You have to decide if you want somebody else to make decisions for you or make recommendations for you or if you want to do it yourself. That's the big key question and then once you do that, there are several good ones on both sides of the aisle. You can talk to friends who are already trading and get referrals from them. That's where you can once again turn on CNBC or open up money magazines. Look at the ads; most of the big ones that are advertised are reputable. More important than getting the right company is getting the right bull service broker who is looking at your interest and not theirs. They are expensive. Instead of paying $5 or $10 when you are making your own decisions every time you trade, you could be paying $100-$500 every time you trade for that advice. If its not good advice, it will go down the drain. Yes, you can end up loosing money because it's hard to make money paying full service commission. You've got to make sure that somebody is not doing what they call churning your accounts; that means over-trading so they can make commissions. So my advice to everybody is to empower yourself and learn how to make your own decisions. It's not for everybody, but my advice for a lot of people is to do it that way.
