Pick your own investments, let a robo-advisor do it for you, or save for retirement in an IRA. We explain each option in plain English and show what it really costs, with every fee read on the provider's own page and dated. Alternative investing and the platforms that failed are here too.
Independent research. Every number is checked against the provider's own page and dated. Some links may earn us a commission, which never changes a ranking. How we make money
Each section shows our top pick for it, the number that matters and the date we verified it. Open one to compare everything in it.
Buy stocks, ETFs and funds yourself. Trading fees, options, cash rates and IRAs compared.
Let a service build and manage your portfolio. The yearly fee in dollars, tax features and human help.
Traditional and Roth IRAs at brokers and robo-advisors, with the 2026 limits in plain English.
Private credit, real estate, farmland and other platforms, ranked, with minimums and accreditation rules.
What an individual who is not an accredited investor can actually put money into.
Closed and failed platforms, with what happened to investors. History that most comparison sites leave out.
Each pick wins a specific rule, written on its label, and is chosen from the numbers on its own page. Who pays us has no say in it.
$0 online stock and ETF commissions, no account minimum, $0 Fidelity funds, $1 fractional shares and seven retirement account types.
Long-term investors who want one dependable home: no minimums, $0 Fidelity funds, a large branch and phone network.
0.25% a year ($5 a month on small balances), no real minimum, tax-loss harvesting included and an optional human planner tier.
People who want one automated home for several goals and the option of a human planner later.
Accredited investors only. No secondary market; hold to maturity over 6-36 month terms.
1 other we list also qualify; this one ranks first in our order.
A fee of 0.25% sounds like nothing until you see it as $25 a year on $10,000. We show what each broker and robo-advisor costs on real balances, with the date we read it on the provider's own page.
Every provider has trade-offs: cash that earns almost nothing, fees that jump at a balance, payment for order flow. Each page lists them in plain words instead of burying them.
We list the SEC, FINRA and state actions we found for each provider, with a link to the order. A past settlement is not a verdict on today, but it tells you which claims to read twice.
Providers cannot pay to move up a list. Some links may earn us a commission, and it never changes a ranking.
With an online broker you choose and buy the investments yourself. With a robo-advisor you answer a few questions and the service picks a diversified portfolio, rebalances it and reinvests for you, in exchange for a yearly fee. Both can hold an IRA, and some companies offer both.
Not at the providers we cover. The online brokers have no account minimum and several let you buy part of a share from $1 or $5, and the robo-advisors range from no minimum up to $5,000. Each product page shows the exact minimum we read on the provider's own site.
SIPC protects up to $500,000 per customer if a member brokerage fails, of which $250,000 can be cash (SIPC.org, checked 2026-10-14). That is not insurance against losing money on your investments, which can still go down in value.
For 2026, the total across all your Traditional and Roth IRAs is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older, and never more than you earned (IRS, checked 14 Oct 2026). Roth contributions phase out between $153,000 and $168,000 of income for single filers.
An ETF is a basket of many investments bought as one. An expense ratio is a fund's yearly fee as a percent of what you hold. Payment for order flow means a trading firm pays your broker to route your orders to it: legal, disclosed, and one reason trading can be free. Each product page explains the terms it uses.
It carries risks that bank products do not: money can be locked for years, returns are not guaranteed, and platforms can fail. None of it is FDIC insured. That is why we list the risks and the failures next to the returns.
Some links may earn Financeradar a commission. It never changes a ranking, and providers cannot pay to be listed higher. The details are on our how we make money page.
