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Charles Schwab review: great service but high trading commissions
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Charles Schwab Commissions and Investments Offered (2010)
- Stocks and ETFs: $8.95
- Options: $8.95 plus $0.75 per contract
- Mutual funds: $49.95. Mutual Fund OneSource® Funds - free
- Investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, treasury issues, options, CDs, insurance, ETFs,
annuities, non-U.S. securities and ADRs, WEBs and Canadian foreign orders
- Minimum to open account: $1,000
- All Charles Schwab fees
Trading tools at Charles Schwab are just average. All the screens are well-designed and orders are executed
reasonably fast. Trading tools, however, lack richness of features, versatility and customization found
in many more advanced trading platforms.
- Traditional banking features: credit cards and checking accounts
- Around 300 offices for personal visits and deposits and 24/7 support
- No account service fees
- Rich selection of investing products
- Minimum balance requirement: $1,000
- Excellent customer service
- High commissions on stocks, options, mutual funds and ETFs
- Average trading tools
- Outdated and difficult to navigate website
Charles Schwab Review Summary
Charles Schwab brokerage offers an impressive choice of investing products and some of them are not to be found
in most other discount brokerage firms: CDs, insurance annuities, non-U.S. securities, ADRs, WEBs
and Canadian foreign orders. On the other hand, most customers do not invest in these assets.
Charles Schwab has no account maintenance or inactivity fees. There are no surcharges for large orders,
penny stocks and after-hours trading. Having an option of opening a checking account or credit card with one's
brokerage firm is always nice. Company is offering top-notch customer service.
Charles Schwab has no IRA setup fee and no annual IRA fee, but due to high commissions it did not make it into
Best IRA Accounts list.
Despite having great customer service, the firm is not an ideal choice for beginner investors,
because it doesn't offer investor community like
that in Scottrade or
TradeKing, where
clients could learn from and interact with each other.
Charles Schwab was one of the first
discount stock brokers but it's not as inexpensive as it used to be. Firm's $8.95 per stock trade is pretty high
and $49.95 per mutual fund trade is one of the most expensive of all brokerage companies. The firm
is primarily targeting wealthy investors and is not best-suited for middle class clients.
Charles Schwab Promotional Code: none right now
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