Ep 9: How to Choose a Brokerage Firm with Blain Reinkensmeyer

Jess: Welcome back, Wolfpack.

Jessie: You're listening to Market MakeHer, the self-directed stock market education podcast that breaks down complex stock market topics in an easy-to-understand manner.

Jess: I'm the resident finance expert, Jessin Skipp.

Jessie: And I'm Jessie Danouy, the beginner investor asking all the questions.

Jess: And if you didn't know, it's earnings season.

Jessie: So today we're on the hunt for the right brokerage firm to meet our individual needs.

Jess: But we're not alone on this safari.

Jessie: Today we are joined by a special guest who formed Rank Media Group in 2009 with a mission to provide financial education and advice that puts people first before profits, which is a mission we here at Market MakeHer totally vibe with.

Jess: That we do.

Jessie: So drumroll, please.

Jess: Blaine Rankinsmeyer, thank you for joining us.

Jessie: Thank you so much for having me.

Jess: I did want to start with the story of how we met Blaine and how we know each other.

Jessie: So back in the day, which wasn't that long ago, when I used to work for Merrill, Blaine reviews all of the stockbrokers.

Jess: And basically we come together and put the best narrative that we possibly can and try to convince Blaine that we have the best brokerage firm and the best offering.

Jessie: Blaine is so hard to convince because he cares really about value and the features that are there.

Jess: Hence why we brought him in today, as he knows all the insight and all the things about all the brokerage firms.

Jessie: Thank you so much.

Jess: You're way too kind, Jess.

Jessie: It's been an incredible journey for us at stockbrokers.com and the work that we do each year.

Jess: Yeah, love it.

Jessie: Do you want to give us a quick introduction of what stockbrokers.com does and...

Jess: It's incredible to think how the time flies by, but it's been over a decade now that we have been providing research and ratings and helping folks across the United States, but also in different parts of the world, find the best online broker for their personal needs.

Jessie: And so the backbone of that since day one has always been unbiased reviews and editorial and our research process really, it drives us forward.

Jess: I remember in the very early days, we had this fun slogan, it was for traders, by traders.

Jessie: And from the very early days, it was just about diving deeper.

Jess: And I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more about methodology, how we do what we do at stockbrokers.com.

Jessie: But on the simplest, purest level, folks can come to the site and read our ratings, reviews, our guides and compare all the online brokers side by side.

Jess: It's about finding the best one for their specific needs.

Jessie: So we service folks across all different demographics and interests and similar.

Jess: I love that.

Jessie: Something we talked about on our first episode ever actually is how every brokerage firm now has a zero commission.

Jess: So that barrier to entry is really gone.

Jessie: There's fractional shares, so it's more accessible.

Jess: And then with the amplification of technology, I think it's going to be really, really interesting for our listeners just to understand how to pick a brokerage firm that caters to your needs now that the way that they compete for your business really is with the features and tools that they offer.

Jessie: But it's different depending on the type of investor that you are.

Jess: Right.

Jessie: All right.

Jess: Analogy time, Jesse? Yeah.

Jessie: So Blaine, in case you didn't know, we love analogies on the show, and I'd like to challenge you to tell the audience what a stockbroker does and see if you can come up with maybe a good analogy or for a brokerage firm, whether it's related to the purpose of what they do, what they act like.

Jess: But it cannot be a sports analogy.

Jessie: We don't do sports analogies on the show.

Jess: Nope.

Jessie: No sports analogies.

Jess: All right.

Jessie: Well, you'll have to run with me here.

Jess: So let's say- We're ready.

Jessie: The Galapagos Islands, right? This is some amazing island, and it's so beautiful, right? It's like this sanctuary, heavily protected, and there's a lot of regulation protecting this island.

Jess: At the same token, though, it's something that they want it to be seen, right? This ecosystem is so valuable, it should be accessible to everyone.

Jessie: So the role that these providers play to transport folks from across the world to this island, it's a very serious obligation to do that in a sustainable way, protecting this ecosystem.

Jess: So they're a very important player in that.

Jessie: The online brokers are very similar in that sense.

Jess: They are providing a service, a way for folks to be able to go and buy and sell stocks.

Jessie: The beauty in that, again, comes back to the fact that it should be accessible to all.

Jess: There's not some exclusive club.

