THE 2013 BROKER SURVEY...2013/03/12 · THE 2013 BROER SURVEY 4 Full-Service Broker Satisfaction Ratings: Deal Flow Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)

THE 2013BROKER SURVEY

A Special Report by Casey Research

THE 2013 BROKER SURVEY

2

IntroductionWe recently conducted a survey of our subscribers, exploring the full-service and online brokers they use and their satisfaction with them.

This report provides a quick glance at those results and shares some thoughts that may prove useful to you in your own trading.

As you read through the results, you’ll see how some of your fellow Casey subscribers invest, some of which may be different than how you go about it. Our purpose in sending you this report is to give you some basis for comparison to determine if you could poten-tially improve your investment experience and results.

We suggest you answer the questions below for yourself, making a note of each of your responses. Then, honestly examine your answers to determine if you need to make any changes to how you currently invest.

Some surprises emerged from this survey, while other results confirmed what we suspect-ed all along. In the sections that follow, we provide you with our conclusions.

Happy reading,

Your Team at Casey Research


3

Which type of brokers do Casey Research subscribers use?

Which full-service brokers do Casey Research subscribers currently use?

• Sprott 183 20.7%

• Charles Schwab 53 6.0%

• Raymond James 46 5.2%

• EuroPacific Capital 39 4.4%

• Wells Fargo 37 4.2%

• Fidelity 32 3.6%

• Morgan Stanley 29 3.3%

• Canaccord 28 3.2%

• RBC 22 2.5%

• Haywood Securities 21 2.4%


4

Full-Service Broker Satisfaction Ratings:Deal Flow Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)

• Charles Schwab 4.1

• RBC 3.9

• Sprott 3.8

• Fidelity 3.8

• EuroPacific Capital 3.8

• Raymond James 3.7

• Haywood Securities 3.5

• Canaccord 3.3

• Wells Fargo 3.2

• Morgan Stanley 2.9

Execution Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)


• RBC 4.3

• Sprott 4.2

• Fidelity 4.1



• Wells Fargo 4.0



• Canaccord 3.4

Fees and Commissions Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)


• Fidelity 3.8


5

• Sprott 3.4


• RBC 3.2

• Wells Fargo 3.0


• Canaccord 2.8



Service Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)



• RBC 4.1

• Sprott 4.0

• Fidelity 4.0

• Wells Fargo 4.0



• Canaccord 3.5


Overall Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)



• Sprott 3.9

• RBC 3.9

• Fidelity 3.8



6


• Wells Fargo 3.5

• Canaccord 3.3


Comments from Survey, by Broker1. Sprott

• Fees are high but you get what you pay for!

• Love Sprott Global Resources. Extremely honest and sincerely want their clients to make money.

• I really expected a bit more contact from broker.

• Pros: best access for some deals. Simplifies private placement handling. Good ad-vice. Cons: Some open orders are not displayed. Can’t do after-hours trades.

2. Schwab (Full-Service)

• Excellent service with quick individual response, good software,

• I am always satisfied with the staff responses to any of my questions or requests for explanations.

• No hassle at all on transferring a stock to a transfer agent.

3. Raymond James

• I have a trustworthy broker and he will look up Canadian stock symbols if not in the system and them even if he has to call to get the correct info. They do not cover ultra-short ETFs however.

• Very helpful exercising warrants and removing legends.

• RJ USA web page is very average for reports of current and past information. It is sometimes difficult to navigate.

4. EuroPacific

• Although I have been very happy with EP I will probably begin at some point to use an online broker for some of my transactions.


7

• Just recently closed this account. Really only good for access to foreign exchanges. Brokers just about useless and not worthy of paying them commissions.

• They’ve doubled my overall investment since I’ve been with them – about 5 years now.

5. Wells Fargo

• I’d like more guidance and recommendations – we end up doing all the research to find questions to ask and figure out what to do

• Despite the size, resources and reputation of Wells Fargo, it’s still problematic to easily trade Canadian securities.

• Thanks to high velocity trading, prices change faster than I can enter mine. I frequently get “front run” on thinly traded issues.

6. Fidelity (Full-Service)

• Limited to covered calls

• No funds available in precious metals.

7. Morgan Stanley

• I am close friends with my broker and we are on the same page.

• My broker from back in the futures day. Pretty clueless about Junior trading

• Too much company store reco’s and fees out of site. No advice if requesting questionable action.

8. Canaccord

• Have been a client for 10 years. Brokers not allowed to negotiate on company com-missions that much, even when you lose.

• Not so good with private placements.

9. RBC

• A full-service broker is a full-service broker. I usually can get him to do exactly what he should be doing.

• RBC ridiculed me for purchasing gold. Rep from Republic spent a lot of time with me on education.

10. Haywood Securities

• No Comments


8

Highlights• Of those surveyed who currently use a full-service broker, Sprott is the most widely

used by a wide margin.

