Getting Started: How to Open a Brokerage Account

Services: Stocks and Beyond

The services brokers provide to their clients can vary quite a bit from firm to firm; chief among them is the ability to buy and sell stocks . When novice investors think about investing, buying and selling stocks is usually what comes to mind, but there are other securities (a.k.a. investments) that might be of interest down the road.

Other investment products, like mutual funds , bonds , options , and CDs can also be purchased through your broker. While these types of investments might not be something you're interested in right off the bat, the way they are handled by your broker should be something that you consider when you're looking into opening a brokerage account.

Of special interest are mutual funds. Many larger brokers have their own mutual fund offerings or special relationships with firms that do, and you can bet that they're going to push those funds a lot harder than they will the competition's funds. If you're considering putting some money in mutual funds, check to see how many mutual funds your broker offers with no transaction fees. However, don't let these fees be a deal-breaker; with the rise of exchange-traded funds , the mutual fund arena is changing.

(If you want to learn more about mutual funds, check out these articles on TheStreet.com: Mutual Funds: Getting Started With Funds and Busting the Mutual Fund Myth. And, for more on ETFs, visit TheStreet.com's ETF Center.)

Platform: Your Trading Dashboard

If you decide to open an account with an online discount broker, a big factor to consider is the trading platform you'll use to access your account. In the past several years, firms that offer online trading have been working to redesign their trading platforms in a way that makes information more readily available to their clients. These days, most well known firms have very impressive trading platforms that provide investors with account information, research, and, of course, the ability to buy and sell investments. If you head over to the Web site of a broker you're looking at, you can find a breakdown of what's offered in the trading platform.