Early Bird Special (EBS)

[Stock]

Choosing a Broker

http://www.fool.com/dbc/dbc.htm

Ready, set, invest!

Would that it were that easy. Thankfully the mechanics of investing are pretty straightforward. In fact, we can regale you with a grand overview of finding, opening, and funding a discount brokerage account in less than 60 seconds. Start your stopwatches...

0:57: Decide how much you'll invest
Will it be $500, $5,000, or $50,000? Some brokers require a minimum initial deposit of $2,000. Others require $500. And some require no minimum, or accept smaller initial deposits to open an IRA. Your first step is to figure out how much dough you plan to start with.

0:50: Consider what you'll be investing in
While we're partial to stocks, you may also want to invest in mutual funds (particularly index funds), options, bonds, or certificates of deposit (CDs). Not every online broker will offer all of these, so make sure you can buy what you want through your broker.

0:38: Compare broker fees and services
Check out and compare how much different brokers will charge in commissions and fees. For a quick comparison of four major brokerages, check out this aptly titled Broker Comparison Table, where you can see how some of our sponsors stack up. For extra credit, visit other brokerage sites to see what they bring to the table. You'll of course want to find out information about trading commissions, but also compare account maintenance fees, IRA custodial fees, and other costs.

Click here to compare brokers (only 4 here, but it's a start):
http://www.fool.com/dbc/tables/compare.htm?ref=qa