Where to purchase stocks?

[trimatty471]

If I invest in mutual funds with Vanguard, does it make sense to also purchase stocks through Vanguard?

[inhouston]

DI nailed it

I had a list on the old MSN board - think I printed it out
(its around here somewhere)
<<Houston stares at 50+ boxes and piles of papers>>

It had fees, limits and restrictions.

For what its worth - I have been using Scottrade lately
happy with it so far.

Have 2 others ; Schwab & TD Ameritrade ;
from many years ago - they work well - but cost more.

Bank of America - with $25,000 in account - used to have unlimited free trades (don't know if they still offer that?)

[lovetobike]

I would avoid using Vanguard for a platform to trade individual or ETF stocks. I'm using them and trying to slowly get out of my positions and transfer them elsewhere. Vanguard isn't well equipped to handle individual stock trades. One day I had a stock tanking and I wanted to sell it but the "brokerage" portion of the site was down and I was unable to trade the stock. I had to call them and wait 5 minutes until I could get an agent to make the trade for me. I lost 1% of the stock's value in that time frame. I think any of the firms mentioned above will work fine. I happen to us TD Ameritrade, although it is more expensive, it is easy to navigate and it has some excellent educational materials, charts, tools, etc to help you learn about making stock choices. They also offer the majority of Vanguard ETFs with commission free trades now.

[Small Biz Owner]

I think I found some relevant info. TradeKing, looks like a good value with good ratings also.

www.stockbrokers.com/onlinebrokers.html