• Of the full-service brokers listed, in our experience only Sprott, Raymond James, Haywood, and Canaccord, and RBC will offer private placement (PP) opportunities in resource stocks to their clients. Some of the other full-service brokers listed do not deal with PPs and legend removal.

• Always double check with your broker if these are important services for you.

• When compared to its peers, Sprott doesn’t stand out in any single satisfaction rat-ing category, but it does consistently rank in the upper half.

• Charles Schwab had the highest satisfaction rating in each category and was the only full-service broker to receive a satisfaction rating of at least 4 in each category.

• Morgan Stanley had the lowest satisfaction rating in all categories except for Execu-tion, in which it was second lowest.

• Full-service broker satisfaction ratings were noticeably high across the board in the “Service” and “Execution” categories but vary greatly in “Fees and Commissions” and “Deal Flow” categories.

ConclusionSatisfaction ratings for full-service brokers tend to vary a great deal. When looking for a full-service broker, it’s important to shop around rather than assuming that all full-serice brokers are the same. Make sure the broker you selected offers the services you want (deals flow, legend removal, fees…). For more information on full-service brokers, please visit our broker page.

http://www.caseyresearch.com/brokers-new



9

Which online brokers do Casey Research subscribers currently use?

• TD Ameritrade 430 19.1%

• Fidelity 328 14.5%

• Scottrade 320 14.2%

• E-Trade 300 13.3%

• Interactive Brokers 272 12.1%

• Charles Schwab 239 10.6%

• TD Waterhouse 109 4.8%

• OptionsXpress 48 2.1%

• PennTrade 45 2.0%

• Vanguard 44 2.0%

Online Broker Satisfaction RatingsEase of Use (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)

• TD Waterhouse 4.4

• TD Ameritrade 4.2

• Fidelity 4.2

• Scottrade 4.2


• OptionsXpress 4.2

• Vanguard 4.2

• E-Trade 4.0

• PennTrade 3.9

• Interactive Brokers 3.4


10

Customer Service (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)

• Fidelity 4.2

• Scottrade 4.2


• Vanguard 4.2

• PennTrade 4.2




• E-Trade 3.8


Fees and Commissions (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)


• Vanguard 4.4

• Scottrade 4.3

• Fidelity 3.9




• E-Trade 3.7


• PennTrade 3.0

Overall (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)

• Vanguard 4.2

• Scottrade 4.2


11


• Fidelity 4.0





• E-Trade 3.8

• PennTrade 3.7

Comments from Survey, by Broker1. TD Ameritrade

• Commissions are somewhat high, especially for mutual funds.

• Customer service is hit-or-miss. Overall TD Ameritrade does a great job.

• Great for futures, forex, and US stocks, but no international stocks.

• In general I am quite satisfied. Recent improvements on the site have been good and informative.

2. Fidelity (Online)

• Easy to use, good for self-managed investments.

• Fidelity is my 401(k) manager. Love the fee structures. Hate the 100% margin on trades, but it is a retirement account...

• All bids for Canadian listed stocks expire at the end of each day, which makes plac-ing stink bids impossible, unless you enter them every day.

• Best customer service people I’ve ever run into in any business. These people really know their stuff. Especially if you work with the active traders group.

3. Scottrade

• Can’t handle anything but US symbols, so it is difficult to trade non-US companies, can’t trade foreign listings. Web Interface usable, not great.


12

• I have enjoyed Scottrade and frequently trade weekly. Their customer service has been top notch and they have good free seminars at their branch offices.

• Nice user interface. Great customer service. Fees and commissions could be lower. Nice research.

• Unable to buy Canadian stocks without broker assistance which greatly increases commission cost.

4. E-Trade

• Global trading accounts not as well supported in terms of web interface, tools, etc. as standard trading accounts.

• Great executions, very low commissions, but high interest rates on margin loans.

• Great web site. Easy to use. All important info is presented on the summary page.

• Limited international orders – can only do one day at a time. Sometimes they charge a fortune to convert currencies but at least have access to Canadian markets.

5. Interactive Brokers

• Best *trading* platform. Broad product selection across a wide geographic area.

• Difficult to learn but worth it for the range of assets and platforms able to trade

• Interactive Brokers is wonderful if you know how to navigate their site. The cheapest commissions and margin rates around. Their support staff are excellent.

• Wide range markets and cheap commissions. Customer service very average. Plat-form is comprehensive but not the easiest to use.

6. Schwab (Online)

• Good guys in customer service. Always give me straight answers. I am happy with Schwab although they could be a little less expensive.

• Services work for me. There’s also an office less than a mile from my house.

• International trading can be complicated & limited.

7. TD Waterhouse

• Good range of stock exchanges covered, but fees recently put up for international trades.

• I like them because they are trustworthy – but they have no option trade (yet).


