for the average beginner probably not
unless you're beginning with 10 million
bucks not me
[Music]
what up money we've we've talked about
how to buy we've talked about how to
sell and now we're gonna get into I
think an equally important topic which
is you know who handles that money who
brokers those deals when they go through
and that's something that I think you
have a good deal yeah this is a hugely
important topic because every day
somebody reaches out to me or us and and
says you know how do I make a trade I
want to start investing I don't know
what to do so when I started it in the
industry we all heard you know brokers
it's kind of a highfalutin fancy term
back in the day you know used to open up
the newspaper look at the ticker symbol
see what happened on the day before and
if you want to buy something you'd pick
up the phone call and place your order
or you call a broker and he'd recommend
something that fits your need right I
call up Leonardo DiCaprio he yells at me
and fills my order exactly and now it's
different now it's free you can go
online and trade for free and that's
huge and so it's it should be far less
intimidating for investors it's far
easier to do research to make those
trades today but a lot of folks just
don't know so our goal with this video
is just to talk about the various
options the various brokers that are out
there they're all very similar but they
each have their own little you know
pluses and minuses their nuances and a
thing so we'll go through grade the most
popular online brokerages and see which
one works best for you to make you know
your first trade you were your hundredth
straight really quick I think you
mentioned this the the idea of a full
service brokerage real quick full
service that sounds like I'm going into
an Exxon station the guy's gonna wipe my
windows what is a full service brokerage
do for you so a full service broker is
you know like you said check your
windshield pull out the dipstick looks
so if you have you know no idea what you
need to be investing in or you have you
know more wealth and and you're not the
tax concerns that sort of thing they're
the kind of guys where you say here's
what I have what's best for me now that
works for a lot of people but a lot of
people just want super cheap super easy
and nimble so that's where these
discount brokers and most of the online
broker just come from yes so what should
you look for in a broker you want
something that's cheap easy to use
offers ample selections has good
research and of course is trustworthy
all right so let's start with the big
boys then so TD Ameritrade what are the
pros what are the
yeah it's good we're starting with TD
Ameritrade this gets our Best in Show
prize whether you're a novice you know a
new investor it's very simple to use
doing our research it has the the most
options you know research strategies
that sort of thing is great for options
traders and so there's also strong forex
trading definitely the strongest of all
the brokerages and you know a lot of
people get into forex trading that's
kind of a higher-end thing but again TD
Ameritrade also really caters to that
that beginning investor real quick I can
hear people out there what's forex
trading foreign exchange so you want to
buy Canadian loonies or something and
play that you're welcome
so the really the only con to TD
Ameritrade is that if you buy an ETF
it's free unless you sell it within 30
days and you have to pay a fairly small
fee on that but again it has free ETFs
as long as you're holding it long-term
which most ETFs you probably should yes
so let's go with a slightly lesser known
name Interactive Brokers what are the
pros what are the cons sure Interactive
Brokers is more for the the seasoned
investor you know has really strong
options some more complicated strategies
you can get into and better tracking for
that but it's its overall research is a
little lacking it's a little bit harder
to use and so it doesn't get a whole lot
of merits on on that side if you're new
to investing I'd probably skip it so
next up let's go with etrade that's
that's the broker I use so hopefully
they fare well pros cons
sure so e-trade I look at the brokerage
of the masses right so it's great for
beginners you're not going to get a ton
of sorry ID appointed of you you're not
gonna get a ton of in-depth research
you're gonna get adequate research for
sure it's very good it has everything
that you could possibly need customer
service is a little more lacking so
think of this as the big commercial
thing so when you call Comcast or
something like that they provide a great
service but the customer service isn't
always great their website they don't
make it easy to you know cancel your
service transfer money out of it
that sort of thing so it's kind of the
big commercialized one everything you
need is there not a ton of bells and
whistles but it'll certainly get the job
done so it's up there I'd use it yeah I
can say they just revamped their app so
just speaking personally this isn't an
endorsement not that they
even need it but I'm a fan of what they
do I can get done what I need to do
exactly and one really cool thing that
the e-trade does is they had this Robo
advisory firm so we talked about you
know a full service brokerage what all
