O'Connell's Off Topic

I have accounts with ameritrade smithbarney, price, schwab and others. I really think that Schwab does it best. They may not be the absolute cheapest, but $9 trades, abilitiy to link accounts, ease of use, decent research, etc. put them a notch above every other service I have used. I like schwab better than the others.

I have Trade King. $4.95 trades. Easy to set up. Etc. Works great.

Are you/she making your own trades, doing research or ???

I had an etrade and a thinkorswim account (now Ameritrade). Etrade is more user friendly, but I think the tools in TOS are more complex and better. They are also excellent if you want to trade options.

Follow the advice of all the great investors: Buy and index fund and stick with it.

Speculation continues that E-trade will be bought out by one of the bigger houses in the next year or two so it might not be a good choice at this point.

sharebuilder.com excellent online resources.