Schwab is a full-service brokerage firm that will impress new clients with high touch points, such as quick phone calls post sign-up, responsive live chat features, perhaps the best research in the industry, including proprietary stock ratings, intuitive trading platforms, streaming live events via Schwab Live, and competitive commissions’ costs.

Options traders will love Schwab’s options platform that was built with the proficient options trader in mind, and features such as the all-in-one ticket trade feature. Plus on-the-go traders will find Schwab’s mobile solutions, whether Smartphones, Tablets or Watches to be a pleasant user experience.

Charles Schwab Spotlight

CHARLES SCHWAB SPOTLIGHT
InvestorMint Rating 1 2 3 4 5 4.5 out of 5 stars	Promo: Get up to $500 cash with a deposit of $100,000+ Account Minimum: $1,000 Commissions: $4.95 Get Started

Charles Schwab Customers

Charles Schwab pioneered low-cost trading that made it possible for the masses to access markets inexpensively, and the strategy of low-cost commissions combined with best-in-class customer service has resulted in Schwab managing well over $2 trillion in client assets.

Charles Schwab serves beginner traders and active, experienced traders equally well. Schwab’s platforms include:

• StreetSmart.com, which is web-based and best for beginners;
• StreetSmart Edge, which is desktop-based; and
• Trade Source, a website.

Schwab’s options platform is designed for experienced options traders and includes advanced capabilities, such as Walk Limit that optimizes for the best National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO) price.

A wide variety of tradeable securities are supported to meet the needs of almost any trader across the spectrum:

• Stocks
• Options
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Futures
• Pink Sheets (OTCBB)
• ETFs

For investors seeking life planning and retirement preparation advice, Schwab also has extensive support and resource capabilities. As a result, Schwab caters to not only the self-directed trader but the hands-off investor too.

Charles Schwab is an excellent fit for the following trader types:

• Beginner traders
• Hands-off investors
• Options traders
• Experienced traders
• Retirees
• Traders in need of quality research
• Mutual fund and ETF investors

Charles Schwab Promo Deal

Charles Schwab offers tiered cash rewards as high as $500 for deposits.

• Earn a cash bonus of $100 with a deposit between $10,000-$24,999
• Earn a cash bonus of $200 with a deposit between $25,000-$49,999
• Earn a cash bonus of $300 with a deposit between $50,000-$99,999
• Earn a cash bonus of $500 with a deposit of $100,000+

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Charles Schwab Pros and Cons

Charles Schwab has an abundance of positive attributes going for it, including high quality research, excellent customer support, low commissions for the most part, mobile trading, and intuitive trading platforms.

Charles Schwab Securities

Other than Forex, virtually every other tradeable security is available through Schwab’s options platform:

• Stocks
• Options
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Futures
• Pink Sheets (OTCBB)
• ETFs

Charles Schwab Fees

Charles Schwab has an industry-leading fee schedule, particularly as it relates to options and stocks:

Charles Schwab Platform Features

Charles Schwab Summary

Schwab is a compelling choice as a one-stop solution for beginner traders, active traders, options traders, hands-off investors and just about every trader type in between.

Featuring 24/7 phone support, Live Chat, Email and local branch accessibility its customer support ranks among the best in the business. Schwab stands toe-to-toe with competitors like Fidelity and ETrade on commissions costs, high quality research, an extensive range of commission-free ETFs and powerful trading platforms.

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The article Charles Schwab Review 2020 was originally posted on Investormint

Beyond fee considerations, customer support is perhaps the next most important consideration when selecting a retirement account provider. Robo-advisors have low fees but not all have the support network of financial advisors that higher fee, traditional brokers provide. Investment selection and account minimums are important factors to weigh too before making a decision on who to choose for your IRA account.

Best Robo-Advisors For IRAs

Which Robo-Advisors are best for IRA account management?

The trend towards lower fee, robo-advisory services is the future with the Millenial generation flocking to them in favor of traditional financial advisors, who will increasingly be replaced by these lower fee alternatives capable of providing comparable, if not superior, money management services.

Betterment, Wealthfront, Future Advisor and Personal Capital stand out as leading robo advisors. Large, established brokers like Fidelity have launched their own robo advisors (Fidelity Go) respectively.

Personal Capital has an attractive combination of low fees, accessible financial advisors, and supports traditional IRA accounts, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, as well as featuring among the best rollover IRA account providers.

