Hi -

I've likely used about 4 or 5 different on-line brokerage firms.

For what you describe, I'd recommend:

1) www.sharebuilder.com - there's no fee, no minimum to start and if you are doing buy and hold, or dollar cost averaging, you can set up trades to go thru on tuesdays I think for $4/trade. I started this way, I'm more of a swing trader and growth stock guy, so I don't use these guys anymore. But, I do still have my account, and thanks to you, I logged in and need to change some settings. It looks like they teamed up with a new bank also, so I may not be up to date on things with them. They also had a decent return on your money thats not tied up in stocks. Anyway, this one worked well for me when I was doing dollar cost averaging. The only thing is that if you buy $ amounts of stocks, rather than full shares, there is extra accounting to do when it finally comes to tax time, I guess if you buy and hold or dollar cost average, its no biggie. Here's their breakdown. Real time trades - which you have to do if you want to sell are reasonably priced at $9.95 I think.
www.sharebuilder.com/sharebu...ult.aspx

2) www.zecco.com - it has $4.50 trades if your account is under $2500. Free if you don't (well, up to 10 trades a month I believe). I've used them, but I didn't like the interface that the money holding company - Penson Financial - runs and also since I may get in and out of a position in the same day or week, the settlement date times are a little slow (time it takes for your cash to free up) - but for your strategy, that's not a problem either. Personally, I liked sharebuilder better - but I haven't used them really since they merged with the new bank, and updated the site.

Another thing I liked about these two was that you do everything thru the web interface, one time I had used MB Trading ($1 per trade, but a much larger minimum start balance) that required you to download software to a windows based PC - which meant constant crashes, and I was dealing with a rather touchy stock that was making a huge run up (which means a huge run down to follow) and as with my experience goes with windows, it crashed at a key point and I lost $$$.

However, my current favorite is www.scottrade.com. No fees, $500 minimum (and if you don't have $500 to start - I'd work on that first before dabbling in stocks - the first thing you could do is write down every transaction you make, even down to the penny for 3 months (any beginning investment book will tell you to do this) and really see where your cash is going - trust me - your head can't calculate it and I'll send you a dollar if you aren't surprised by something or don't find a way to lessen your spending). Anyway, its $7 a trade (there is a small fee for buying stocks that are valued under $1, but I wouldn't buy and hold any of those) - but the on-line tools, accounting, short turn around on settlements (and not charging me margin fees as far as I can tell for buying something a little early) - makes it worth the extra in trading fees over the other two. I guess the price of the tools and stuff are made since they give a little less on the cash thats just sitting there not in positions. They also do stuff like mutual funds etc., though I don't dabble with those - ah, if you were looking to get into OTC stocks (small guys under $1) - they may not be featured at www.sharebuilder.com - but you can request them, provided you convince them that they are legit - a know of a guy who did that with DKAM.

One last thing - though its only my opinion, and you should always do your research - if you are going to buy and hold or dollar cost average, now (in my opinion) isn't the best time to start - leading stocks are under pressure, the market isn't in a clear uptrend, so you may wait a while. If you are a beginner, I'd at least go to the bookstore, and look for the big picture column in the newspaper investors business daily and there is a box called market pulse - start when the "Current outlook" box says "Market in confirmed rally". Currently I'd say the market is fine for aggressive people with experience, but these aren't buy and hold types, and I guess, everyday is great for day traders.

Have fun.
D

Hi -

I've likely used about 4 or 5 different on-line brokerage firms.

For what you describe, I'd recommend:

1) www.sharebuilder.com - there's no fee, no minimum to start and if you are doing buy and hold, or dollar cost averaging, you can set up trades to go thru on tuesdays I think for $4/trade. I started this way, I'm more of a swing trader and growth stock guy, so I don't use these guys anymore. But, I do still have my account, and thanks to you, I logged in and need to change some settings. It looks like they teamed up with a new bank also, so I may not be up to date on things with them. They also had a decent return on your money thats not tied up in stocks. Anyway, this one worked well for me when I was doing dollar cost averaging. The only thing is that if you buy $ amounts of stocks, rather than full shares, there is extra accounting to do when it finally comes to tax time, I guess if you buy and hold or dollar cost average, its no biggie. Here's their breakdown. Real time trades - which you have to do if you want to sell are reasonably priced at $9.95 I think.
www.sharebuilder.com/sharebu...ult.aspx

2) www.zecco.com - it has $4.50 trades if your account is under $2500. Free if you don't (well, up to 10 trades a month I believe). I've used them, but I didn't like the interface that the money holding company - Penson Financial - runs and also since I may get in and out of a position in the same day or week, the settlement date times are a little slow (time it takes for your cash to free up) - but for your strategy, that's not a problem either. Personally, I liked sharebuilder better - but I haven't used them really since they merged with the new bank, and updated the site.

Another thing I liked about these two was that you do everything thru the web interface, one time I had used MB Trading ($1 per trade, but a much larger minimum start balance) that required you to download software to a windows based PC - which meant constant crashes, and I was dealing with a rather touchy stock that was making a huge run up (which means a huge run down to follow) and as with my experience goes with windows, it crashed at a key point and I lost $$$.

