The easiest, and often the most accurate, way to monitor your investment portfolio is to monitor it directly through your brokerage account. As described in the previous Chapter, brokerage accounts allow you to consolidate various types of investment vehicles within one account. In addition, most brokerages, such as Fidelity, allow you to monitor all of your accounts through a single, consolidated, web-based interface. For example, of you have a joint account with your spouse, an IRA, your spouses IRA, and custodian accounts for your children through Fidelity. you can monitor them all through your single Fidelity home page. Below, we provide the links to some main fund companies and brokerages where you can hold funds and monitor your account:
Below, we describe some of the major features of these accounts in more detail. The features we describe below for each of the major fund companies and brokerages are not meant to be all inclusive. We only highlight those features that are most relevant to relative to the topics we describe in the previous Chapters.
Most people think of Fidelity mutual funds when they think of Fidelity Investments. But Fidelity also has brokerage account services. Fidelity has a complete set of brokerage services available to its clients. Within a Fidelity brokerage account, you can not only invest in Fidelity mutual funds, you can also invest in stocks, fixed income, options, over 4,500 Fidelity and non-Fidelity mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, IPOs, UITs, Precious Metals, and Foreign Securities.
The minimum account size is $2,500. As you account balance grows, the level of service and options increases as well:
In addition to the summaries presented above, there are additional services that may be of interest at Fidelity, including:
Similar to Fidelity, in addition to a full line of mutual funds, Vanguard also offers comprehensive brokerage services. Through Vanguard’s FundAccess program, you can have access to over 2,600 mutual funds. The minimum amount to open up a fund account at Vanguard is xxxxx. The level of service and options available to investors increases as assets in the brokerage account increases. These service options include:
In addition to mutual fund accounts, T Rowe Price offers brokerage services. The minimum amount to open an account is $2,500. Through a T Rowe Price Brokerage account, you have access to over 7,000 mutual funds. Additional account features include:
Through a Schwab brokerage account, you get access to over 1,100 no-load, no-transaction fee mutual funds. Other features Schwab accounts include access to:
For investor portfolios greater than $500,000, Schwab offers Schwab Signature Platinum service offering a selection of special benefits on a complimentary basis-including priority service, expanded investment resources, and preferred pricing:
· Priority Service: Get fast access and responsive support from our experienced Investment Consultants; Special toll-free number provides priority access to Investment Consultants specially trained in the needs of sophisticated investors; Access to specialized expertise including bonds, global investing, and options trading; Expect skilled, responsive service, and a top-rated financial website
· Expanded Suite of Investment Resources: Take advantage of an expanded array of research and technology resources to help you stay on top of your portfolio; Premium research from leading providers including First Call, Argus, Standard & Poor's, and Vickers; On Investing® magazine, our quarterly publication dedicated to the issues and concerns of affluent investors; Enhanced email alerts, providing updates on earnings, news, opinions, and price changes via email or pager; Quarterly Portfolio Profile, a report which includes market performance statistics, asset allocation information, and ratings on each security held in a portfolio of accounts; In addition to powerful online capabilities, you'll have robust trading and account access through your choice of investing channels.
· Preferred Pricing: Enjoy preferred pricing and fee waivers for added value and convenience; Complimentary Schwab BillPay service with Schwab Access™ Account allows you to manage your banking and pay your bills online; ATM Fee Rebates with Schwab Access Account (up to 8 domestic transactions per month); Options Commissions Savings, including a discount on live options trades; and Quarterly Portfolio Profile, a report which includes market performance statistics, asset allocation information, and ratings on each security held in a portfolio of accounts.
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