The Landscape of Online Stockbrokers

Fees, account types, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Stocks, Robo-advising

First of all, most online stockbrokers offer the following:

• almost any stock and ETF as NTF (No Transaction Fee);
• a group of mutual funds as NTF;
• taxable investment accounts, joint accounts;
• various types of IRAs: traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA;

Some stockbrokers may offer solo-401k, 529, HSA, accounts or robo-advising service.

Usually online brokers allow specifying beneficiaries, please, do not forget about this!

Mutual Funds in Taxable Account

While most ETFs are offered as NTF (No Transaction Fees), mutual funds may be offered in one of the following forms:

• NTF (No Transaction Fee) — no fees are charged when purchasing or selling such mutual funds.
• TF (Transaction Fee) or NL (No Load) — a transaction fee is charged on each operation: $20–90, depending on the broker. The fees goes to the pocket of the broker.
• Load — sales fees are charged (1–5%) when purchasing the mutual fund. Usually transaction fee is not charged in this case. The sales charges…