ING / Sharebuilder

[shelbylovesmelby]

SO consider me complelty clueless!

Where does one start???

Are there minimums you must invest monthly? I'd be looking @ $100 / mo tops, not much but they say since Enron to DIVERSIFY DIVERSIFY!

What do I need to know about Taxes?

Do I need to follow the market constantly?

Are there safer types of stocks to go w/ like when you invest in your 401k?

Fill me in!

[sweeps]

Some of your questions will take more time to answer... but to answer one of them:

I don't believe there are any minimums either for balances or for investments. BUT don't let commissions kill your returns. Even on a $4 commission, you are immediately down 4% if you make a $100 investment. Save up your $100 each month, and maybe do a $300 quarterly transaction or a $600 semi-annual transaction. That reduces your fees.

[lucasrd]

depending on how many stocks you're going to buy each month...Zecco.com offers 10 comission free trades per month. After 10 freebies it's only 4.95 per trade. That should more than suffice. Unless you are day-trading i'd check out Zecco.

[Broken Arrow]

depending on how many stocks you're going to buy each month...Zecco.com offers 10 comission free trades per month. After 10 freebies it's only 4.95 per trade. That should more than suffice. Unless you are day-trading i'd check out Zecco.

To clarify, Zecco offers the 10 free trades per month so long as you have a net equity of $2500 in your accounts. But yes, anything beyond that or below that is $4.95 per trade.

Full price list.