Who do you use for online trading?

[Allen]

I transferred my 401K/IRA $ over to Scottrade years ago because they were well known and had a local branch. I despise having to do business using a phone. Scottrade sold out to Ameritrade. The move was basically bumperless. Both offered free checking, free checks and phoneless contacts but I lost being able to go to a local branch.

Now, TD Ameritrade has been acquired by Charles Schwab and so far I don't like their business practices. They want you to do all business over the phone and nothing on-line. I haven't decided if I'm gong to stay with them or transfer to E Trade, Fidelity of someone else.

For those of you who trade: Who do you use and do you like their system?

[Merc]

I use Fidelity.

I like Fidelity’s web sight. It’s easy to navigate and understand.

[JOHN COOK]

My two cents.. I don't use any on line trading. I'll use PAYPAL and credit card (I've never lost a penny on either one but have been hacked) on line but that's it. I use a broker 40 minutes away. Wife and I are notified every 4-6 months and given a date and time we meet with him. We stay as long as we wish and discuss our financial position with our investments . We are making a small income after required distribution each year. No cost out of pocket but I'm sure there is a small percentage when he moves our investments around.. We are comfortable ,don't have large investments.
Too many hackers out there to be exposing financial position. It works for me...

john in SC

[Allen]

I use Fidelity.

I like Fidelity’s web sight. It’s easy to navigate and understand.

Thanks Merc. I will check them out. It's hard to get info from any of these companies.

[Allen]

My two cents.. I don't use any on line trading. I'll use PAYPAL and credit card (I've never lost a penny on either one but have been hacked) on line but that's it. I use a broker 40 minutes away. Wife and I are notified every 4-6 months and given a date and time we meet with him. We stay as long as we wish and discuss our financial position with our investments . We are making a small income after required distribution each year. No cost out of pocket but I'm sure there is a small percentage when he moves our investments around.. We are comfortable ,don't have large investments.
Too many hackers out there to be exposing financial position. It works for me...

john in SC

Thanks John but I've already been that route. My wife retired before me, we let a well known investment firm handle her 401K $. They made a little headway then lost most all of it. One of my former bosses lost everything doing the same.

They are accountable to no one.

As far as Scottrade, Ameritrade, Fidelity and so forth go, $ that is in holding is FDIC insured up to 250k per account I believe. Money that is invested in stock of course is not insured against loss because it can always go up or down.

I like having control of my $. With an investor you have no control, no say. A lot of times they invest in stock or investments that their employer instructs them to do. Perhaps their own company stock.