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No, I don't mean a Palm or a Pocket PC user. You're someone who wants help through the investing maze.
To pick the right brokerage, though, you need to decide how much help you need. If you just want an occasional portfolio review with investment recommendations, you can find those services for $250 or less at most of the major discount brokers, including Schwab, Fidelity and E*Trade.
If you're looking for more-comprehensive assistance, including stock recommendations and a full-blown financial plan, you'll need either the services of a full-service broker or an independent financial planner.
Consider picking the person you want to work with rather than blindly searching for the right firm. Recommendations from friends and family can help get you started.
(Also, understand that unless you have a six-figure account, your adviser likely won't overwhelm you with attention. Given the costs involved, you might want to stick to the do-it-yourself route until your account balances command a bit more respect.)
If you're going the full-service route, keep these things in mind:
- Integrity matters most. You want to be able to trust that the advice you're getting benefits you, rather than just your adviser. Do a background check on the individual and the firm at the National Association of Securities Dealers' regulatory site. Consider consulting Weiss Ratings' guide to find the brokerages that have the most complaints; the data is somewhat out of date, but they can give you an idea of which firms have stumbled in the past.
- Customer service is essential. Find out how quickly your adviser typically returns calls and what his or her investment philosophy is. The adviser should be curious about you as well, asking about your investment goals and risk tolerance.
- Understand all the costs. You'll pay more for personal assistance, even if it's just having a broker execute a trade rather than doing it yourself online. Make sure the fees and commissions you pay are in line with the quality of service you're receiving. If you're paying premium prices to be ignored, move on.
What's not so important? Web site interfaces. The full-service brokerages only belatedly realized the Internet could be helpful to them, said analyst Tim Carpenter of Watchfire GomezPro, and are still somewhat behind the curve in making their sites user-friendly. Since you're not a big do-it-yourselfer, this matters less than the quality of personalized attention you'll receive.
Editor's note: Follow the links in the blue box to the left to read about other investing types and to return to the main article.
Liz Pulliam Weston's column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.
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