03-30-2014, 08:49 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-30-2014, 08:53 PM by earthtodan.)
(03-30-2014, 10:51 AM)DRILLINDK Wrote: Thanks for the replies and all the great advice! I'm planning on establishing my DGI account with Merril Edge. They offer 30 free trades a month with what appears to be no catches as long as you meet the account requirements.
http://www.merrilledge.com/zero-dollar-t...arjyxksa_s
No catch, just free trades. I've been using MerrillEdge for about a month and I'm quite pleased. I qualify with just over $50k in my combined accounts. Free trades are quite liberating, in fact it changed how I invest. I can redirect dividends into single shares. I don't feel like I have to time the market to take a full position in something that looks expensive, because I can start small and ease into it. If something starts getting cheaper, I can chase it down as it goes. Also, no need to hope for price weakness in something you've set up in a DRIP. That's a bit of DGI training that I've been able to unlearn.
Dividend Mantra makes a good point, that if you contribute to your account every month and add the dividends to that purchase, the commissions aren't that bad. But what about your IRA? I only have $12,800 in my Roth and of course I can only contribute once a year. But because it's part of my combined accounts, I get free trades in there too. On Friday I got a $30 dividend from VTR, and on Monday I'm going to use it to buy 2 whole, non-fractional shares of ARCP. Or I might buy 2 shares of HASI, which is a new position I'm building out of dividend payments.
Also, the available research through Merrill is pretty good, which includes BofAML, Morningstar and S&P reports. I guess the catch is that you have to learn to like BofA. I had to hold my nose a bit when setting up the mandatory BofA checking account. But the rational part of me said make like NKE and just do it.
The other catch for me is that my securities and cash were transferring over from E*Trade right when the February dip happened, so I missed my chance for a lot of great deals, like JNJ at $86. Hopefully others have better luck with the timing!