Online Investing

Online investing has become very common, because of it's simplicity. There are many brokers that offer possibility of investing from the convenience of your home.

The only stock brokers I will cover are online discount brokers such as Sharebuilder, Ameritrade, etc. In order to trade online you have to open an account with an online broker. Number of brokers online is big, and it's getting bigger every day. This makes it hard for people to chose the one that will suite their needs the best. All of online brokers have their con's and pros, so sometimes it is hard to chose the right one. However there are a few that stand out from the crowd, the ones that have been around long enough and proved them selves worth your attention.

I have made a Comparison Table from which you can see the key characteristics of 4 major online brokers that, in my opinion are currently the best.

The reason I only cover discount brokers and not full service brokers is because of the huge price difference. Discount brokers will charge you anywhere from $5-$20 per transactions, where full time brokers can charge you as much as $150. Alternatively, they can provide unlimited free trades, but charge an annual percentage on your total assets. In any case, you will spend much more money if you chose full time broker. However, if you are reading this, you are probably not interested in a full time broker, as you have decided to learn how to invest, and make decisions for your self by purchasing stocks through a discount broker. Good decision.