Get $25 Free When You Open an ING ShareBuilder Account!

I’ve been a ShareBuilder member since 2005. Before I joined, I did a mountain of research for discount brokerages that matched my criteria. I was new to investing, and didn’t want to get bogged down into a quagmire of fees. My criteria was simple:

• No account minimums.

• Low cost.

• No inactivity fees.

• Member of FINRA/SIPC (like FDIC for investment companies)

I basically wanted something to buy and hold stock whenever I had the extra cash to do so… i.e. not an automated venture.

Not only did I visit each website and scour their available online info, I went trolling through forums and news groups to see what other people were saying. Eventually I had narrowed my selection down to 2 choices: ShareBuilder and FOLIOfn. I didn’t want to back a losing horse, so when I started seeing a lot of chatter about FOLIOfn being on financially unsound footing, I decided to go with ShareBuilder.

In the end, FOLIOfn did not fold, and I could have gone with them but that’s hindsight.

ShareBuilder offers 3 plans to choose from

Here’s a quick breakdown of features associated with each plan:

BASIC:

• No Account Minimums
• Automatic Investment Plan
• Real-time Trades
• Mutual Funds
• Express Funding
• Investment Guidance
• Options Trading
• Margin Borrowing
• Research Tools
• Gain & Loss Tracking

Standard:

• BASIC PLUS:
• Included Automatic Investments
• Discounted Margin Rates
• Stock Grades

Advantage:

• Standard PLUS:
• Stock Reports
• Strategy Reports
• IPO Priority Notification

Well, since the basic fit my main criteria, I chose that and haven’t looked back since. The best part is that it doesn’t cost me a dime unless I buy or sell a stock! Which brings me to the next important feature – Price!

How Much Does It Cost?

Basic:

• $4 to buy
• $9.95 to sell Market, Limit and Stop Orders
• Phone trades: $29.95

Standard: ($12/month – 1st month free)

• 6 free buys per month
• $2 to buy after the 1st 6.
• $9.95 to sell Market, Limit and Stop Orders
• Phone trades: $29.95

Advantage: ($20/month)

• 20 free buys per month
• $1 each thereafter
• $9.95 to sell Market, Limit and Stop Orders
• Phone trades: $29.95

All levels offer Margin Borrowing, with the Standard package giving a 0.25% discount and the Advantage a 0.5% discount in the margin rate. All levels also include PortfolioBuilder. PortfolioBuilder is a general guide to take the user through risk tolerance and gets them to focus on what they’re investing for. I haven’t used this feature much, since I’ve educated myself prior to joining on most of what it provides.

Since I joined ShareBuilder, they have been acquired by ING. This actually makes me very happy since I believe ING is a very stable company, and have also been a member of their Orange Savings and Electronic Checking accounts for years. Since ING owns ShareBuilder, transfers to or from ING accounts are free AND instantaneous! No waiting 3 days for the transfer to be completed.

There’s also no cost to reinvestment dividends – you can create your own DRiPS!

If you’re interested in joining ShareBuilder, you can get $25 free when you open an account using one of the promo codes below:

ing sharebuilder promotion code

ing sharebuilder promotion code

ing sharebuilder promotion code

ing sharebuilder promotion code

ing sharebuilder promotion code

NOTE: If they have stopped working, please let me know so I can get some fresh ones!

These promotional codes are similar to the ING direct savings account referral codes

• ING Direct Electric Orange Checking referrals.
• Will Refinancing My Mortgage Save Me Money?
• TracFone Promo Codes For 2010.
• TracFone Promo Codes For June 2010.

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