Online Investing, My Experience with Scottrade

Do you wonder how to be the master of your own investment/retirement portfolio? Even if you're in a company run investment plan, knowing how to tend to your own investments provides protection from the Bernie Madoffs of the world as well as possibly providing income opportunities. I wondered the same thing several years ago. Here's what I did to get a solid start in being the master of my own investments.

First, I educated myself in investment terminology, strategy and studied the actual markets. I followed several stocks, commodities, options, monies and metals on paper. Next I searched for an online self-directed brokerage house.

Because I was not wealthy, was green in the real money investment world and had heard all the horror stories of online scams, I labored over a criteria list to choose a suitable brokerage.

My criteria was:
Small minimum deposit to open the account
Online trading platform
Discounted fees per turnaround
Easy and cheap access to my money
Toll free and friendly customer service and support
A local office -- store front that I could see and talk to a person
Education and research available

I chose to open my brokerage account with Scottrade. Scottrade fulfilled my entire criteria list, from only $500 to open the account to checks for easy, cheap access to my account.

The account was easy to set-up online. However, to save time (and to prove an actual storefront to myself), I drove to the local office to complete the task of proving identity, citizenship, beneficiaries and to make my initial deposit.

Returning home with confidence in my decision to enlist Scottrade's help and expertise, I was ready to make my first million and have total control of my investments.

The platform downloaded easily. It took a few hours of playing with it to set it up and save layouts for "me". I also invested some time into learning how to research, buy, sell, put in trailing stops and to be comfortable with the system. The next day found me up and running and making my own decisions. Woo Hoo!

Problems and irritations were non-existent, except for the 20 minute delay in current market activity. Real-time quotes required a separate subscription for a monthly fee. This is a problem in all brokerage accounts that I investigated. It's outside the parameters of this article and will be addressed in a later discussion.

My orders were initiated quickly, research was fast and accurate (within the 20 minute delay spectrum). I had quick and easy access to my money -- simply by writing a check. Customer Service proved prompt, helpful and courteous. My initial deposit grew -- not to a million, sadly -- but at a good rate for my level of expertise -- and my profits did not disappear from my account unless I took them out.

I took control of a piece of my life. You can do it, too. Check out Scottrade and other online brokers for yourself.