Originally Posted by
pathisfer
Also with mutual funds, there is no trading commission and there are a lot of "no load" (meaning no commission going in) mutual funds and the fee (management fee) is built into the price per share of the mutual fund.
Just a note on those fees. There may be account management fees for having under a certain amount in your fund. And that is not necessarily the same amount you need to open the account.
Fees can be a little tricky. A management fee is generally a yearly fee (though perhaps charged quarterly) to manage an account with too low a balance. Whereas a transaction fee can happen if you get a fund outside of the family of funds offered by a specific brokerage. Loads go with the fund itself.
For instance, T. Rowe Price's 500 Index fund has a $10 per year management fee, charged $2.50 per quarter, if the balance drops below $10,000. But it only takes something like $2000-2500 to open that account. There's no transaction fee if you have an account at TRP and get it through them. If you get it through ETrade, there is a $20 transaction fee every time you buy or sell. (I suspect there's a similar fee through other places like Fidelity or Vanguard or whoever.) The account is also no-load, regardless of who you get it through.
Check all these fees carefully. If you don't understand them, call the broker and ask that they be explained. Some make it complicated to find them on their website.
But I do agree that mutual funds is a good way to go. If you're stuck on buying individual stocks, make sure you go to a discount broker. Oh, and Ameritrade,
if I'm remembering correctly, is mostly for high-dollar investors. I couldn't go there, at least not the last time I checked.