Buying individual stocks?

[jwright]

I’m sure this has been asked and answered before, but I’m interested in purchasing some shares of an individual company’s stock. I have a brokerage account with our long time financial advisor but I want to keep this separate (and it definitely goes against gat firms philosophy so they may not let us).

Betterment? Robinhood? Any reviews?

[ohgillian]

It seems like these days, most brokerages have free online trades. So I would probably just pick one of the big brokerages that you aren't already with. TDAmeritrade, Schwab, etc. Here's a list from a recent article:

money.usnews.com/investing/portfolio-management/articles/brokers-that-offer-commission-free-trading

I think the discount brokerages used to have an advantage by offering lower cost trades, but now that you can get no-commission trades everywhere, I personally would stick to a larger well-known brokerage, in case I wanted to grow the account over time and/or for ease of transferring the assets down the road. I'm sure the smaller places are probably fine also.

[shaynaatl]

Agreed, just use any brokerage if you are investing in normal stocks. They pretty much all have free trading now.
Now you'll have to use a niche brokerage if you are investing in other things like Crypto, etc.

I haven't invested in individual stocks in many years, but I'm also considering getting back into it a little.

[gt7301b]

I would avoid Robinhood. They gamify investing and have terrible customer service. If you have an existing relationship with a brokerage firm I would go with that one, if not I would pick Vanguard or Fidelity.

[imojoebunny]

Vanguard has the best customer service for the lowest fees, IME. As you gain more assets, their customer service is even better. When we were small investors, the service was good, and now that we have more assets, it is WOW, without the fees that would make us cry of some "full service" brokerages. Robinhood gives me bad vibes, but I am older, and prefer to call a person for some transactions. Vanguard walks me through easily and without a hassle. We have accounts at Fidelity and TDAmeritrade, too, but I prefer the Vanguard people.