Anyone using an online Stock Investing company???

[vristang]

I have a little cash coming in pretty soon, and have been thinking of investments.

Does anyone use e*trade, or any similar site for stock trading?

I would like to hear what you do and don't like...

Reading the individual sites is going pretty slow...


Thanks,
jason

 

[wht93gtEd]

I use ETrade...company I work for gave us free accounts to manage stock options, shares, etc...

I haven't used any other sites, so I can't really comment if it's good, bad, or indifferent...sorry

 

[Vipersix]

Ameritrade is the ****. I used to go with Scott Trade a while back but don't like their software.

 

[1993SSP]

vristang, what kind of money you looking to invest?? you get a break if you do your taxes and put the refund into a Individual Retirement Account (IRA). I have one thru vangard, I would always take my refund plus some monet out of pocket to make a $2,000.00 per year investment, did that for about 8 years, I highly recommend it!! I will have to pay taxes when I draw it out later on when I retire, but it's nice to know its there making money. I can help you out with the specifics to what I invested in, it's done well for me.

 

[93 teal terror]

I use tdameritrade and its not too bad. No complaints really......I have two accounts through them, a roth ira and a regualar stock account. If you put your tax refund back into an ira why not put it in a roth ira since there arent any taxes on it? That way its tax free when you take it out and your earnings are tax free. You also don't have to pay any fees if you take it out early. I think a regular ira is subject to taxes+10% if you take it out before 55. Something like that

 

[vristang]

The money will be coming from a bonus at work. Basically, it is a profit sharing type deal through my company. We did well last year, so everyone gets 12 days pay.

I already have company matching in a 401k, which is doing quite well...

I'm just looking for something fun. I'm not really worried about how its's taxed.

Thanks for the response guys. I'll check out Ameritrade too...


jason

 

[Vipersix]

I will have to pay taxes when I draw it out later on when I retire, but it's nice to know its there making money.

Wow, you really ought to convert that to a Roth so you don't get spanked with taxes.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I haven't signed up for a stock trading company yet, but E*trade and Amiritrade were the two I was looking at. I think my father uses Ameritrade and likes it so i may go for that.

I've also been in the investment mood lately. I have about $10K to play with and no idea what to invest it in? CD's??? Mutual funds???

 

[TheUser]

Wow, you really ought to convert that to a Roth so you don't get spanked with taxes.

Depends on tax brackets. If he's currently in a higher tax bracket than he will be when he retires, why pay taxes at the higher rate? Also, for 2007 IRA's have a 4,000 annual cap unless you're over 50, then it goes to $5,000.

 

[Vipersix]

Depends on tax brackets. If he's currently in a higher tax bracket than he will be when he retires, why pay taxes at the higher rate? Also, for 2007 IRA's have a 4,000 annual cap unless you're over 50, then it goes to $5,000.

Tax brackets have nothing to do with it. Pretend you invest $25,000 over a few years starting at an early age and let it sit until you're 65. You can easily accumulate in excess of $2 million depending on your rate of return. Even if you pay 50% taxes on the initial investment and only 1% on the return, you're getting spanked. Now granted, if you start your IRA late in life you may want to go with the Traditional.

 

[TheUser]

Tax brackets have nothing to do with it. Pretend you invest $25,000 over a few years starting at an early age and let it sit until you're 65. You can easily accumulate in excess of $2 million depending on your rate of return. Even if you pay 50% taxes on the initial investment and only 1% on the return, you're getting spanked. Now granted, if you start your IRA late in life you may want to go with the Traditional.

I overlooked the most important issue here: Time Value of Money/compounded returns. As you mentioned, age would play a factor, but I'd assume most reading this are 40 or under, so they probably have plenty of time to make up for the difference.

 

[Jaswir]

i used sogoinvest.com for a while... their was no limit to start up... like most places you need at least 2,000 to start to invest...

i was doing 30 dollars a week for a long time and letting it sit

 

[dec322]

I have used optionsxpress.com for a few years. I stopped trading for about a year b/c I got spanked too bad. I pulled the money out to buy my mustang and have left 80 bucks in there. Now I'm picking it back up and my 80 bucks is now 86 .

The good thing about optionsxpress is that its free and it has good/easy to use tools. I like to trade options (over stock) and optionsxpress has a virtual trading tool. Its trading with paper (fake) money.

About the roth vs. traditional ira: I would rather pay my taxes now than pay them in 30 years. Who knows what the tax rate will be like when I'm 60-65? Pay it now and then no worries on all the money you make in the future. Now that I've made my point: Someone please give me some money so I can start a Roth IRA.