Municipal Bond Brokers

Corporate and municipal bond brokerage companies (dealers) in 2022.

Municipal and Corporate Bonds Brokers

Broker	Brokerage Bond Fee	Corpo rate	Munic ipal	New Account Promotion
Ally Invest	$1 per bond, $14.95 minimum	Yes	Yes	Up to $3,000 cash bonus + $0 commission trades.
TD Ameritrade	On a net yield basis	Yes	Yes	$0 commissions + transfer fee reimbursement.
Charles Schwab	$1 per bond, $10 minimum, $250 maximum	Yes	Yes	Get commission-free online stock trades.
Etrade	$1 per bond, minimum $10, maximum $250	Yes	Yes	Get zero commission on stock and ETF trades.
Fidelity	$1 per bond, $250 maximum; $50 maximum if maturing in one year	Yes	Yes	Get $0 stock commissions.
Firstrade	On a net yield basis	Yes	Yes	Get 2 FREE stocks and $0 commission in ALL trades!
Interactive Brokers	0.1%* Face Value (10 bps) if <= $10,000 Face Value; 0.025%* Face Value (2.5 bps) if > $10,000 Face Value	Yes	Yes	Use this referral link to get up to $1,000 of IBKR stock for free!
Merrill Edge	On a net yield basis	Yes	Yes	Get up to $600 when you open a new Merrill Edge account with at least $20,000.
Public	NA	NA	NA	Get a FREE stock and $0 commission stocks/ETFs/partial shares.
Robinhood	NA	NA	NA	Get one FREE stock when you open an account.
Sofi Invest	NA	NA	NA	0% SoFi management fees. Plus, unlimited access to financial planners.
Sogotrade	NA	NA	NA	None
TIAA	$50 + $2 per bond	Yes	Yes	None
TradeStation	$14.95 + $5 per bond	Yes	Yes	$150 cash bonus when you transfer funds into TradeStation.
Vanguard	$50 commission if a fee concession isn't available	Yes	Yes	None
Webull	NA	NA	NA	6 FREE stocks valued $34-$12,600 give-away at Webull.
Wellstrade	On a net yield basis	NA	NA	None

* NA means Not Offered.

Municipal Bond Brokers

As you see from the table above, not all discount online brokerage firms offer investing in U.S. Municipal and Corporate bonds in 2022. Among those companies that do offer these investment products, the pricing varies significantly.

In 2022, we named Ally Invest . The firm charges just $1 per bond, with minimum of $10 per trade, and maximum of $250. The price is valid for Agency bonds, Corporate bonds, Municipal bonds, Brokered CDs, Pass-thrus, CMOs, Asset Backed Securities.

Ally Invest has good educational materials on its website for investors interested in trading bonds. These include several articles on buying and selling fixed-income products. One article covers several topics, for example, including how to understand bond prices and the advantages of a bond ladder.

At Ally Invest clients can choose from thousands bonds—one of the largest selections of bonds available online. The company offers a great bond trading and research platform with graphical charts to help you find bonds that match your criteria.

municipal bond broker

Why Corporate and Municipal Bonds Should Be Considered for Any Portfolio

If you're building an investment portfolio, you may be focused on stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. These securities get the lion's share of attention in the financial world. But any diversified portfolio will also include bonds, particularly corporate and municipal debt.

broker for municipal bonds

Advantages of Corporate Bonds

When large multi-billion dollar companies sell debt, creditors (the people who buy the bonds) get the financial strength of the corporations to back up the securities. The bonds are as strong as the companies behind them, and often, this is pretty strong. Some of the world's blue-chip companies, for example, have better financial records than those of shaky governments.

Just look at Argentina, Russia, and Greece. These governments have either already defaulted on debt in recent years or are close to it. Now compare them to Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, and the Royal Bank of Canada. They all have AAA bond ratings, the highest possible credit rating. Their financial strength surpasses that of many governments around the world, making their bonds safer than some government debt.

Accepting a slightly lower credit rating, say A+, which is still investment grade, will result in a higher interest rate. The difference can be half a percentage point or more in some cases. The companies that issue this quality of debt are still very sound. Corporations include Pepsico, Shell, and US Bancorp.

And of course, there are the non-investment grade bonds, also known as junk bonds, which provide the highest coupon payments, but with the highest risk. No matter what quality of debt you purchase, remember that the periodic interest payments and the one principal payment at the end are what make the investment worthwhile.

Advantages of Municipal Bonds

The principal and interest payments of corporate bonds are taxable, which is why municipal bonds are popular by high-net worth individuals. Because these taxpayers are in high tax brackets, tax-exempt investments become very important.

Interest payments by most municipal bonds issued by U.S. local governments are exempt from the federal government's taxing authority. Note that this does not include capital gains on principal payments, nor does it include the tax status of municipal debt at the state level. Many municipal bonds do have tax advantages at the state level, however.

Let's say you have ten municipal bonds each with a face value of $1,000. The total interest payments received in a calendar year is $280. This income is federally tax free, and assuming no taxes are required at the state or local level, there is nothing owed on the income. Taxpayers who are in the 39.6% federal tax bracket would save $110.88 in tax.

There are two types of muni bonds: revenue and general obligation. General obligation bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the issuing authority. Revenue bonds are only backed by a particular project, like a toll-way.

About the Author

Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.