E-Trade - any experiences?
 

Hey all - I'm thinking of dabbling a bit in the market w/o a broker. Stocks are so cheap right now, having a few diversified shares might not be too bad an idea if the cost is no more than a couple six packs and some smokes.

So, I've been thinking of doing this via E-Trade. Do any of you guys have any experience with E-Trade or a similar buying/trading online stock outlet?

Thanks. SmileWavy

I did some research a while back (Aug) and decided to go with Scottrade. So far so good with them.

Unfortunately I can't give you much more info, I've forgotten most of the research. I think mine decision was based on cost ($7 per) and services/customer service.

Masraum - a person here in the office suggested a trader set up a Paypal account, and trade/pay via that, and to not hook the service directly to one's credit card. Is this how yours is set up?

I can make on demand electronic transfers from my checking acct to the scottrade acct.

I use Scottrade and do the same thing. No problems.

E*Trade has been fine for me--tied in to a checking account. No problems. It's fun to watch my money disappear lately

One thing to watch out for with E-Trade are the fees. I hadn't checked my account for quite some time, and when I went back, I found they'd changed a minimum balance fee on one of the accounts I had, and were slowly draining what was left each month.

How about TD Ameritade?

You should at least check them out.

My original plan was actually to go with them. I'm not certain why I didn't. I think it was either cost or possibly that their reputation had changed recently (last fall).

I think I was able to find several "broker review" articles online and in a couple of financial magazines at the time.

I want to start with $500. Just for the hell of it. But I can't think of what to diversify into with that $500. After that, I'll start looking into what online broker I'll go with.

Any suggestions as to which industries to sink (or lose) my $500? Tech, automotive, agriculture, pharmaceuticals?

One thing that I remember reading about is that some brokers are "full service" and "discount" brokers. The full service brokers have more services and actual people that you can talk to for advice. Because of the extra services/etc.... they cost more. If you're willing to do your own research, then you get discounted fees. These days most of the "discount" brokers offer lots of online tools. My understanding is that the difference between "full service" and "discount" has become blurred recently.

I see. I'm looking to be fairly hands off. Just buy the stocks, and see what happens. I'm not the type to check on it three or four times a day, and get into the nitty gritty of the service.

I think you should add a zero to that. Unless you want to let it sit for a long time. If you want to make money you need to take on risk. And sometimes you lose. But the Banks have been pretty fun for me lately. AIG was up 72% yesterday too.SmileWavy

I dumped e-trade due to the fees. Since I am making my own decisions, i don't use any of the analysis that theses sites provide.

I am perfectly happy with Scottrade at $7.00 per transaction.

The intent is play money. $5K isn't exactly play money these days. Maybe $1K...

I've had horrible experiences with E*Trade. I used to use them until they screwed up an ACH transfer of mine, tying up a bunch of my money for about 2 months while they blamed the computer, "investigated", didn't return my calls, etc. I finally had to write a certified letter to the Office of Thrift Management in order to get resolution. VERY poor customer service.

I now use OptionsXpress, who has been OUTSTANDING in every way.

It's worth noting that E*Trade bank was one of the promulgators of the housing bubble too - they traded fairly heavily in mortgage-backed securities, leading to some panic last year that their collapse was imminent. They managed to avoid collapse and buyout/takeover, but I still tend to think they have a lot of toxic stuff on their books that they're feverishly trying to downplay. I suggest you investigate this and look up some of the financial news stories surrounding them from last year.

OptionsXpress has none of this stuff and has pretty open/transparent books - they're very up-front about what they do and what they hold, so another shameless plug for them (and no, I'm not a shareholder, although I sorta' wish I had bought them a couple years ago...) They're extrememly good - you can actually pick up the phone at any time and talk to a human being without having to navigate 30 minutes of automated sub-menus. That counts for a LOT with me.

Just an FYI.

Wells Fargo has something similar, and you can move funds from your checking account.

I was happy enough with Ameritrade but that was in the early '90's. My list of holdings grew and then we inherited a similar sized portfolio and it became too unwieldy for me to manage. I'm now with the same full-service broker my father used.
Jim