<BreadWithSpam[at]fractious.net> wrote in message
news:yobfxvn2v2p.fsf[at]panix2.panix.com...

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You may be wrong :-) For example, here's the list of Schwab funds you can
buy at Fidelity:
http://content.members.fidelity.com/...f=N&app=retail

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Some brokers manage to get load waivers; Schwab is particularly good at
that. For example, Victory funds.
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/...lter=OneSource

- quote -

Once you have a position at Fidelity, you can make additional purchases for
$5, by scheduling automatic periodic investments (and cancelling after one
or more, as desired). Sales are still free.
http://personal.fidelity.com/product...est.shtml.cvsr
(see footnote on page)

Fidelity has excellent (low) fees on bonds, and middling pricing on equity
securities (stocks, ETFs).

- quote -

WellsTrade gives 100 free trades/account/year, so long as you have a linked
PMA checking account at Wells Fargo. (The bank will charge for that account
unless you maintain $25K in linked assets, including the WellsTrade
accounts.) ThinkOrSwim gives three free fund trades per month (any fund
they carry, some 12,000).

- quote -

These days, vanilla index funds (e.g. S&P 500, EAFE, total market) come with
expense ratios as low as ETFs, without the transaction costs, and without
the buy/sell spreads (which are the real, albeit somewhat hidden) costs of
ETFs. A newbee should not, IMHO, be slicing and dicing the market with
narrowly focused ETFs.

Mark Freeland
BnetOnewsX[at]sbcglobal.net

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BreadWithSpam[at]fractious.net writes:

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Well, $75/purchase is not the "same as everyone else". E-Trade is
$19.99. Scottrade is $17. Some of the brokerages charge a percentage
rather than a fixed fee. Especially if you plan to make regular small
purchases of funds, it shops around to find a brokerage where the
funds you're most interested in are NTF, or at least shop around to
find one with the best combination of large selection of NTF funds and
low fees for the others. Also watch out for annual account
maintenance fees or minimum account balance requirements, if you're
starting out small.

-Sandra the cynic

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Sandra Loosemore <noreply[at]frogsonice.com> writes:
- quote -

As I've said before, many folks new to investing think that
"investing" is all there is to personal finance. There's
more - and often "investing" (in the sense of selecting
securities or funds in which to invest) is the *last* thing
they ought to do. Among the things which come first:
building up an emergency fund; getting adequate insurance;
paying off high-interest credit cards; figuring out how
to spend less than one earns; deciding whether to put money
in a 401k or an IRA or a taxable account;

Once all that's done, deciding how to invest the money
comes into play. Tyson's Investing for Dummies is quite
good, but for the complete novice, I recommend his
Personal Finance for Dummies first.

- quote -

All true enough. For what it's worth, though, Schwab also has
its own funds (and unlike the Fidelity funds, I don't think any
non-Schwab brokerage can hold them, though I may be wrong).

Fidelity's "supermarket" prices are the same as everyone else -
they charge back to the funds themselves for "NTF" funds (those
are the "no transaction fee" funds). They charge the standard
load for load funds. The only part which is expensive (and in
my opinion, outrageously so, for a company which is generally
otherwise pretty reasonable) is their fee for non-NTF no-load
funds. For those, they charge $75/purchase. No charge for
sales. (in fairness, that often gets one access to funds with
very low expense ratios and/or no 12b-1 fees, and as a
proportion of anything but a very small purchase, it may
pay for itself pretty easily, especially compared with the
hassle of, say, buying such funds directly from the fund
company).

All the brokerages which have "supermarkets" have both
NTF and non-NTF no-load funds, and they all charge somehow
for non-NTF transactions. ETrade, for example, charges
$19.99 each way on such (ie. $40/round trip, versus the
$75/round trip at Fido). Other places have different
rates, and different collections of funds available.

In many instances, it may be worth looking at ETFs
instead of paying non-NTF fees. Not only are the
funds expense ratios often lower, but so are the
transaction fees.

[I'll leave it to others to look up fund fees at
other places like Schwab, Scottrate, etc.]

--
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

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On Feb 17, 7:22*pm, ashlarso...[at]gmail.com wrote:
- quote -

I would learn about the following 3-4 key subjects before opening an
account anywhere:

1) Retirement planning
2) Taxes (and IRAs. 401ks and similar)
3) Dollar Cost Averaging
4) Asset Allocation and risk tolerance

This will get you started, but it will not help you choose a
brokerage.

I would look at the following websites for education material:

1) CBS market watch
2) morningstar
3) Fidelity will have some material, read that, then also read another
competitor's site (like T Rowe Price) to see what is real and what is
advertising.
4) There are many many online forums which could also help.

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On Feb 17, 4:22*pm, ashlarso...[at]gmail.com wrote:
- quote -


I think Etrade is having some major financial issues. That may be an
important factor.

Fidelity can certainly offer lots of help to newbies. Another one to
consider is Schwab.

Try not to post your email address on the ng. You'll get lots of
email from Nigeria.

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ashlarson26[at]gmail.com writes:

- quote -

If you are new to investing and need some help, your first stop
shouldn't be signing up for an account at one of the brokerage web
sites. Instead, either visit an independent web site that offers a
lot of tutorial material about how to get started in investing (like
the "Classroom" section at morningstar.com), or a library or bookstore
where you can get a good introductory book -- the "Investing for
Dummies" book seems to be quite well-regarded, for instance.

Brokers like E-trade, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, Schwab, etc are
brokerage "supermarkets" where you can buy lots of different
investment products. Your bank may also offer similar brokerage
services. Which one is "best" is primarily a matter of personal
preference.... which web site has the nicest interface or features you
find most useful, etc. Compare the fees for the products and services
you're most interested in or would use most often. Fidelity is both a
company that manages their own funds, and a brokerage; last time I
looked, their fees for non-Fidelity investments were quite a bit
higher than you'd pay at any of the independent "supermarkets".

-Sandra

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In article
<6295552f-d94a-41d7-bc60-bb6ea4406b28[at]o77g2000hsf.googlegroups.com> ,
ashlarson26[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -

That is like asking which is better, ketchup or pickels.

- quote -

Do you want us to pick your funds and write the checks, too?

A lot of this is personal taste, what works well for you, and
what your goals are. That is why you need to educate yourself,
and then go find out what you like.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III * * * * * 612-720-2854 * * * * * *john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications * * * * * * * * * * * * http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

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Hello i am 27 years old and i am new to investing, i dont know very
much about it, and would like some help.. i do not know which is
better, fidelity or etrade or even if those are any good. if you can
help me, i would like to know what is the best investment trade sites
are better and more easier to handle, i mean having someone trade for
me would be fine, but i would preferr doing it myself. but if you can
answer the question of which investment sites would be better like
giving me the top 5 would be good. if you dont mind calling me or just
plain sending it to my email at ashlarson26[at]gmail.com that would be
fine.. thanks for your time and patience in reading this, and
hopefully i will not be confused after this.. thanks

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