There are a few things that you should keep in mind when you’re looking for discount brokers, such as what sort of customer service a particular broker offers, what fees they charge, and whether they offer any other incentives to hire them. You’ll be able to see many discount brokers offering you their services both locally and on the Internet. 

In general, the fees charged by discount brokers will be quite low. However, keep in mind that choosing the broker with the lowest fee can mean you will end up receiving a fairly low level of customer service. The club will need to decide what aspect of the brokerage is more important to it.

If you’re thinking about hiring discount brokers from the Internet there are some things that you should keep in mind.  Online brokers generally fall into one of three groups:

Very inexpensive: If your investment group is planning on doing a lot of buying and selling in the stock market you’ll want to think about using a very inexpensive broker for your transactions.  Most of these inexpensive brokers charge anywhere from $4 to $12 per trade.

Moderately priced: The mid range price that these brokers charge is anywhere from $12 to $20 per trade.

Expensive.  Brokers that charge a high fee per trade often offer you the best customer service so the price might be worth it to your investment club.  You’ll have the opportunity to work with a broker that gives you great service.  These brokers generally charge anywhere from $20 to $30 per trade.

When you’re looking for an online broker you will be basing your decision on customer service and the way the website operates. Take some time to look carefully at each website for the discount brokers. You’ll want to make sure that the website you choose is easy to navigate and the information is clearly presented - its easy to make mistakes if things are confusingly presented.

You’ll also want to know what type of customer service each of the discount brokers.  You’ll be able to make your decision about customer service after you conduct your first trade with the broker. Consider whether there are any other incentives offered that might make you want to hire the broker. These can include:

• Educational books and materials to buy at a discounted price or to read online.
• Air miles for your air mile program
• Free Internet access
• A discount on your first trade

But the investment club shouldn’t make its decision about what broker to use based solely on what extra incentives that are offered. It should take consider all the different aspects of the brokers carefully. But if it comes down to two or three discount brokers that have caught the attention of members of your investment group, the incentives might be enough to tip people towards one or the other. Always keep in mind that the club can switch brokers at any time if the members not happy with the broker they’ve been working with.