Hey guys,
I'm looking for an online brokerage company that will allow me to do some stock purchases and also invest in some "Good" No load mutual funds, and possibly some load funds. I'm hoping you guys can help me find one that offers these with very few fees or at least reasonable fees per transaction or monthly. I plan to make an initial investment and then a biweekly contribution if that makes a difference. I'll gladly take any suggestions that you guys may have to offer. Or if you know of any other good investment options that I should look into please share.....

what is the money going to be for?

Vanguard has the lowest mutual fund fees, but usually have higher initial contribution amounts (I think it's $3k to start in any fund). They do have a brokerage arm also that charges "reasonable" rates, but not the lowest. You can try Scottrade, Ameritrade, Schwab., really just about any discount online brokerage firm. They are all about the same. Just watch out for their fee structures. Some charge you the low fees ONLY for a market order. If you want to put a limit on any order, they can (and most likely will) tack on additional fees.

Here's some links

www.tdameritrade.com
www.vanguard.com
www.schwab.com
www.scottrade.com
www.etrade.com

Good luck!!

FIDELITY!!

I used to have several accounts, but after dealing with Fidelity for a while, I moved all my funds to them.

I use ThinkOrSwim.

But I use it for my self-directed IRA, and I do mostly credit-spreads and non-directional calendar spreads.

It works well for me for what I do. Might not be good for investing in what the OP asked as I have no interest in investing in mutual funds.

How old are you? I use a fidelity roth IRA (one of their no-fee deals) and buy into no-load mutual funds so I have no fees. There is a clause that you are allowed to remove money from the IRA before the age 60 cutoff without the 10% penalty if it is for certain things like a medical emergency, or paying for higher education (this is what I remove it for). Basically you have a no-fee brokerage account at your disposal.


To be fair I am 19 and trying to game the market, so my advice is probably not the best.

How old are you? I use a fidelity roth IRA (one of their no-fee deals) and buy into no-load mutual funds so I have no fees. There is a clause that you are allowed to remove money from the IRA before the age 60 cutoff without the 10% penalty if it is for certain things like a medical emergency, or paying for higher education (this is what I remove it for). Basically you have a no-fee brokerage account at your disposal.


To be fair I am 19 and trying to game the market, so my advice is probably not the best.
Do remember that the penalty thing will hold true with all IRA/401K accounts. I believe it may be more than 10%, but I forget. I know if it's not a Roth, you also have to pay tax on anything you take out prior to retirement.

No fee stuff can be good, but can also not be the best opportunity available. I have one mutual fund that I have ben in for about 7 months now. I had to pay something like $75 to buy into it, and I think they take something like 1.5%....but I've made over 70%. I'll gladly give up a SMALL portion of the gains. I figure that by them gaining a percentage it really makes them motivated to do the best they can with my money.

if you plan on investing a little bit each month into the same couple of stocks sharebuilder might be for you. You pick a dollar amount and each month they pull the money for you and buy the stock.

No matter what you do, you need to remember that the broker is an absolutely terrible place to get advice. I've heard more nonsense come out of people's mouths after the words "my broker said...." than just about anything short of "my professor said...".

Just remember that they're SALES people, just like you encounter on the car lot. The fact that they're online and impersonal does nothing to change that fact. They get paid whether their software or advice works well or not. They're not there to create wealth for you.

I bring this up because I always cringe when I hear someone wanting to start investing and his idea is that he needs "a broker". You're far better off sitting down with a financial planner who has the heart of a teacher vs. the heart of a salesman. Someone willing to look at the facts of your life, analyze your goals, and set up a plan that will achieve your goals. The vague idea that you want to "make money in the market" seldom gets individual investors very far, and it almost never outperforms the stock market as a whole. An actual plan, a comprehensive, rational, fully thought-out blueprint that will take you from Point A to Point B that you actually stick to is the surest way to always be in control of your financial destiny, because if focuses your energy and effort in a very powerful and productive way.

I use TD and really like it. Easy to use and pretty good customer service. Use to do Fidelity and left w/ sour feeling. TD gots some good free softward too, though I do use Esignal AdvanceGET for tooling.