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Money management is not a skill that all people just inherently have. It’s tough sometimes to know what to do when you have any amount of extra money. Looking at different ways to use that money can even lead to anxiety for some people. We want to make smart decisions regarding our finances, but we don’t always find ourselves doing that.
You can set yourself up for success by opening an online discount brokerage account for help with managing your extra money. One of the best discount brokers is Questrade. This company can help you figure out what things you can do with your extra money that will benefit you both now and in the future.
How to Find an Online Discount Brokerage Service
You can do a quick Internet search for this kind of service, and it will likely yield you plenty of results. That’s good but also confusing. You don’t want to just open an account with the first broker you come across. Spend a little time comparing what the different brokerage services have to offer before you decide on one for your money.
Things to Consider When Choosing an Online Discount Brokerage Service
Knowing which brokerage service to choose starts with knowing what your goals are for the extra cash you have. Brokerage services will offer different features for managing your money.
There are some things you should consider before deciding on the right discount brokerage service, and also to figure out if the discount service is a good fit for your needs, or if you should look for a full-service broker. The difference in these two is that with a full-service broker, you have a professional that will give you advice and consult with you on how to achieve your goals. With a discount brokerage service, your interaction with any kind of expert is non-existent or very limited, and you don’t get suggestions, advice or any kind of guidance on what to do with your account. The account is yours, along with all of the decisions you make to buy and sell.
The things you want to compare between online discount brokers are things like registration fees, account minimums, cost per trade amounts and ease-of-use. If you’re just getting started with investing, you don’t want to be paying fees for using an online platform that take away a large chunk of your money. You also don’t want the trading experience to be so complicated that you don’t really understand what you’re doing. There are some online discount brokers that have really good educational resources on their sites. It’s best to look for one of these if you’re just entering into the investment realm.
From the Top Down
One of the biggest names in the game of discount brokers is Questrade. They’ve been around since 1999. This company has some of the lowest fees in the industry. They’ve managed to keep their fees lower than almost everyone else by offering a simple and stream-lined platform where investors who like to do their buying and selling themselves can make their trades quickly and securely without having to pay exorbitant fees to do so.
Users of Questrade are generally very happy with the service. The biggest complaint has been with the changes that get made to the trading platform. There were some issues with the original platform that had to be worked out. That led to some frequent changes for a little while. The good news is that the kinks have seemingly been worked out now, so your trading should go very smoothly.
Other Brokers to Look At
Questrade is the overall leader for online discount brokers in Canada. But there are some other brokerage services to look at before making a decision on one you want to use.
- Qtrade Investor – This company has been giving Questrade some pretty good competition for the top spot over the past couple of years. These two get ranked pretty similarly in a lot of areas. Qtrade takes the lead with their customer service levels. They are good for ETFs and rank high for Mobile Accessibility, but not higher than Questrade.
- iTRADE – Scotiabank’s online platform, iTRADE gives you tons of online resources to help you learn about managing your trades and making the most of your money. The fees associated with this platform are higher than Questrade’s, but are still very reasonable. This discount brokerage service is good for new investors and more seasoned investors. It has powerful trading platforms to choose from and educational resources that are all completely free.
The Wave of the Future
Where once having a broker to help you manage your investments was only for the wealthy, discount brokers online have made it where anyone can get into the world of investing. Whether you only have an extra $3,000 to play with, or you have $100,000 to work with, there’s an online discount brokerage service that’s right for you.
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This content is sponsored by Erica Johnson.
Photo: iStockPhoto