The Sun's Financial Diary

This time last year, I wrote that Scottrade, a discount online stock brokerage that I have been using since 2001, was about to launch its own free dividend reinvestment program. I was really excited when I first heard that the program might be available in the fall of 2012 because that’s what I have been [...]

Online discount broker OptionsHouse is currently running a promotion which will give away Google Nexus Tablet for free to new customers when certain conditions are met. In order to get the free Google Nexus Tablet, you will need to satisfy the following requirements: Open an OptionsHouse brokerage account using promo code FIRE during the promotional [...]

I have been a Scottrade customer for years and whenever I need to add fund to my brokerage account, I use an external bank account linked to the Scottrade brokerage account to transfer money before buying stocks (see my post on how to fund Scottrade brokerage account). It is quite convenient actually, though the system [...]

It looks like buying ETFs without commission is getting a lot easier these days. Late last week, Charles Schwab, the brokerage firm that introduced no-transaction fee mutual fund supermarket 20 years ago, announced the creation of the equivlant of ETF supermarket, called Schwab ETF OneSource. The online ETF trading platform allows Schwab customers to buy [...]

No, I haven’t done anything yet, but I am seriously considering making the move. I have been a loyal Scottrade customer for more than a decade. In the past, I have said plenty of good things about the broker here, such as its customer service, trading platform, and the instant deposit feature that lets me [...]

Do you have a regular, non-retirement brokerage account with Vanguard? If you do, do yo still remember the account opening process? I just opened my first Vanguard non-retirement brokerage account and I found the whole process wasn’t straightforward and the experience wasn’t a pleasant one. Yes, I have been a vanguard customer for more than [...]

If you are looking for an incentive to open a new brokerage account, Charles Schwab has a promotional offer which will give you an Amazon Kindle Fire HD (the latest version) for free, providing that you can set enough money aside for the new account. Here’s how the offer works: Open a Charless Schwab brokerage [...]

If you are using Vanguard mutual funds or ETFs to build your investment portfolio, may it be a retirement account or regular brokerage account, you are going to like this piece of news. Vanguard announced on December 28th that starting December of 2012, the company changed expense ratios (ERs) of a number of funds (so [...]