Recommendations for a good brokerage firm....

[KDOG]

I'm considering trying out investing on my own and I would like recommendation on good brokerage firms that have online trading, and for - how shall I say - for us poor folk . Any suggestions....

 

[DaveSimmons]

Ameritrade and Scottrade are mentioned often. Try search of "broker" to see if you can find the older threads.

Obligatory warning: the majority of people who do their own stock-picking earn less over time than if they had just bought and held an S&P 500 index mutual fund like Vanguard.com's VFINX.

 

[MrBond]

I recommended this book in another thread and I'll re-recommend it here.

"The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need" - by Andrew Tobias. It's less than $12 on Amazon. My Mom and Dad got it for me one year for Christmas when I was still in high school. During college and grad school, I really had no money to invest, but now that the end of grad school is near, I read the book again this past weekend.

It's really good. DaveSimmons is right, "playing the stock market" can be fun, but for long-term investing, it's better to take the easy way out and go for no-load mutual funds. The book is very easy to read (I read it in a day) and offers very good advice.