Jessie: I guess maybe it's like the seven wonders of the world, right? They are there for everyone to see them, but there's a lot of regulation to protect and make sure that that infrastructure is kept and preserved.

Jess: And it's such a crucial role that, in this case, these online brokers serve a very serious responsibility, because without them, we would not be.

Jessie: You can't just walk into a building and say, hey, I want to buy shares of Apple.

Jess: You can't just do that, right? You need that online broker.

Jessie: How's that work? Yeah.

Jess: Is that working? It does.

Jessie: I wanted to invest when I was in my 20s, but didn't know how, and it was just such a world that I felt excluded from.

Jess: Thirteen years ago, I went to talk to a financial advisor and they said I needed $10,000 or at least a minimum of $2,000, and I was making $9.50 an hour at that time.

Jessie: I'm just like, okay, well, I guess I'm not investing.

Jess: Now that those barriers have been taken down and we can literally just go online or download an app, it does make it more accessible for everyone.

Jessie: I don't know if everyone actually knows how easy it is for you to just take $5 and invest in the stock market today if you want to.

Jess: Fractional share investing is still fairly new.

Jessie: It wasn't around 10 years ago.

Jess: That accessibility becomes such an important part because everyone should have that ability to go in and buy a share because ultimately this is about accumulating wealth and saving for retirement and these bigger life goals, and the stock market is such an important part of that journey.

Jessie: That gave me goosebumps.

Jess: It is.

Jessie: So beautiful.

Jess: I loved that.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: That's what we were trying to do on this show is demystify the whole world of investing in the stock market because we feel like it is for everyone and you shouldn't be afraid or feel like it's not something that you're able to do.

Jessie: Anyone can do it.

Jess: The goal of today's show is to help our listeners determine, if they don't have a brokerage firm yet, help them determine which one to pick, which one might be best for you.

Jessie: Since we're talking about your site, stockbrokers.com, on there I saw that you provide thorough and unbiased reviews of online brokers, so I was wondering if you could just tell the audience about the methodology you have for rating these companies so unbiasedly.

Jess: Yeah, absolutely.

Jessie: It starts in that foundation of being unbiased and that's how we structured ourselves from day one.

Jess: The backbone became this annual review and so each year I smiled because it was so, oh my gosh, so to think back, what different areas are important to someone that's choosing an online brokerage? That became our categories.

Jessie: I mean, think of research or, well, certainly it was far more important back then, but the costs, right? The commissions and fees.

Jess: What are the different offers? What different securities and investments can I make? Customer service, so on and so forth.

Jessie: Over the course of what started as several months turned into then over six months and like half the year and diving deep, it became this process of retesting all of the online brokers, opening the brokerage accounts, being a part of that client experience, and then culminating all that research and information into a report.

Jess: It's kind of like the iPhone.

Jessie: Every year there's some new feature or some new function.

Jess: The industry started becoming a part of that process and that's how I got to meet Jess and meeting with these folks that work and run these brokerages, these trading platforms and tools that are so passionate about the industry and passionate about the service that they're providing.

Jessie: So then it really opened Pandora's box and now we could go so much deeper, collect so much more data, provide even more accurate ratings for readers.

Jess: That methodology really comes back to that process.

Jessie: And so each year it just kept building on itself and building on itself.

Jess: It eventually culminated to the point where I think one year we eclipsed like 300 individual variables.

Jessie: It was wild.

Jess: If you look to where we're at today, industry uses this information to help them make choices.

Jessie: So I feel like we are an advocate on behalf of self-directed investors, just playing that role behind the scenes.

Jess: And the research that we provide, the online brokers are able to use that to drive their product roadmaps and come up with new innovations and similar.

Jessie: In return, we can shed a spotlight on that and help educate consumers and readers on what these different features are and help them make the digestible and understandable.

Jess: So whether you're visiting the site as a first-timers, never placed a stock trade in your life or someone who is hyperactive and you can also find the information you're looking for.

Jessie: And so that methodology is just this passion-led, completely unbiased, just, I don't want to say like a quest, just dive as deep as we can to provide these insights to people before profits.

Jess: We're a certified B corporation and that feeds right into our methodology and that we're here to do business for good.

Jessie: Stay with us.

Jess: We'll be right back.

Jessie: Ready to plug into the future? Join myself, Sean Leahy.

Jess: And me, Andrew Maynard.

