10-19-2014, 07:36 AM
(10-14-2014, 08:36 AM)Lewys120 Wrote: Hi Daat I agree with what you're saying but here are a couple of problems;I'm not living in the US and not a US citizen and the brokerages in my country charge even more than yours do.
1. UK brokerage is not as competitive as US brockerage. The 'going rate' for non frequent traders around here is around £10.
2. My broker has no inactivity fee and only a 0.45% yearly administration fee
3. I receive a monthly magazine which gives helpful tips and advice.
4. My major gripe though is that I pay 1% to re-invest dividends
- Looking at competition this also seems to be the norm with brokers who don't charge charging a quarterly 'subscription fee' of around £20
5. Cheap brokers around here have a record of poor customer service.
6. My broker offers comprehensive analysis of all company financials, p/e, divgrowth, cover e.t.c in a convenient easy to use service.
I totally agree with your advice though, it just doesn't seem like the rates are competitive here in the UK! I have E-mailed my broker asking for a concession on free trades as this has just been offered to new customers
I should get paid for being loyal right
Thanks
Lewys
This is why I chose to use international broker account in Interactive Brokers.
I know that ThinkOrSwim also offers international accounts.
It's true that their customer service is lacking but to be honest with you, I don't see the need to use it.
When I had a few questions (regarding regulations) I used their online chat support and it was just fine.
Please keep in mind that I'm a technical person so I didn't had a lot of problems understanding how to use their platform for my needs (selling put options for stocks I want to buy).
The 0.45% administration fee turns out to a lot of money when your account grows (and it should grow if you believe in DGI investing).
I know Interactive Brokers has business relations with brokerage dealers world-wide where the brokerage dealers provide the service to the customers and IB provides the trading account with the platform so that might be a possible alternative.
I use such dealer myself (and pay almost twice more in commissions compared to normal IB customer) but I can talk to someone in my own language over the phone if I need something.
They helped me fill out all the forms when I started out, haven't used them since.
They also send a "weekly market update report" but those most of the time contain a lot of noise and intended to make you want to trade more - this is the opposite of what DGI is all about and I avoid it like a plague.
It all turns out to how much you are willing to pay for what you are getting.
My advice to you is to summarize your (expected) expenses in a full year using different brokers and then decide if you want to pay the price of what you are getting or not.
In my opinion, making a decision before comparing all the facts isn't a very good practice.