You've got an interest or education in investments, you love everything about the markets, you can sell and you've got the Web trying to take away every advantage the traditional full service brokerage firm once offered. I can see it now, someone new to the game starts to use the Web as an excuse, complaining there's too much information available to customers, and online trading is cheaper. This person even starts to wonder why someone needs a full service broker at all. Here's how we see it differently. The full service broker tells you what to buy, when to buy it and conducts the transaction for you for a fee.
Discount brokers separate the two components of the investment transaction.
Discounters offer cheaper transaction fees on trades but no information or advice. When going head to head with a discounter, online or otherwise, a full service broker still has the information and ability to advise as a key differentiator. The Web has the information. But investors have access to more information about companies and investing than ever before. The information is key.