When Charles Schwab announced recently that the company will soon be increasing fees and requiring a higher minimum balance, Clark offered to compile his own list of top notch brokerages. He based his list on a compilation of rankings from SmartMoney, Kiplinger's and Money magazines.
1) Fidelity – Fidelity is a huge financial house that has an extremely wide range of services available but at higher than normal discount broker commissions. Expect to pay around $25 a trade.
2) Three firms received identical rankings for second place:
- Muriel Siebert - Muriel Siebert is somewhat invisible as a discount broker, but people seem to like using it. The company offers the lowest commissions and fees of the four on this page. A typical trade is $14.95.
- Charles Schwab - Schwab, like Fidelity, has a very comprehensive product line with very high commissions and fees compared to their discount competitors. Schwab's typical trade is $32.95.
- TD Waterhouse (Now TD Ameritrade) - TD Waterhouse ranks very high in the magazine surveys, but has been a source of complaints from time to time on our show. Clark has had a small account with Waterhouse for five years and has never experienced a problem. Commissions for trades are now $17.95, up from $12.
With the top four, as with any discount broker, you can buy and sell mutual funds without paying a commission. They're called "no transaction fee fund purchases." But the one advantage to Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Waterhouse is their extensive network of local branches.
To view the individual magazine surveys, click below:
• SmartMoney
• Money
• Kiplinger's |
