Hello, Zeem!
I, too, have an account with Merrill, and enjoy paying $680 for a trade BROWN will do for $10. Have used Waterhouse and First Union, both were cheaper but services unsatisfactory.
Merrill never gave a dime's worth of counsel or attention tho they had my funds 7 years. "Investment Counselor" didn't call once to suggest a trade. So last July I took over management and increased the account by 35% in 11 months, in CPQ of all things.
First Union was an expensive travesty, I'll write separately about those cowboys, pirates, bums.
Waterhouse advertises internet trading, then said my trading was "too sophisticated" for the internet and froze me out. I would call after hours and ask simple questions like, "What's my buying power?" and get an answer in a heavy dialect: "What do you mean?" They promised rates I never got. Quoted one price for a completed transaction, then the confirmation ticket showed a worse execution. The manager promised to straighten it out, never did.
Finally put my account with Brown & Co. Trades are $5 and $10
and executed cleanly and correctly, sometimes beat my bid or ask price. Only one thing, some of their agents are so cold and indifferent as to be almost rude. I'm a southerner and like a voice with a smile; was so put off by their coldness that I witheld opening an account for more than 6 months. Manners count!
The Brown statements are easy to read, less complicated than
the other 3 brokers I've used. They require less reserve [maintenance deposit] than Waterhouse on short option trades.
I like a broker I can walk in to see and deal with face to face if there's a problem. Brown has offices in many cities.
My son opened and account with Olde, deposited $400,000. After the account cleared they refused to let him short Puts, so he smiled and closed the account. Good thing, because the broker was pushing COMS right before it crashed 40% Son made six figures in less than a year shorting Dell Puts. Owns Dell shares too.
Both of us lost most of our winnings when CPQ tanked. Made the mistake of thinking CPQ's slide was a pause while DEC got absorbed, meantime CPQ execs were bailing out. As to Herr Pfiffer, or however you spell it: YOU CAN'T MAKE A GOOD DEAL WITH A BAD DUDE!
This is my first post. I've been learning on this thread for about a year, and run up quite a bill for good advice. Hope this helps. Michael's a Good Dude. Ought to be, since he's Deep in the Heart of Texas!
Don Martini |