The management fee charged by Personal Capital ranges from 0.49%-0.89%. Personal Capital also stands out from its peers with an excellent mobile app that allows you easily track your day-to-day spending, cash flow, portfolio holdings, and net worth.

Betterment has no minimum balance requirement and that enticement has attracted over 150,000 customers and $6.1 billion in assets under management. Betterment automatically rebalances portfolios using exchange-traded funds and caters to traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, Roth IRAs and Rollovers IRAs.

Like many other robo-advisors, Betterment applies modern portfolio theory to assets: cash is automatically invested in a diversified portfolio and portfolios are rebalanced automatically each time an asset class moves more than 3% from its target percentage level.

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• Standout Feature
  Best Overall
• Management fee
  0.25% – 0.40%
• Account Minimum
  Starting at $0
• Open an Account

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• Standout Feature
  Dedicated financial advisor assigned to each client
• Management fee
  0.49% - 0.89%
• Account Minimum
  $100,000
• Get Started Now

Best All-Round IRA Providers

Low fees are important but investors with complex financial circumstances may need additional customer support, and broader investment selections. If you are looking for the best IRA companies, the providers below have the best all-round service.

Retirement planning is personal and having an expert hold your hand through the process can offer a lot of value. Being able to walk into a local office to meet your financial advisor in person is comforting, particularly when markets fall. For this reason, Charles Schwab and Scottrade stand head and shoulders among their peers.

Schwab offers customer service 7 days a week and 24 hours per day. Both have local branch offices where you can meet and visit with your dedicated financial advisor. And both offer extensive retirement planning tools. Plus, both have very broad investment selections, the value of which should not be underestimated.

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• Commissions
  $4.95 per trade
• Avg. Fund-related fees
  0.26%
• Account Minimum
  $1,000
• Open an Account

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• Standout Feature
  Scottrade ELITE desktop-based platform
• Commissions
  Stocks: $6.95 per trade; Options: $6.95 + $0.70 per contract
• Account Minimum
  $2,500 for brokerage; $0 for IRAs
• Get Started Now

Best IRA Companies For Traders

Renowned billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, counsels that for most investors a diversified portfolio is the smartest choice. But for the handful of investors who can “buy the fear, and sell the greed” as Buffett says, as part of an active trading strategy, the following brokers offer excellent platforms.

TastyWorks offers one of the most competitive trading platforms when comparing transaction prices. Stock opening trades are just $5.00 irrespective of the number of shares traded. For options and futures traders, pricing is highly competitive when compared to industry peers, just $1.00 per contract for opening options trades, and $2.50 per contract for opening futures trades. TastyWorks supports Traditional IRA accounts and features among the best Roth IRA account providers too.

TradeKing offers a highly attractive $4.95 stock trade commission charge and an extensive range of tools on its trading platform. A minimum account balance of $2,500 is required at TradeKing and an annual $50 fee is charged for inactive accounts or those falling below the account minimum threshold level.

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  Closing trades for Stocks & ETFs and Options are commission-free
• Commissions
  $0 flat rate for stocks
• Account Balance Minimum
  $0
• Get Started

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  Get up to $1,000 in commission-free trades
• Commissions
  Stock trade commissions: $4.95 flat rate; Options trade commissions: $4.95 + $0.65 per contract
• Account Minimum
  $0
• Get Started Now

Best Low Cost IRA Providers

Low expense ratios and a large selection of funds are offered by these IRA providers.

Vanguard established its reputation as the leading low-cost provider when it pioneered index fund investing and its 0.30% flat management fee for Vanguard Personal Advisor Services continues the low cost trend. While Vanguard continues to lead its industry peers on fee comparisons though it does fall short of Fidelity in its selection range of commission-fee ETFs and no-transaction-fee mutual funds.

Fidelity Go is the robo-advisor offering by Fidelity, charging 0.35%, including investment expenses – a pioneering fee schedule among robo advisors – on retirement assets. Fidelity has a broader range of mutual funds than Vanguard but many have a minimum investment criterion of $2,500. Investment minimums are waived with monthly auto-deposits of at least $200.

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  Investment expenses included in management fee
• Management fee
  0.35%
• Account Minimum
  $10
• Get Started Now

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• Standout Feature
  Live advisors accessible
• Management fee
  0.30%
• Account Minimum
  $50,000
• Open an Account

The article Best IRA Providers 2020 was originally posted on Investormint