Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2024: Full-Service Brokers

As one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, Charles Schwab is a popular option for many investors. Schwab offers a wide range of commission-free investment products and publishes its own research and market insights. Beginning investors should focus on brokers that are investor-friendly, https://www.xcritical.com/ offer a lot of education and research and have strong customer service. These factors are key to new investors learning the basics of long-term investing and how to navigate the market and the brokerage. You won’t struggle to find securities to trade at TradeStation, which allows users to buy and sell traditional assets like stocks and ETFs, as well as less common ones like futures.

• Traditionally stock brokers make money through commissions or fees on trades, or by managing client portfolios for a fee.
• A full-service broker’s responsibility is to provide personalized advice.
• As one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, Charles Schwab is a popular option for many investors.
• Charles Schwab has $10.3 trillion assets under management (AUM) as of November 2024.
• EToro is the best online broker for both new and active traders looking for a unique social trading platform with a user-friendly interface and low fees.
• Our January report reveals the 3 “Strong Buy” stocks that market-beating analysts predict will outperform over the next year.

Best CFD Trading Platforms & Online Brokers in 2025

This premier division offers clients a “hands-on tailored approach” to asset management. Full-service stockbrokers are like five-star hotels with all the amenities. Keep reading for a comprehensive review of full service brokers including what full service broker dealer they do, the pros and cons, and several worthwhile alternatives.

How much money do you need to start investing?

The Forbes Advisor Investing team is committed to providing unbiased rankings and information with complete editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies, and expert insights to inform our content and guide you Cryptocurrency wallet in making the best decisions for you. When it comes to learning from other investors, eToro reigns supreme.

What type of security protections do online brokerages offer?

Overall, it’s a good platform for those new and experienced when it comes to investing. Owned by Bank of America, Merrill Edge is notable for its extensive market research and analysis. Plus, if you’re a Bank of America customer, you can bank and invest on the same platform and easily transfer funds. Based on your combined investing and banking balance, you might also qualify for Preferred Rewards, which comes with extra perks. Schwab is one of the few brokerages on our list with physical branches that offer in-person customer service. If you’re working with a smaller account and are comfortable making your own financial decisions, a discount broker like Public or eToro might be a great fit.

If you’re looking to buy stock funds, such as ETFs or mutual funds, it’s helpful to have a broker who can screen for the best picks. If you’re looking to buy individual stocks (which can be riskier for new investors), you’ll want to look for a broker that provides research on the company and its future prospects. But even with those resources, you’ll still want to come to your own decision on how and why to invest. Moomoo is a newer entrant to the brokerage world, but it’s been aggressive about attracting customers with good prices. It offers the usual no-commission trading on stocks and ETFs, but ups the game with no-cost options trading, too.

Traditionally stock brokers make money through commissions or fees on trades, or by managing client portfolios for a fee. Commission-free brokers may charge fees for other services, like margin trading, or may earn revenue from order flow, meaning they’re compensated for routing customer orders to other market makers or trading firms. An online broker is a financial institution that allows you to purchase securities, including stocks, through an online platform.

Merrill Edge’s strongest suit is the research it offers clients, which comes from the broker’s extensive in-house team of analysts. The package includes detailed analyst reports for companies that it covers, and Merrill also offers good educational material for beginning investors. You’ll get extensive customer support (think 24/7 access across email, phone and online chat), a high-quality mobile app in Power E-Trade and plenty of research and market commentary, if you’re looking for it.

The broker added the ability to purchase fractional shares of stock in late 2023, so that feature may appeal to newer investors. Firstrade offers investors commission-free trading in stocks, ETFs and options, the latter of which is still a rarity among brokers. You’ll also have several different account-type options, including a variety of IRAs and education savings accounts as well as a solid research offering. Firstrade’s mobile app is highly rated and offers advanced features.

Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool’s premium services. Some brokers require that you list the amount in shares — Robinhood actually lets you purchase stock in dollar amounts, which may or may not equal an even amount. Their primary responsibility is to help clients like you buy and sell securities. Visit my comprehensive Charles Schwab review to learn more about the thinkorswim platform and find out more about its offerings. Motley Fool Money is a Motley Fool service that rates and reviews essential products for your everyday money matters.

This tool allowed users to see what they might look like as they age. The reasoning was that younger people might be more compelled to invest if they could visualize themselves retiring. To get the best possible experience please use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge to view this website. However, self-directed tools have made it a lot easier for people to participate in the markets. First, clients enjoy the same SIPC and FDIC insurance and bank-grade encryption you’d find at major institutions like Charles Schwab and Fidelity.

“They take pride in providing great customer services and support,” says one reader. The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards aim to recognize and celebrate the best products and services in the personal finance arena. We asked you, our Kiplinger community, to help us name the products and services you think have delivered excellent value in the past year. The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards celebrate the best products and services in personal finance. These include Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Robinhood, Webull and Interactive Brokers. As you might expect, a retirement account is designed to hold and invest the funds you plan to use after you retire.

She served as editor-at-large and features editor for Middlebury College’s student newspaper, The Campus. She specializes in travel, student debt and a number of other personal finance topics. Born in London, Emma grew up in Connecticut and now lives in Washington, D.C. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger’s advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Readers laud Raymond James’s treatment of customers, touting positive client-adviser relationships.

Members should be aware that investment markets have inherent risks, and past performance does not assure future results. Retirement Investments has advertising relationships with some of the offers listed on this website. Retirement Investments does attempt to take a reasonable and good faith approach to maintaining objectivity towards providing referrals that are in the best interest of readers. Retirement Investments strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information on Retirement Investments could be different from what you find when visiting a third-party website. If you want to invest with a full-service broker, do your homework.