Scottrade
Topic: Investment 101
Ok, Scottrade wins. I opened my account today. Woo Hoo, I now am an "investor". Right? Cool.

Long Term Investment.
Topic: Investment 101

Talked to Legg Mason. They are fabulous. Rated #1 on JD Edwards. Will have to wait to get 10K I can risk to use them, hopefully by next year. Low cost, to no cost, and really nice. Clearly the personal attention of a small firm and yet they got the expertise. If they're still #1 on JD Edwards when I'm ready, I'm there. Of course, will have to look at others as well, but that's later.

http://www.jdpower.com/cc/finance/jdpa_ratings/OnlineInvesting.jsp
http://www.fool.com/dbc/tables/compare.htm?ref=aaira

Investment 101
Topic: Investment 101
I guess it's time to open up a new category in my life, and on the blog as well. Investment. I'm going to buy a house soon, that is if I get a job soon. So I better learn. Also, I have to roll over my 401K immediately, causing me to start learning about this stuff now. I've been meaning to learn about this kind of stuff for a while. I have a personal finance book and a book on real estate for dummies. All good places to start. And a wealth of online resources. What are some of my immediate investment needs/goals/to-do's:

1. Open an IRA by end of the day today. I've procrastinated too long and need to roll over my 401K ASAP
2. Learn about stocks, bonds, cd's and mutual funds more. I don't know enough. I'm going to play some sort of an online stimulation game before investing.
3. Invest my IRA funds into something - next week
4. Get my credit report and make sure it's clean - after getting the job
5. Find Homeowners Insurance - end of 2004
6. Find a Mortgage company - end of 2004
7. Create an investment portfolio - 2005-2006