The stockbroker can be a pin-striped City gent, or more likely these days, a telephone service or an Internet site. This is either by calling up the service and speaking to an operator, placing orders via the broker s web site, or even by post. As the name suggests, an advisory broker provides advice and guidance about what to invest in, and when. Investors who use an advisory service can meet their brokers face to face, but more usually they will deal over the phone. This is the traditional way to deal in shares.
Discretionary brokers look after the big-ticket investors.
They leave the investment decisions to the broker and he or she decides where the money should go. More and more private investors are choosing execution only services for their low costs, especially now investment information is easy to find on the Internet. Dealing in shares has some costs above and beyond the cost of the shares. Brokers have to make a crust, and they do this by charging commission. Frequent traders often pay lower commissions.