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Kiplinger's Best Online Brokers

Observant1
in Other Investing
An investor should select a broker based on their needs and priorities.
According to Kiplinger, the three highest-ranked brokers are:

1) Fidelity
2) Charles Schwab
3) E*Trade


"To be included in our rankings, a firm must offer online trading in stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and individual bonds, which Robinhood, M1 Finance and SoFi don’t offer. T. Rowe Price and Vanguard declined to participate, as did two participants in last year’s survey, TradeStation and Wells Trade."

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  • msf
    An investor should select a broker based on their needs and priorities.

    Therein lies the key. Consider "investment choices". As a fund investor, I want access to the funds I want. That means that the fact that a broker offers a gazillion useless funds is, well, useless to me. OTOH, if I can get access to institutional class shares of solid funds, or just access at all to solid funds that other brokers don't carry, that's valuable. And I don't care about trading directly on foreign exchanges.

    So when I see Firstrade listed 8th (out of 9) in investment choices, I just have to smile. It's a good place to go to find share classes and funds that you won't find elsewhere. Though maybe not for other stuff.

    Kiplinger says that Vanguard and TRP "declined to participate". Perhaps what this means is that Kiplinger is still waiting on their customer service departments for responses:-)
  • Observant1
    edited September 2021
    My two most important considerations are 'Commissions and fees' and 'Investment choices'.
    The total number of available funds is meaningless if many funds are mediocre.
    Having good 'Tools' (screeners, calculators, etc.) is a plus but it is not mandatory.
    The 'Mobile app' category received the greatest weight (20%) in the rankings.
    Since I don't use brokers' mobile apps, this feature doesn't matter to me.
    Just one man's opinion...
  • Sven
    Kiplinger says that Vanguard and TRP "declined to participate". Perhaps what this means is that Kiplinger is still waiting on their customer service departments for responses:-)
    That is funny. TRP has cut back on many services. I used able to access many M* tool including Portfolio X-ray. Guess my asset base is not high enough to qualify as their valuable customers. instead of talking with a live representative, I use their on-line chat or message system. Not exactly fast, but I get them to answer my questions.
  • Mona
    Sven said:

    Kiplinger says that Vanguard and TRP "declined to participate". Perhaps what this means is that Kiplinger is still waiting on their customer service departments for responses:-)
    That is funny. TRP has cut back on many services. I used able to access many M* tool including Portfolio X-ray. Guess my asset base is not high enough to qualify as their valuable customers. instead of talking with a live representative, I use their on-line chat or message system. Not exactly fast, but I get them to answer my questions.
    For years now, I have had access to M* tools including Portfolio x-ray on T Rowe Price. I think the only tool that I do not have access to is the analyst report. I have never had an account with T Rowe Price.


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