Foliofn

[AIMster]

I keep wondering where the catch is. I know that this is not a day trading account, but for long term buy and holds...

No catch that I've seen yet in the 4+ years of being a user of their service. I also like the fact that they let you start off with no minimum amount and no minimum transaction size. It is also possible to set up electronic-funds-transfer on a schedule you determine so that if you want to 'pay yourself first' and make additional ongoing investments from your checking account, this is quite doable. Note, however, that four years ago you had a lot more control in setting these up. In the post 9/11 world they now require such transfer requests to come directly from your bank, so the tradeoff is a bit less convenience versus better security. In this case I think it worthwhile. The couple of infrequent times I've seen something unusual on the account, these concerns have been quickly fixed by their customer service people.

Whilst 'buy-and-hold' is the emphasis, certainly 'swing' trading over days and weeks is an acceptable policy as well. Also, whilst you can do exact dollar amount trading, via fractional shares, you can also trade in whole shares as well. This I've started using as keeping track of the fractional shares was a lot of extra work.

Any more questions feel free to ask.

Best,

AIMster