Stockbrokers - The Different Types Of Stockbroker & Picking A Stockbroker

There are two kinds of stockbrokers, the online internet stockbrokers and the offline traditional stockbroker services. The internet stockbroker services are good if you want to do execution only deals (i.e. you don't want advice) and are an economical way to buy and sell shares. The real world traditional brokers offer more services and these are the three types of services available:

1. Execution Only Service - This can be done by internet stockbrokers as well as traditional stockbrokers and is just the buying or selling of the shares without any advice or other services.

2. Advisory Service - This is provided by traditional stockbrokers only and allows you to talk about your investments with your stockbroker and be told about investment opportunities as they occur as well as being kept informed about changes in shareholdings of the companies you have invested in. You would be charged a yearly fee for this service plus commissions on your trades.

3. Discretionary Service - This is where your stockbrokers manages, buy and sells your investments according to his or her judgement. This service is usually for people with a portfolio of investments worth £50,000 or more. You would normally pay a percentage of your portfolio value plus commission on the buys and sells.