brainer.

On the other hand, I've never heard anything good about their
brokerage services.

- quote -

And, as you said, I'd lean towards one of the biggies - Fidelity,
Schwab, etc. Bear in mind that certain funds are not available,
and that their "no transaction fee" deals require you to be locked
into a fund for a minimum of 6 months (I think - it's several months,
anyway). Recently, Schwab raised what they were charging the fund
companies themselves for inclusion in the NTF programs and several
funds revolted.

- quote -

I'll second that, too. While I hardly ever actually have to do
so, I find it comforting to be able to walk across the street
from my office and deposit checks into my brokerage account. And
I do actually do so about once every couple of months. They even
have nice self-serve machines which take the check, scan it, and
print an image of it on the receipt. Very slick.

- quote -

Actually, I've found that more often than not, the walk-in office
tells me to go online to get forms. Not the other way around.

- quote -

Agreed on all points.



--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting

- quote -

Really interesting question; a great approach is to discuss online
here or not sure where else. Google past broker discussions in
misc.invest.mutual-funds which has given lots of first hand info
and comparison links, although biased toward expenses and funds.

Here are some issues to consider, although how the brokers handle
them evolves. I bailed out of one soon after joining due to new fees.

1) Test drive their web sites; I have rejected some for their
awful human factors, like unscalable tiny fonts or needless layers
of new screens required to accomplish trivial tasks. Some things
can't be evaluated until after joining I suppose, like how the
site displays margin - which can totally trash otherwise good site.

2) Consider their perks. Some have sweetheart tie-ins to credit
card deals, banking privileges, or financial organization software
including tax, etc etc. At least one broker can lavish frequent
flyer miles on you for joining or using them a lot. Some that
are run by mutual fund companies give extra capabilities for
dealing with in-family funds. One used to give free ISP.

3) Restrictions - for example do you care how limited their (free)
mutual funds selection is? Do they cripple certain features you
want for low balance accounts?

4) Confirmations - do you want nice, organized, consolidated
statements... or can you endure one major broker that gives NO
paper statements or confirmations at all - just electronic!

5) Handling requests - is it quick and easy to get money into
and out of their system? How hard is it to change address,
or an IRA beneficiary, or get new checks. Or is it too easy
to the point where you worry about security?

*) Fees are an issue that impacts how well the above are handled,
but it's not true that you get what you pay for. You may find
it best to actually try more than one broker, either serially
or in parallel, to find a happy tradeoff. Of course by then
your broker may change policies or be swallowed up by another...

kjay wrote:
- quote -

I'd suggest simplifying it and sticking to the short list of large firms
that have been around awhile, companies like Schwab, Waterhouse, and
Fidelity. That's assuming you need a broker at all - most beginning
investors stick with mutual funds, and if you buy funds from say
Vanguard, you don't have a brokerage account at all (you have an account
with the fund company).

If you want mutual funds that are available through brokerage firms, or
if you want to trade stocks...well the reality is that the majors are
very similar in cost and fund offerings and you might just pick based on
the look/usability of the web site. People who trade a lot need to
consider the commissions very carefully, but that won't be a concern for
you (I hope). It's worth comparing the fees because some can really
nickel & dime you.

Depending on where you live, you might consider an online broker that
also has a local branch close by. Not that you will use it all that
often, but I can't imagine dealing only through the mail. Check
deposits, last-minute IRA contributions, odd forms that you can't get
online, etc - it's nice to have a branch nearby. That might narrow it
down to Schwab or TD Waterhouse, but it depends where you live.

One thing someone else mentioned is paperwork...I think it's essential
that the firm send you paper account statements and trade confirmations,
even if you need to pay a little extra for it. This whole trend towards
electronic statements is a terrible idea, and I think it's going to lead
to a lot of missing records years from now.

-Tad

- quote -

Really interesting question; a great approach is to discuss online
here or not sure where else. Google past broker discussions in
misc.invest.mutual-funds which has given lots of first hand info
and comparison links, although biased toward expenses and funds.

Here are some issues to consider, although how the brokers handle
them evolves. I bailed out of one soon after joining due to new fees.

1) Test drive their web sites; I have rejected some for their
awful human factors, like unscalable tiny fonts or needless layers
of new screens required to accomplish trivial tasks. Some things
can't be evaluated until after joining I suppose, like how the
site displays margin - which can totally trash otherwise good site.

2) Consider their perks. Some have sweetheart tie-ins to credit
card deals, banking privileges, or financial organization software
including tax, etc etc. At least one broker can lavish frequent
flyer miles on you for joining or using them a lot. Some that
are run by mutual fund companies give extra capabilities for
dealing with in-family funds. One used to give free ISP.

3) Restrictions - for example do you care how limited their (free)
mutual funds selection is? Do they cripple certain features you
want for low balance accounts?

4) Confirmations - do you want nice, organized, consolidated
statements... or can you endure one major broker that gives NO
paper statements or confirmations at all - just electronic!

5) Handling requests - is it quick and easy to get money into
and out of their system? How hard is it to change address,
or an IRA beneficiary, or get new checks. Or is it too easy
to the point where you worry about security?

*) Fees are an issue that impacts how well the above are handled,
but it's not true that you get what you pay for. You may find
it best to actually try more than one broker, either serially
or in parallel, to find a happy tradeoff. Of course by then
your broker may change policies or be swallowed up by another...

I am a investment beginner.

I would like to know how other investors choose an online broker.
Other than commissions and fees, what is important for you? Do you
call on brokers and inquire directly, or ask your friends? What is the
best method to research and pick a broker? I sill don't have a good
discipline to choose a broker, especially online one.

I would really appreciate your help...

KJAY