Selecting an Online Broker

The decision is ultimately up to you. Perhaps you are already quite satisfied with your brokerage, and they already offer bonds and other products of interest to you. 1 will not tell you which brokerage is better than any other. (And again, 1 am not a registered representative of a NASD-member firm, so it is not in my interest to push you into opening an account at a particular firm.) 

The Web (you guessed it) is the best place to turn for information on sizing up the brokerages. The first place you should start is the site for Gomez Advisors (http //www.gomez.com). 

Top Internet Brokers for Fall 2001 ranked by Overall Score. 

Hyper-Active Trader - Serious Investor Life Goal Planner One-Stop Shopper 

Just because these online brokerages are referred to as discount, that does not mean that full-service is unavailable through their web sites. Likewise, the firms rated on the Gomez Full-Service Scorecard usually refer to the online versions of traditional brokerage firms, such as UBS Paine Webber or Morgan Stanley. 

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