Vanguard Brokerage Services A fund company itself, Vanguard's brokerage arm offers a hearty selection of funds, well displayed, including the eight hot families. As for cutoff times for orders, general rule is market close. At first I was turned off by Web Street. However, Tim Swiat, supervisor of trading and manager of the broker's fund department, explained that in fact Web Street has many more fund families than are on that list, including all of the big eight except Fidelity and Vanguard. Swiat says Web Street's in the process of inking a deal to offer Vanguard, and that the Web site list will be updated shortly.
Minimum investments depend on the fund family.
I prefer a clear rule, but at least Swiat's not saying that fees loom. Finally, the cutoff time for orders is 3 p.m. ET, more burdensome than the 4 p.m. industry standard. Scottrade Scottrade's supermarket's got appeal. There are no funds that carry transaction fees, period. I presumed that would mean a weak selection of funds.