Some ways to save money are hard. You can save car expenses or bus fares by walking to work. You can save lots by quitting smoking -- which isn't the easiest thing for most smokers to do. You can save by brown-bagging your lunches instead of enjoying meals at restaurants.
Fortunately, there are some relatively easy ways to save, too. Here's one: Consider consolidating your brokerage accounts under one roof, especially if you don't have vast sums invested.
For example, Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCH) recently announced a commission cut from $19.95 to $12.95 per trade. That's for its retail clients with total household assets of $50,000 to $1 million invested through Schwab (or those who trade between 9 and 30 times per year). Think about it this way: If you make six trades per year and pay $19.95 each time, that's $119.70. Do so for $12.95 a pop, and the total is $77.70, $42 less. You might not be able to take advantage of the rate cut if you have $40,000 in one Schwab account and $20,000 in an account at TD Waterhouse (a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD)). But by moving all your accounts to one home, you may save.
At E*Trade (NYSE:ET), you'll find yourself slapped with a hefty quarterly account service fee of $40 (yearly total: $160!) if you don't meet one of admittedly many conditions. One condition is if the account is worth at least $10,000 and another is if all your E*Trade accounts total $20,000 or more. Again, for some people, moving accounts to one brokerage can make sense.
Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) charges an account maintenance fee of $15 per quarter, or $60 per year. That's far from insignificant, but it's waived if you have a minimum of $2,000 invested or four trades in six months. I learned this at our Broker Comparison Table, which features info on some brokerages that support your friend the Fool. It's also clear there that a little time comparing brokerages can save you money in other ways. One firm, for example, charges $35 in IRA custodian fees per year per account, while another charges nothing for that service. Shop around, Fool.
Learn more about what brokerages have been up to recently and how to pick a good one:
- Which Brokerage Is Best?
- The $5 Stock Trade
- Second Chance for Schwab?
- Modest Talk, Big Gains
- Brokerage Statement Bewilderment
- Don't Get Blindsided by Your Broker
- Rating the Low-Cost Brokerages
Learn more about how to select the best brokerage in our Broker Center.
Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian does not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.
