3 Reasons to Take Control of Your Investments
Any advisor or bank executive would love nothing more than for you to hand over your hard-earned assets to one of their managed account programs. While it does seem convenient -- and smart -- to have your money "actively managed by a team of professionals," it turns out that there are far more subtle, effective, and efficient ways for you to invest. In this article, we'll explore some of the main reasons you should consider managing your portfolio.
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Many of the large discount brokerages -- Vanguard, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab, among others -- offer free online stock and exchange traded fund (ETF) trading. Access to the financial markets has, quite literally, never been easier or cheaper -- anyone with internet access has the power to enter trades at zero cost. Now that transaction costs have effectively been eliminated, it's hard to understand how any large institution is able to charge commission -- but all of the large wirehouses (think Merrill Lynch, a subsidiary of Bank of America) and Morgan Stanley still do.
Source Fool.com