The type of stockbroker you need depends on the amount of advice you’re expecting (and willing to pay for). If you’re happy to make your own investing decisions (and/or using a Motley Fool service), we’d recommend steering away from so-called ‘full-service’ (and expensive) stockbrokers, and towards an online ‘execution only’ brokerage.
Those brokers allow you to make your own trades online, and the majors have very user-friendly websites and helpful customer service teams. Some also have online tutorial videos to help. They’re also much cheaper than full-service brokers.
Like anything an online broker can seem daunting at first, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it. A word of warning, though: direct, easy access to an online brokerage can make frequent trading very tempting. We think it’s important (and Foolish) to restrict your trading and to invest for the long term.
Some of the biggest are likely the best options. Like many things in life, we’d counsel against just going for the cheapest price – for just a few dollars more per trade, some of the larger and more popular brokerages such as CommSec, Nabtrade, and ANZ’s CMC Markets Invest might be a good place to start.
International Brokers
Numerous online brokers facilitate the trading of international shares. We favour using Australian offices of low-cost U.S. brokers, though Australian brokers also offer international trading.
Below is a selection of brokers we recommend you take a look at first. (In the interests of full disclosure, The Motley Fool Australia does not have a business relationship with any of these brokers — or any at all!).
Charles Schwab
https://international.schwab.com
Interactive Brokers
http://www.interactivebrokers.com.au/
Saxo Capital Markets
E-Trade
CMC Markets