Multiple broker accounts

[dczech09]

Hi, I am a young investor (22 years old) and have an individual account with Scottrade which I use to buy individual stocks. I am thinking about taking advantage of Fidelity and their new free iShares ETF trading. My question: would this be a good idea to have two brokerage accounts? I would use Fidelity simply for ETFs and obtaining a more balanced asset allocation, but I would like to know other peoples opinions. Thanks!

[disneysteve]

Nothing at all wrong with having more than one brokerage account. Other than giving you a little more paperwork to keep track of, it doesn't matter if you have 1, 2 or 12 accounts. Different brokers offer different services and different products, no different than having your money in several different banks.