Jessie: On Modem Futura, where we explore the technologies shaping our futures.

Jess: We bring the experts, the insights, and a whole lot of curiosity to every episode of Modem Futura as we boldly go where no one else has gone.

Jessie: So join us as we navigate the intersection of innovation and humanity, uncovering the stories that will define our collective futures.

Jess: Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts.

Jessie: We'll see you there.

Jess: Yeah, I mean, it seems on the website, I've been looking through it, of course, and you're very transparent on there about your methodology, how you test, how you get to your rating scores, essentially.

Jessie: And you know, you're transparent about how you make money and how you started and what you're here for.

Jess: We like to give free resources that we feel are trustworthy, and that's why, of course, We like to give free resources that we feel are trustworthy, and that's why, of course, we're interviewing you today because we feel that you are a great resource.

Jessie: Stockbrokers.com.

Jess: Since our purposes for the show today are to help our listeners, the self-directed listeners, pick the best brokerage firm for themselves.

Jessie: I know there's different features at each brokerage firm and that you have a comparison part of the site where you can kind of look at the star rating side by side and see what the best ones are in terms of fees or tools and resources, things like that.

Jess: What do you think is the best way for our listeners to go through your site so they can figure out what might be the best platform for them to start investing on? For visitors visiting the site for the first time, usually they're coming from a Google query, right? Maybe, hey, what are the best on their brokers or broker name review or similar.

Jessie: Starting from that research process, the most helpful would be our guides.

Jess: We think of a guide, say, the best on brokers or 2023 or the best stock apps or the best day trading platform.

Jessie: Our guides are more broad in scope and talking about a type of trading or a type of investor.

Jess: The way we have the site set up is that from those guides, our readers are then able to dive deeper.

Jessie: Diving deeper might be reading a full length review on a broker that they're considering or utilizing a comparison and comparing two brokers or 10 brokers side by side and looking at what we like to think of our industry leading data set to compare all the different features and functionality.

Jess: Starting with the guides would be my recommendation and then letting that curiosity and interest dive these readers, your listeners here, deeper into the site.

Jessie: Ultimately, our goal is to help them find the best broker for their needs.

Jess: They will end up in a place saying, okay, I was debating between broker X or broker Y.

Jessie: I think I'm going to go with broker X.

Jess: Then they can click to go over to open that account and then start that journey.

Jessie: Then on to the different types of investors, the different types of instruments are being traded.

Jess: The way we lay out the site is to really accommodate that.

Jessie: Over the years, our readership has really blossomed and broadened as we've serviced millions and millions of readers.

Jess: We break it into those categories.

Jessie: Customer service or commissions and fees.

Jess: We have research, platforms and tools, mobile trading apps, investment options and education, ease of use.

Jessie: All these different areas are broken into those reviews.

Jess: I'm actually screen sharing too, if you did that.

Jessie: Oh, good.

Jess: I was looking at the site.

Jessie: Oh, perfect.

Jess: Yeah, there we go.

Jessie: I pulled up the website.

Jess: I was hoping you were doing that.

Jessie: Yes.

Jess: Yeah, so this you're looking at here as a guide for beginners.

Jessie: As readers navigate this content, it's important to remember that they're going to find our research and our ratings, but that is only one piece of the puzzle, right? There's so much data that goes into it.

Jess: So our writers, our editors, myself would say, hey, in my opinion, I think broker X might be better for this than broker Y.

Jessie: But the data shows that readers are still making those comparisons.

Jess: And just because we feel that way, what we do with our data and research is enable them to really dive in again and make those comparisons.

Jessie: And even the broker that we might recommend for one particular area might not be that best fit for them.

Jess: Well, a beginner, I just want to get started.

Jessie: Well, then ease of use is going to be really important to you.

Jess: And that is why we saw the rise of the Robin Hoods of the world that made it so easy to use and accessible for these platforms.

Jessie: On the other hand, there are beginners that say, hey, well, ease of use is very important.

Jess: I want to really dive though into, I'm interested in really geeking out on these tools and the trading platforms.

Jessie: Well, then there's a handful of other brokers that have had for years these active trading platforms.

Jess: So even as a beginner, that might be important.

Jessie: Research is another common one that we see looking at technicals, the stock charts and all that.

Jess: And I love that kind of stuff.

Jessie: Or the fundamentals.