that means this is similar but it's all
you know based on algorithms your wealth
and it's trained to know what's best for
you and with a minimum of investment of
$5,000 which is pretty low and a point
three percent annual fee on that it'll
it'll do a pretty good job of managing
your money automatically for it so you
know new investors and offices that are
a little intimidated by you know what
should go in your IRA versus which go in
a normal trading account that's
something interesting that that e-trade
offers which which gets high marks in my
book all right so next up let's get
fancy Merrill Lynch this is a big boy
Bank yes so you're right it is a big boy
Bank it's more for the you know the the
higher net wealth folks need a little
more hand-holding don't remind Payne for
that there's no free trading I think
it's still 695 a trade the research
isn't as strong but it does have really
strong banking connections so if you're
trying to move money around that sort of
thing it's good for that it's good if
you need to pick up the phone and have
some real high quality customer service
it's good for that for the average
beginner probably not unless you're
beginning with ten million bucks not me
this would probably ranks worse for the
for the average investor you know
somebody just starting out or even the
intermediate trader has a lot of bells
and whistles and expenses that you
really don't need so we put that at the
bottom of our list
it's next up fidelity a name a lot of
people know you and I have both done
trades here what are the pros and cons
yeah so fidelity is is what I use I give
it a close second as far as bells and
whistles and service great research as
far as you know low costs and no fees
it's a pioneer which I really like other
folks have now caught up to it and are
doing pretty well
investing in the sp500 we all here you
know beat the S&P 500 that's our goal
or just go out and buy an index and used
to pay you know 1% a little bit less
than that to buy that index through
fidelity there is no fee so you can go
out there automatically do as well as
the sp500 for free which is really cool
they have the most no load or no fee no
upfront fee mutual funds it's really
good
the cons you know the forex side they
don't
for a whole lot of paper they don't
offer any paper trading so if you're a
new beginner and you want to test out a
strategy and and basically trade it you
know virtually for a while they don't
allow you to do that so there's some
complications there but as far as going
into making a trade doing some research
options that sort of thing it's right up
there and you know real close to the
best-in-class for sure
all right now let's talk about sort of
the the Millennial favorite Robin Hood
they're kind of the new boys on the
block and investing yeah so Robin Hood
came in a few years ago and really
disrupted the industry they were the
first ones to come out and do the the
no-fee you know the free training and so
of course folks once that it's real
simple app on your phone you can go and
do that not a ton of research you know
not robust at all just slowly getting
into the options game so if you're going
to you know buy shares afford you know
two three years ago is the cheapest way
to do it but now that everybody else is
going into free trades it's a it's a lot
less promising you know Snell you're
getting the same thing without all the
bells and whistles so you're there's
some big trade offs there and and so a
lot of people your next question
probably is how are these people making
money that was the big question when
Robin Hood came in how are they doing
this for free and there's some some
interesting things going on there so you
know we mentioned with Meryl the banking
ties TD Ameritrade fidelity their big
goal is to get your money into their
doors and then treat it like a bank
they're investing your cash but in
places and making money off that you're
buying other premium services from them
Robin Hood doesn't have that as much so
what they're doing is they're selling
your trading information to third party
places so and and there's some pros and
cons of that but they're true they're
selling your shares and to different
market makers so they can trade it and
take advantage of that and again there's
good and bad you get cheaper prices for
that most of the time but your your
trades are out there people can take
advantage of it so you don't always get
the best price especially with Robin
Hood so that's something we got to look
at we could go on on that but just know
they're making their money by selling
your data to other people to basically
trade on and help them make more money
okay so there you have it there's our
power ranking of popular brokerages
obviously we've got a TD Ameritrade up
at the top that's your number one choice
and then we've got fidelity just
after that but but really all of these
are a place that that you could get
started investing you know I'm hoping
this information could be useful to you
whether you are just getting started
investing if you've never invested
before this is just some useful know-how
for you to figure out where your money
will be treated the best well cheers to
that
I am we hope you found this video useful
if you did pound that like button we'll
see you next time