Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Roth IRA ideas -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: vegetarian who wrote (94)	4/8/1998 6:24:00 PM
From: Michael G	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 388

I have just done extensive research between Schwab, Fidelity, Security Trust, Smith Barney, and Ameritrade. I went with Ameritrade because they charge NO initiation fee, NO annual maintenance fee, and $8 on-line trades. The full service brokers were around $30 per year with it being waived after either $10k or $30 was in the account, and per trade costs were from $30 to the standard % of trade calculation. Security Trust, which was the first one I looked at, charges .5% with a $500 annual MINIMUM. The only benefit I could see was that you get the first 50 trades free. If you trade a lot, and you are comparing to the full service brokers, it might make sense, but not when you compare to the online trading firms. This was important to me because I will probably be a much more agressive trader in my IRA account since you don't have to pay any cap gains tax every time you sell for a profit. As a sidenote, I am opening a traditional IRA at Ameritrade this week (before 4/15). I will then convert it to a Roth the following week. I can then still put $2000 into a new Roth in 1998. I also already have a brokerage account at Ameritrade, but that didn't influence the quoted costs at all. I did not check any of the other online trading firms Michael