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Step 3
Choose Your Broker

Choose a Broker Offering Investment Saving Plans

After having decided for a portfolio allocation and ETFs for your globally diversified portfolio, it's time to look for a broker where you can run your ETF saving plan at low cost. Preferably, the broker should offer autopilot functionality, offering the automatic execution of regular orders (e.g., monthly saving plan in ETF). The less hassle you will have with sticking to regular execution of your ETF saving plan. Because during market turmoil or new market highs emotions will make every investor hesitating to execute an order manually.

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To help you choosing the best broker for you, please find below a list with guiding questions regarding choosing the best broker for your needs.

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Selection criteria for choosing the best broker for your needs:

  • Is the broker well-established on the market or just opened its shop recently?

  • How does customer feedback on the internet sound like?

  • Can you buy the ETFs you have chosen for your saving plan? Some broker only offer ETFs from certain providers (e.g., Vanguard).

  • What are commissions for orders outside a regular saving plan?

  • Does your broker offer tools to analyse performance of your portfolio or provide clear statements which could be imported by 3rd party service providers (e.g., via PDF-import)?

  • Does your broker provide reports on the portfolio performance (e.g., TWR, the time weighted return) which you can customise according to your preferences?

  • Saving plan

    • Does the broker offer the possibility to save automatically every month a fixed amount of money? Do you have to feed your brokerage account or is direct debit offered?

    • How much does the broker charge for execution of saving plans? Be aware of special offers which might be available only for a limited period of time. There are more and more Neo-Brokers on the market which offer saving plans for free.

    • What is the minimum saving rate? Some start with a minimum saving rate of 1 EUR per month, meaning, they allow to buy also fraction of ETF units. 50 EUR minimum monthly saving rate should be fine for most investors.​

How safe is your money hold with the broker firm? In case of bankruptcy of the broker, there is nothing to worry about. Your ETFs are kept as separate assets from the brokers assets and creditors do not gain access to your ETF units. The only hassle you will have is to find a new broker and to initiate the transfer of your assets to the new broker. That might take some time - but since you do not want to do short-term trading there is nothing to worry about.

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With regards to cash kept in your brokerage account potentially a deposit guarantee fund will pay back the money up to defined limits (e.g., in the EUR up to 100k EUR).

 

Apropos cash: some brokers even pay some interests on the cash amount in the brokerage account. But since you want to benefit from the compound effect, investing the money asap would make more sense than holding a stack of cash for a small interest rate.

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