ShareBuilder

Reviewed December 2009

Includes tutorials, primers
Automatic investment plan
Automatic investments cost $4
No minimum balance required

Market orders cost $10
Fairly basic trading tools
Narrow range of investment products

Where to Buy

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Our Analysis

ShareBuilder, part of ING Direct, is geared toward the novice investor; no minimum balance is required, and there are no maintenance or inactivity fees. This online broker is noted for allowing investors to take advantage of dollar-cost-averaging by scheduling the investment of a certain amount at set intervals. Automatic investments incur a commission of $4 each, but real-time trades cost $10, and you have to pay for research. If you want low-cost real-time trades with no account minimum, reviewers say TradeKing may be a better choice.

We found reviews of ShareBuilder in SmartMoney magazine and Barron's, as well as at StockTradingToGo.com, which ranks online brokers based on the cost of trades only. A survey by J.D. Power and Associates assesses how ShareBuilder's customers rate this broker.

Where To Buy

Our Sources

1. SmartMoney.com Details/Subscribe

Editors name a best broker in each of six categories based on hands-on analysis of each broker's fees, customer service, research tools, features and more. ShareBuilder is named the worst broker in the area of trading tools, and is ranked 13th of the 16 brokers in the survey.

Review: SmartMoney's 2009 Broker Survey, Roya Wolverson and Neil Parmar, May 19, 2009

2. Barron's

Barron's annual broker rankings place ShareBuilder in last place among 25 brokers included in this review. Reviewer Theresa W. Carey writes that ShareBuilder's website "is all about a long-term strategy of making scheduled investments, so there is very little real-time data."

Review: Blue Chips, Theresa W. Carey, March 16, 2009

3. J.D. Power and Associates

The survey measures customers' overall satisfaction with each broker, as well as their appraisal of the broker's account offerings, customer service, trading charges and fees. ShareBuilder gets a rating of three out of a possible five for overall satisfaction.

Review: 2009 Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study, Editors of J.D. Power and Associates, Oct. 1, 2009

4. TopTenReviews.com

Despite its name, TopTenReviews.com provides reviews of 16 brokers, with ratings and data about the brokers summarized in a comparison chart. ShareBuilder is ranked 14th of the 16 brokers here; the review says, "we would like to see more customer service options and even though they offer reports and research, many other services offer volumes more."

Review: ShareBuilder Review, Editors of TopTenReviews.com

5. FiveCentNickle.com

FiveCentNickle.com is maintained by a self-described "30-something year old" self-taught financial adviser. This article is based on the results of his request for readers to list their favorite online discount brokers. A total of six are featured, ShareBuilder among them.

Review: The Best Online Discount Brokers, Contributors to FiveCentNickle.com