13

• High commissions for new investors with small accounts. Very easy to move funds between cash accounts and equity accounts.

8. OptionXpress

• Easy to set up complex option trades and get a little break on commissions at the same time.

• Have not had major any problems with them and any questions have been answered to my satisfaction.

• Can’t get Canadian stocks.

9. PennTrade

• Decent interface. $29 per trade a bit steep.

• New listings are not tradable until a request is made that they be put into the database

• I trust they are a stable operation which is most important they also are good for people with small accounts like me.

10. Vangaurd

• Very satisfied overall, but can’t access Canadian stocks with them.

• Site is not the most easy to navigate.

• Cheap. Easy to make basic trades. Summary page is confusing. Still don’t understand their sweep account transfers.

Highlights• Of those surveyed who currently use an online broker, TD Ameritrade is the most widely

used. TD Ameritrade received a high satisfaction rating overall, but ranked below many of its peers in all categories except for “Ease of Use.”

• Interactive Brokers ranked near the bottom in a satisfaction rating categories except for “fees and Commissions”, in which it ranked first. Our experiences are similar – IB offers a very complex platform best suited for those comfortable with technology and willing to invest many hours learning and customizing it. However, not only do their low fees often make the time investment worthwhile, they also offer hands down the best platform to access large numbers of international markets from one place.

• PennTrade had the lowest satisfaction rating in the “Fees and Commissions” category by a relatively wide margin.


14

• Satisfaction ratings for online brokers were high across the board in the “Ease of Use” and “Customer Service” category, with the lone exception being Interactive Brokers.

• All of the online brokers received a fairly high overall satisfaction rating.

ConclusionSatisfaction ratings for most online brokers are consistently high in every category. The one notable exception was Interactive Brokers, which had a very high satisfaction rating in the “Fees and Commissions” category and noticeably lower satisfaction ratings in the other two categories, mostly because it’s comprehensive trading platform is initially less user friendly than the interface offered by some other competitors. This suggests that extremely low transaction fees will come at the expense of a high level of service in other areas. For more information on online brokers, please visit our broker page.



15

The Casey Research web site, Casey Investment Alert, Casey International Speculator, BIG GOLD, Casey Energy Confidential, Casey Energy Report, Casey Energy Dividends, The Casey Report, Casey Extraordinary Technology, BIG TECH, Miller’s Money Forever, Conversa-tions With Casey, Casey Daily Dispatch, Ed Steer’s Gold & Silver Daily, and Miller’s Money Weekly are published by Casey Research, LLC. Information contained in such publications is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The information contained in such publications is not intended to constitute individual investment advice and is not designed to meet your per-sonal financial situation. The opinions expressed in such publications are those of the publisher and are subject to change without notice. The information in such publications may become outdated and there is no obligation to update any such information.

Doug Casey, Casey Research, LLC, Casey Early Opportunity Resource Fund, LLC and other entities in which he has an interest, em-ployees, officers, family, and associates may from time to time have positions in the securities or commodities covered in these publica-tions or web site. Corporate policies are in effect that attempt to avoid potential conflicts of interest and resolve conflicts of interest that do arise in a timely fashion.

Any Casey publication or web site and its content and images, as well as all copyright, trademark and other rights therein, are owned by Casey Research, LLC. No portion of any Casey publication or web site may be extracted or reproduced without permission of Casey Research, LLC. Nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring any license or right under any copyright, trademark or other right of Casey Research, LLC. Unauthorized use, reproduction or rebroadcast of any content of any Casey publication or web site, including communicating investment recommendations in such publication or web site to non-subscribers in any manner, is prohibited and shall be considered an infringement and/or misappropriation of the proprietary rights of Casey Research, LLC.

Casey Research, LLC reserves the right to cancel any subscription at any time, and if it does so it will promptly refund to the subscriber the amount of the subscription payment previously received relating to the remaining subscription period. Cancellation of a subscription may result from any unauthorized use or reproduction or rebroadcast of any Casey publication or website, any infringement or misap-propriation of Casey Research, LLC’s proprietary rights, or any other reason determined in the sole discretion of Casey Research, LLC.

Affiliate Notice: Casey Research has affiliate agreements in place that may include fee sharing. If you have a website or newsletter and would like to be considered for inclusion in the Casey Research affiliate program, please contact us. Likewise, from time to time Casey Research may engage in affiliate programs offered by other companies, though corporate policy firmly dictates that such agreements will have no influence on any product or service recommendations, nor alter the pricing that would otherwise be available in absence of such an agreement. As always, it is important that you do your own due diligence before transacting any business with any firm, for any product or service.

©1998-2013 Casey Research, LLC.

Documents

THE 2013 BROKER SURVEY...2013/03/12 · THE 2013 BROER SURVEY 4 Full-Service Broker Satisfaction Ratings: Deal Flow Satisfaction Rating (1 is very unsatisfied, 5 is very satisfied)