What platform are you guys using for trading? I've decided to finally become an adult and invest my recent bonus but I don't know if I should just open a Schwab account to dip my toe in or if that's for plebs.
Personally:
IRAs: Merrill Edge
Brokerages: TD Ameritrade + Fidelity
First, if you haven't maxed your IRA or have a plan to max your IRA, throw it in there. Maxing out your HSA also takes priority over a taxable brokerage if you have one. Your choice of broker will also be affected by your investment style; some brokers are better for active traders, while others are better for passives. Most of the advice I'm offering below is from a passive perspective.
Schwab and Fidelity are both good all-arounders; both have great customer service, stock research, and cash management accounts (read: online checking accounts with decent interest and universal ATM fee reimbursement.) Schwab probably outpaces Fidelity slightly once you reach the mass affluent range ($250k+ invested); Fidelity has a good no-fuss 2% cash back card (so long as you deposit in a Fidelity account), but the Schwab Platinum starts giving you statement credits once you hit 250k in net assets invested with Schwab, and it lets you redeem Amex MR points into your Schwab accounts at a value of 1.25 cents to one MR point, which probably outpaces the Fidelity card if you are a big spender and know how to maximize your point accrual within the Amex ecosystem.
Merrill Edge is really good as well if you're a Bank of America customer, and you get the lowest tier of Preferred Rewards, their loyalty program, starting at just $20k split between your combined BofA bank and Merrill Edge investment balances. With Preferred Rewards Gold (20k), you get 10 free trades a month, Platinum (50k) 30, and Platinum Honors (100k) 100. BofA's customer service is kind of iffy until you qualify for Preferred Rewards but good once you do; Merrill's is good period. Their research is good, but not quite as robust as Schwab and Fidelity's. Another drawback: only mutual funds are no-transaction fee, not ETFs (not a huge deal once you qualify for free trades, but something to take note of). The expense ratios on their NTF mutual funds also tend to be higher than Fidelity's (again, only an issue until you get the free trades.)
TD Ameritrade is more expensive than the above, but they have a fuckton of investor education and probably tie with Fidelity for best research.
Vanguard is good if you plan to passively invest using solely Vanguard funds, but bad if you plan to do active trading. They have some nice features including access to a CFP if you have high account balances with them, but when I say "high account balances", I mean
high ($500k+). If you have less than $50k with them, they basically don't give a shit about you.
If you want to be totally hands-off and go with a robo-advisor, Wealthfront and Schwab's Intelligent Portfolios are probably your best choice for taxable accounts (low fees+tax-loss harvesting.)