Jess: What are their earnings per share and similar? They might value more that research experience as a beginner.

Jessie: So certainly we try to screenshots and from doing all of our testing.

Jess: So our readers, again, can compare all these brokers, say, well, you know, this broker is this, this broker is that, but wow, I really like the way this one's laid out.

Jessie: And being able to, as say a beginner, ease of use is something that is really important.

Jess: Research, I always recommend because then you're researching these stocks, you're learning about the process of investing.

Jessie: And if you're really looking for that long haul, you know, say someone that is approaching retirement or saving for retirement and is in an accumulation stage of their life, well, customer service might become really important.

Jess: The ability to pick up the phone or hop on a chat or hop on social media, right? And interact with customer service and have a question answered.

Jessie: And so, you know, they can go dive into customer service and see all the data we've collected on that.

Jess: To bring this full circle, our guides are a fantastic resource, but it's so important just to read through them and let that research guide you to understand how important are these different factors.

Jessie: And we have found over the last decade that it ends up boiling into, you know, falling into one of those buckets, whether it be research or the training tools or the mobile app, you know, or that education, right? Speaking of beginners, another fantastic thing is learning about the stock market itself.

Jess: And so one broker may be really great at very easy to use, but they might not have as robust education.

Jessie: One broker might have super robust education, but because of that, maybe their site is older.

Jess: Maybe they don't have, it's not as easy to navigate.

Jessie: One site might be phenomenal for research, but, and you can see where that goes down.

Jess: It comes back to those, you know, kind of categories and just diving in deep, letting that passion and curiosity guide you.

Jessie: And then ultimately electing a broker.

Jess: We do see a lot of data that a lot of folks might not have just one brokerage that they use.

Jessie: So these online brokers are so good at the services and solutions that they provide, right? That accessibility to the market.

Jess: Say banking, right? Like, Hey, you might have your bank account here and a bank account there or heck credit cards, right? Well, I get my best rewards on gas with this card.

Jessie: And then, but man, well, our family, my wife, we love target, right? So we got that target red card.

Jess: You know, we're going to maximize.

Jessie: Oh yeah.

Jess: Tarzai, let's go.

Jessie: I really think they should put a bar in there.

Jess: Genius.

Jessie: Oh, that'd be dangerous.

Jess: It's actually Halloween time for me.

Jessie: Having a good resource for brokerage firms is great.

Jess: And I like how you have all the comparisons there.

Jessie: I like obviously the unbiased approach, the methodology for gathering all this data and how we can compare.

Jess: Because the one I picked a long time ago was just based off of like reputation for having the lowest fees.

Jessie: And then I realized while doing this podcast that they all have.

Jess: And after we did the last episode on what a stock screener is, I never even heard of that before and just showed us.

Jessie: And I was like, well, does my broker have a stock screener? And I had a really hard time finding it.

Jess: So I'm realizing like, yeah, these sites are all completely different.

Jessie: They do offer information different ways.

Jess: As a digital marketer, I do love how you have the stockbrokers.com site set up.

Jessie: It's very easy to navigate through, find the information that you need for whatever stage of investing you're at.

Jess: So I think it's good for our listeners to check it out and navigate through, figure out what the best one is so we can get everyone start investing.

Jessie: I want to add to Blaine's analogy so bad.

Jess: So if this is the island, this is your trip advisor review is there is guides for tours.

Jessie: So you may be one of those people who go to the island and you like to hike.

Jess: Or maybe you're like me and you like to sit on the beach and someone bring you drinks constantly.

Jessie: We're all different.

Jess: But there's a guide for that type of experience.

Jessie: You can see the best journey or the best of the best if you're a beginner or if you're looking to trade ranked all together.

Jess: And then you could go into the individual provider.

Jessie: So the hotel at that point or tour guide and you can see the pros and cons.

Jess: So you can really drill in and understand just like you would on TripAdvisor or Yelp or something like that.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: The TripAdvisor.

Jessie: I'm totally going to write that down.

Jess: It's so good.

Jessie: Just do it.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: With three.

Jess: And when people ask about, you know, broader rank media and because StockBurst.com is one of our sites.

Jessie: Right.

Jess: And I always like to say, well, it's kind of like consumer reports, right? They're testing, you know, sunscreen and vacuums.

Jessie: And, you know, they're so unbiased or so passionate with their research.

Jess: And we're doing that for financial products and services.

