Hey guys, whats up. Basicaly I wanted to open a joint account with someone and wanted to buy and hold stock for extended periods of time without any overhead charges (eg vpn, software, etc). Could anyone recommend something for me?
I butchered the spelling in thread. Sory about that. Hope not too many eyes bleeding. Busy working at the same time. THIS MARKET IN TRUUUBBBBLLLE.....
If you are buying and holding why do you care about reliablility? Do you honestly believe that the few times you are going to make a trade the web will not be reliable enough to trade? That makes no sense whatsoever.
There are certain days, when there is panick in the market, that are very important to execute orders. I have observed a complete failure of these webbased brokers during this time.
Fidelity is a very good firm for that sort of thing. Commissions are $10.95 a trade if you have at least $25k with them, $19.95 otherwise. $8 a trade for accts with more than $1mil. Good money market sweep options/rates on free cash. Can get checkwriting/ATM on your acct if you want. Yes those commissions are high if you are used to paying a buck or two a trade, but for a long term hold it doesn't make that much difference, and the customer service makes up for it. I have been with them for many years and have both IRA and "buy and hold" money with them. Very good customer service, statements, tax reporting, etc. Privately held family company, very solid financial strength. No fees as long as you meet account minimums (a few grand I think).
1/ If you are worried about market panic, then place protective stops as soon as you take a position. Even for long term trades, stops are a must. 2/ When choosing a broker, you always have to make sure, and then test and check regularly to have alternative means of communications: phone, fax, e-mail, a walk-in shop, anything. For the above reasons, for long term, e-trade and ameritrade are good enough choices. Also, fidelity, scottrade, schwab, noble trading, mb trading. IB is not a good choice for reason 2. If you want forex, consider oanda.