Value, Convenience, and Service for Moderate Investors
Written: Feb 07 '01
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Pros: Prompt, courteous people. Local offices. Check writing!
Cons: Not the lowest prices
The Bottom Line: Full-service brokerage feel from a non-pushy discount brokerage. Great for investor who know what they're doing.
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| howardh's Full Review: Freeman Welwood |
A home for the moderate investor
What kind of investor am I? I'm not a wacko, off-the-scale day trader, but I do have some margin debt. I'm a buy-and-hold kinda guy who needs a good place to handle a raft of investment and retirement accounts for me, my wife, and my kids. I neither need nor want anything fancy, just good, solid reliable service. Harris Investorline provides that service in spades.
Brokerage criteria
I wanted a brokerage that offered:
* inexpensive online trading
* low/no account fees
* local offices
Harris Investorline (nee Freeman-Welwood) met all those criteria easily. (Actually, they didn't have online trading when I got started in 1995, but that's today's list.)
Online trading costs $14.95 for market orders, $19.95 for limit orders.
IRAs are free if you have a minimum of $10K balance or do one trade per year. Otherwise you pay $25.
We bought our last car on margin (deductible interest!). I called the branch office, asked them to make out a check to me. I drove downtown and picked it up 30 minutes later. No hassles. You can't easily do that with a fully-online brokerage. Similarly, I needed to open an IRA account so I could roll-over a 401K. I zoomed to the branch and had it all done in 15 minutes.
Checking service
The best recent feature is free, full service checking. No more $250 or even $100 minimum amounts. Plus, they accept wire transfers for free, unlike Washington Mutual, which charged us $12 for the privilege of taking our money.
In addition to being free, account statements have the name of the check's payee, rather than just the check number. Plus they scan cleared checks and mail you a printout.
Other services
I certainly don't use all of their services, but I know that you can get copies of Standard and Poors or Value-Line reports for companies you're interested in.
They're also investment club-friendly. They know about clubs and offer a special packet with sample by-laws and partnership agreements for members to look at. Both of my investment clubs have accounts there.
Summary
In six-plus years, I've never had any difficulty with Freeman-Welwood/Harris Investorline. I was a bit concerned about the acquisition, but I haven't noticed any change in service -- a good thing in this case!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
howardh
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Member: Howard Hansen
Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 8 members
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