However, my current favorite is www.scottrade.com. No fees, $500 minimum (and if you don't have $500 to start - I'd work on that first before dabbling in stocks - the first thing you could do is write down every transaction you make, even down to the penny for 3 months (any beginning investment book will tell you to do this) and really see where your cash is going - trust me - your head can't calculate it and I'll send you a dollar if you aren't surprised by something or don't find a way to lessen your spending). Anyway, its $7 a trade (there is a small fee for buying stocks that are valued under $1, but I wouldn't buy and hold any of those) - but the on-line tools, accounting, short turn around on settlements (and not charging me margin fees as far as I can tell for buying something a little early) - makes it worth the extra in trading fees over the other two. I guess the price of the tools and stuff are made since they give a little less on the cash thats just sitting there not in positions. They also do stuff like mutual funds etc., though I don't dabble with those - ah, if you were looking to get into OTC stocks (small guys under $1) - they may not be featured at www.sharebuilder.com - but you can request them, provided you convince them that they are legit - a know of a guy who did that with DKAM.

One last thing - though its only my opinion, and you should always do your research - if you are going to buy and hold or dollar cost average, now (in my opinion) isn't the best time to start - leading stocks are under pressure, the market isn't in a clear uptrend, so you may wait a while. If you are a beginner, I'd at least go to the bookstore, and look for the big picture column in the newspaper investors business daily and there is a box called market pulse - start when the "Current outlook" box says "Market in confirmed rally". Currently I'd say the market is fine for aggressive people with experience, but these aren't buy and hold types, and I guess, everyday is great for day traders.

Have fun.
D

(there's something buggy about tribe at the moment - I may end up with a triple post)

Hi -

I've likely used about 4 or 5 different on-line brokerage firms.

For what you describe, I'd recommend:

1) www.sharebuilder.com - there's no fee, no minimum to start and if you are doing buy and hold, or dollar cost averaging, you can set up trades to go thru on tuesdays I think for $4/trade. I started this way, I'm more of a swing trader and growth stock guy, so I don't use these guys anymore. But, I do still have my account, and thanks to you, I logged in and need to change some settings. It looks like they teamed up with a new bank also, so I may not be up to date on things with them. They also had a decent return on your money thats not tied up in stocks. Anyway, this one worked well for me when I was doing dollar cost averaging. The only thing is that if you buy $ amounts of stocks, rather than full shares, there is extra accounting to do when it finally comes to tax time, I guess if you buy and hold or dollar cost average, its no biggie. Here's their breakdown. Real time trades - which you have to do if you want to sell are reasonably priced at $9.95 I think.
www.sharebuilder.com/sharebu...ult.aspx

2) www.zecco.com - it has $4.50 trades if your account is under $2500. Free if you don't (well, up to 10 trades a month I believe). I've used them, but I didn't like the interface that the money holding company - Penson Financial - runs and also since I may get in and out of a position in the same day or week, the settlement date times are a little slow (time it takes for your cash to free up) - but for your strategy, that's not a problem either. Personally, I liked sharebuilder better - but I haven't used them really since they merged with the new bank, and updated the site.

Another thing I liked about these two was that you do everything thru the web interface, one time I had used MB Trading ($1 per trade, but a much larger minimum start balance) that required you to download software to a windows based PC - which meant constant crashes, and I was dealing with a rather touchy stock that was making a huge run up (which means a huge run down to follow) and as with my experience goes with windows, it crashed at a key point and I lost $$$.

However, my current favorite is www.scottrade.com. No fees, $500 minimum (and if you don't have $500 to start - I'd work on that first before dabbling in stocks - the first thing you could do is write down every transaction you make, even down to the penny for 3 months (any beginning investment book will tell you to do this) and really see where your cash is going - trust me - your head can't calculate it and I'll send you a dollar if you aren't surprised by something or don't find a way to lessen your spending). Anyway, its $7 a trade (there is a small fee for buying stocks that are valued under $1, but I wouldn't buy and hold any of those) - but the on-line tools, accounting, short turn around on settlements (and not charging me margin fees as far as I can tell for buying something a little early) - makes it worth the extra in trading fees over the other two. I guess the price of the tools and stuff are made since they give a little less on the cash thats just sitting there not in positions. They also do stuff like mutual funds etc., though I don't dabble with those - ah, if you were looking to get into OTC stocks (small guys under $1) - they may not be featured at www.sharebuilder.com - but you can request them, provided you convince them that they are legit - a know of a guy who did that with DKAM.

One last thing - though its only my opinion, and you should always do your research - if you are going to buy and hold or dollar cost average, now (in my opinion) isn't the best time to start - leading stocks are under pressure, the market isn't in a clear uptrend, so you may wait a while. If you are a beginner, I'd at least go to the bookstore, and look for the big picture column in the newspaper investors business daily and there is a box called market pulse - start when the "Current outlook" box says "Market in confirmed rally". Currently I'd say the market is fine for aggressive people with experience, but these aren't buy and hold types, and I guess, everyday is great for day traders.

Have fun.
D

Ok - tribe is a little wonky - I still don't see my post showing up - but since it took a while to write it, I'll give it one more try. I regret if it shows up 5 times later.