Hi all,

The club I'm in has been doing some research into various
online brokers. Currently we use Etrade which provides
checking, but is rather costly at 19.99+ per trade.

However in looking to switch, we've found there would be
some problems as it seems that few of the brokers provide
free checking. We did look into opening a checking account
at several local banks, but they charge a fee that would
negate any savings from switching.

Another problem is that not all offer ACH transfers and
several have lengthy holding periods before deposits clear.

Any input about which broker you use and the specific
services provided at the lowest cost would be great.

We are particularly interested in First Trade, Ameritrade or
Scot Trade. We want to switch because we're a small club and
Etrade's costs essentially increase our purchase price by
@$1 per share, more or less.

Thanks,

Nick

We're also a small club, with under $20,000 in assets, with
holdings in 17 stocks, and about 15% currently in cash. We
started up a little over 2 years ago.

We use buyandhold.com. Flat monthly (actually 30 days) fee
of $6.99 includes 2 trades. Since we typically only make
one trade (a buy) every month, that works well. Even when
we've had several transactions, the $2.99 for each trade
beyond the first 2 is a bargain.

bivio.com works seamlessly with buyandhold.com, too, using
the bivio's AccountSync Service to syncronize the securities
account with the accounting services of bivio.

The downside to buyandhold.com is a somewhat limited
universe of securities that you can trade. We've had two
small cap NASDAQ companies that we've researched and decided
to buy only to find that they were not available for trade
on buyandhold. To their credit, an e-mailed request to
customer service resulted in them adding the securities to
their list.

buyandhold.com operates on dollar amounts, rather than
numbers of shares, so you can decide exactly how much you
want to invest, rather than fudging purchases for possible
price movements. All the money you want to invest gets
invested. We like it. I also have a personal account with
buyandhold.com that I use for a monthly investment vehicle.
Just like an investment club, it works very well, and
relatively cheaply, for accumulating assets.

Bruce Lehnertz
President
Central Iowa Profiteers (CIP)

Nicholas Picini wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The club I'm in has been doing some research into various
> online brokers. Currently we use Etrade which provides
> checking, but is rather costly at 19.99+ per trade.
>
> However in looking to switch, we've found there would be
> some problems as it seems that few of the brokers provide
> free checking. We did look into opening a checking account
> at several local banks, but they charge a fee that would
> negate any savings from switching.
>
> Another problem is that not all offer ACH transfers and
> several have lengthy holding periods before deposits clear.
>
> Any input about which broker you use and the specific
> services provided at the lowest cost would be great.
>
> We are particularly interested in First Trade, Ameritrade or
> Scot Trade. We want to switch because we're a small club and
> Etrade's costs essentially increase our purchase price by
> @$1 per share, more or less.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nick

You should look into MURIEL SIEBERT & CO, INC....or
www.siebertnet.com

NO min balance
NO min trades
They will reimburse you for any transfer costs
RANKED #2 behind TD Waterhouse
TRADES only $14.95
Great Research Tools

Buy SMARTMONEY - August....they have a write up...WHO'S the
BEST BROKER for you?....

My club switched from TD WATERHOUSE to Siebert and we love
it.

Later,
Chris
biegelboy_1999@yahoo.com

Nicholas Picini wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The club I'm in has been doing some research into various
> online brokers. Currently we use Etrade which provides
> checking, but is rather costly at 19.99+ per trade.
>
> However in looking to switch, we've found there would be
> some problems as it seems that few of the brokers provide
> free checking. We did look into opening a checking account
> at several local banks, but they charge a fee that would
> negate any savings from switching.
>
> Another problem is that not all offer ACH transfers and
> several have lengthy holding periods before deposits clear.
>
> Any input about which broker you use and the specific
> services provided at the lowest cost would be great.
>
> We are particularly interested in First Trade, Ameritrade or
> Scot Trade. We want to switch because we're a small club and
> Etrade's costs essentially increase our purchase price by
> @$1 per share, more or less.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nick

 Our club researched and decided on Scottrade. We have not
 had any problems and have been very satisfied. They
 actually have an office in San Antonio and I drop a check
 off after our meetings and we are able to purchase stocks
 the following day. The $7 fee is very reasonable,
 especially since there are no hidden fees. I work at a
 bank so our club was able to secure a free checking acct.
 I transferred my personal account from ETrade due to the
 high quarterly fees. ETrade was one of the worst
 experiences in my life, trying to transfer out was a 6
 month long nightmare wrought with hidden fess and horrible
 customer service. Good luck.

David Rathke

Nicholas Picini wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The club I'm in has been doing some research into various
> online brokers. Currently we use Etrade which provides
> checking, but is rather costly at 19.99+ per trade.
>
> However in looking to switch, we've found there would be
> some problems as it seems that few of the brokers provide
> free checking. We did look into opening a checking account
> at several local banks, but they charge a fee that would
> negate any savings from switching.
>
> Another problem is that not all offer ACH transfers and
> several have lengthy holding periods before deposits clear.
>
> Any input about which broker you use and the specific
> services provided at the lowest cost would be great.
>
> We are particularly interested in First Trade, Ameritrade or
> Scot Trade. We want to switch because we're a small club and
> Etrade's costs essentially increase our purchase price by
> @$1 per share, more or less.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nick

Our club switched about a year ago from Waterhouse to
Ameritrade. I researched several brokers. Did not go
with Scott because they didn't accept third party
checks from members and we didn't want to have a
separate bank account. Ameritrade charges $10.99 per
trade. The only downside is they don't reinvest
dividends unless the dividends are in large amounts.
They also don't pay dividends on the cash account
unless it is over $2000. This probably applies to all
on-line brokers. They didn't make these negatives
clear when we opened the account.

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

if you want a real broker use freetrade it 20 free a month. Owned by
Ameritrade they just don't publicize it cuz its for pros. It has the same
shit as ameritrade!!! Boy am I sick of bivio emails!!!
----- Original Message -----
From: "jean leeson" <jmleeson@yahoo.com>
To: "The Club Cafe" <club_cafe@bivio.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: club_cafe: Re: Online Brokers


> Our club switched about a year ago from Waterhouse to
> Ameritrade. I researched several brokers. Did not go
> with Scott because they didn't accept third party
> checks from members and we didn't want to have a
> separate bank account. Ameritrade charges $10.99 per
> trade. The only downside is they don't reinvest
> dividends unless the dividends are in large amounts.
> They also don't pay dividends on the cash account
> unless it is over $2000. This probably applies to all
> on-line brokers. They didn't make these negatives
> clear when we opened the account.
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
> http://sbc.yahoo.com
>