Getting Started: How to Open a Brokerage Account

One-On-One Help. These days, online discount brokers have become pretty universal in their acceptance -- they're convenient, their fees are lower, and you can get your information instantly. But for some people, being able to walk into a real office and talk to a real person is a big deal. If that's the case for you, then a traditional "brick-and-mortar" or full-service broker might be worth looking at.

Remember, though, fees are usually much higher with full-service brokers, and unless your account has a pretty impressive balance, you probably won't be getting a whole lot of face time with your broker.

Never fear, even discount brokers are now touting their hundreds of office locations and approachable brokers -- a sign of the ever-shrinking customer service gap between the full-service brokers and the discount ones. However, even with a discount broker, expect to be charged considerably more for taking advantage of those broker-assisted trades.

Broker Competence. Make sure to look into professional affiliations. For stockbrokers, the independent governing body is the National Association of Securities Dealers . You'll want your firm to be a member of this organization. The NASD certifies firms and individual stockbrokers, and keeps a record of customer complaints on file for each member firm. You can find a wealth of information on your broker at the NASD Web site.

Funding Your Account. You'll likely need a checking account to get money into your brokerage account. While cutting a check has been the method of choice for quite some time, paperless methods like electronic funds transfer are becoming an industry standard for getting cash into your account. For your opening deposit, they'll likely still need a check. (Sorry, folks, no credit cards accepted here.)

Now, you've likely heard of a margin account . It's essentially a way for you to borrow money (or securities) from your broker to invest. Buying on margin is not something that you'll want to do until you're pretty familiar with investing and understand the additional account restrictions related to margin (like a higher minimum balance).

(To learn more about margin, check out these articles on TheStreet.com: Booyah Breakdown: Margin Madness and The Finance Professor: Understanding Leverage.)