Jessie: So now I can say for StockBurgers.com specifically, this is like your TripAdvisor.

Jess: And I love that.

Jessie: So thank you, Jess.

Jess: We're here.

Jessie: All of us.

Jess: I think we all have the same mission is making self-directed investing as accessible as possible.

Jessie: Blaine is also with that mission and his passion and he applies competitive pressure.

Jess: He can write about something and say that someone is better than the other or viewers or listeners will amplify something else.

Jessie: And I've been on the other end and said, oh, stockbrokers said this.

Jess: We've got to work on it.

Jessie: And yeah, you're so spot on.

Jess: It's the passion of the industry and the folks that are building these tools and these experiences run so deep.

Jessie: And for a service like ours, very transparent how we make our money.

Jess: We make our money from referring brokerage accounts.

Jessie: But when you look at that and you look at our research process and our methodology, we always say, talk to the executives or see that they're participating.

Jess: See they're using this information to drive their product and drive that experience forward.

Jessie: Hey, if the industry executives are respecting this research, even they understand, right? This service and how we generate revenue, all that piles right back into that.

Jess: How can we go deep, right? Those roots of Fort Traders by Traders.

Jessie: And in the case of being a certified B corporation, using that to fuel our efforts overseas and helping folks across the globe and avoiding scams and doing research to just find a broker they can trust.

Jess: So it's been an incredible journey.

Jessie: I do have one question, which is odd for me asking the questions.

Jess: Thank you, Jesse, for letting me do that.

Jessie: How do you see the industry changing since Robinhood's been introduced? Commissions are at zero.

Jess: What are brokerage firms doing? That's a really great question.

Jessie: Transition to what we're now at $0 trades took place over the last 10, 20 years, right? I mean, it's been the slow, steady decline in the cost thanks to FinTech and technology to make it so much more affordable.

Jess: The trading platforms were just in this big boom period and there was just all this innovation and creativity.

Jessie: We still see that today, but it has evolved.

Jess: There's more priority from what we observe from these product teams on mobile.

Jessie: There's more and more people that continue to use mobile to not just check on their portfolio or view a watch list, but also place a trade.

Jess: One trend that seems to continue each and every year is investing in that mobile platform.

Jessie: We've seen different trends of all the chatter nowadays about chat, GBT and AI.

Jess: These kinds of technologies are right for the industry to find great ways to better serve their customers and provide unique experience.

Jessie: That's why some of the awards we do each year are number one new tool and a number for innovation to shed as much light on that.

Jess: Because these areas can really help spur innovation and ultimately competition across the industry.

Jessie: All the online brokers, their whole intent is to help all of us as investors and traders, but really they are in the business for us being there for the long haul.

Jess: They are here to help us not only save for retirement, but then be able to invest in retirement.

Jessie: There's a lot of aligned interests from the online brokers and what they are here to do in that service providing.

Jess: Again, come back to this unbelievably passionate individuals that we love meeting with each year to provide us so much more data and what's coming up next that drives that innovation.

Jessie: I love that.

Jess: Before we do our closings, Blaine, is there anything else that you would like our listeners to know about you, your website, the world in general? Yeah.

Jessie: Thank you so much for having me on.

Jess: This has been so much fun.

Jessie: I just really appreciate the opportunity.

Jess: This has been fantastic.

Jessie: We're so happy to have you.

Jess: For me, especially being very new to the world of investing, I'm so skeptical about what anyone says online.

Jessie: It's nice to have a trusted resource that I feel like our listeners and even I can go to and try to pick the best brokerage firm that benefits me, the user.

Jess: Yes.

Jessie: And that's the end of our journey for today's episode.

Jess: You can check out unbiased reviews of brokerage firms at stockbrokers.com, so be sure to check out that valuable resource.

Jessie: We will also put it in the show notes at Episode Equity, of course.

Jess: And if you have questions about today's episode or how to open an account at the brokerage firm of your choosing, please don't hesitate to ask us on our website or any of our social media channels.

Jessie: And don't forget to like, share, subscribe, or even leave a review.

Jess: Thank you so much for joining us and happy hunting.

Jessie: Remember, investing involves risk.

Jess: There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities.

Jessie: Market MakeHer provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only.

Jess: We are not registered financial advisors.

Jessie: For more information, visit marketmakerpodcast.com..