So,
With around a thousand dollars sitting in a bank checking account earning around .5% interest, I’ve decided that I’d much rather invest that money into something.
I don’t have much ambition to transform into a day-trader, but I’m planning on moving most of that money into a mix of two or three growth oriented or foreign investment mutual funds.
Is using Scottrade.com a reasonable and cheap way to do this?
I’ve largely made my decision from this:
http://www.scottrade.com/online_broker_comparison/discount_brokerage_comparison.asp
Scottrade seems to have the lowest commissions and I really haven’t shopped around much for other criteria. I don’t need “real-time quotes” or the ability to trade $3 M worth of stock on margin buys, just a way of moving money into and out of mutual funds on a 6 month to 1 year basis and add to the account from savings as I choose to do so.
Eventually I plan on taking money back out of this account as well in the relatively short term (two to three years), so beyond the $7 stock trade commissions and the $17 mutual fund trade commissions, are there going to be any “gotchas” or fees that I’m failing to anticipate? Yes, I certainly realize that my investments could lose money, no reason to read me the red herring.