Best Investment Companies Overview
Key Points:
• Self-directed brokerage accounts and investment-advisory accounts can be opened at Schwab, BlackRock, and Vanguard.
• Available products and fees can vary among these three titans.
• The best trading software will be found at Charles Schwab.
Are you looking for a broker to help you save and invest? If so, you should have a look at Vanguard, BlackRock, and Charles Schwab.
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab begins our three-part survey into investing. The company is a broker-dealer and an investment advisor. Because it has registrations in both categories, it is able to offer both brokerage accounts and managed accounts. The latter setup will come with an advisor of some sort (human or digital) and will be able to make investment decisions. A brokerage account at Schwab can be established on a self-directed or full-service basis; in the latter program, a human advisor adds extra assistance.
Self-directed customers at Schwab will find a lot of useful digital tools on the firm’s software platforms. For example, there are screeners for stocks, funds, options, and bonds. It’s really easy to go through and find something to trade. Such trades can be placed on a cash or margin basis, as margin accounts are available.
Schwab also offers trading in futures, forex, and foreign stocks. These add-on programs don’t come with any special setup fees, although there can be commissions in some cases (forex trades have fees built into their bid-ask spreads). For U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, Schwab charges no commissions on online trades.
Schwab’s thinkorswim trading platforms can be used to submit orders for stocks, futures, forex, and options. In desktop mode, thinkorswim reaches a high level with lots of useful tools that even professional traders will need to spend time with to master.
Besides its retail investing service, Schwab functions as an asset manager. It has its own lineup of mutual and exchange-traded funds. These Schwab funds tend to have very low expense ratios and decent, although not always great, ratings from Morningstar.
Outside of investing, Schwab operates Schwab Bank. This banking unit of the company comes with FDIC insurance and a lot of great perks, including fee-free ATM withdrawals around the world. Schwab offers other banking products, too, including mortgages and credit cards.
To complete the financial picture, Schwab helps its customers with all sorts of long-term planning issues. For example, it’s possible to buy annuities and insurance contracts through Schwab. Many of these services can be obtained through a local branch office; Schwab has hundreds of locations throughout the United States.
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Charles Schwab review »
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Vanguard
Vanguard doesn’t have any branch offices, although it does offer investment advice over the phone and online. The company has an extensive wealth-management program for the most complete picture, although advisory clients who don’t meet the $5 million minimum can still get a lot of services through Vanguard’s online program. And the company has a robo program that offers investment management at the lowest possible cost.
For do-it-yourself investors, Vanguard offers self-directed brokerage accounts with access to stocks, options, funds, and bonds. It’s easy to trade such products through the Vanguard website or mobile app, although the software doesn’t quite measure up to what Schwab customers get.
Like Schwab, Vanguard has an asset-management division. This unit of the company produces and manages the very famous Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs. Like Schwab funds, these investment vehicles are known for their low management fees.
Although Vanguard doesn’t operate a bank, it does have something called the Cash Plus Account. Here, FDIC insurance is available along with a 3.5% APY. The downside is the lack of checkwriting and debit cards. And the banking add-ons available at Schwab, such as mortgages, are missing in action at Vanguard.
The accounts Vanguard does offer are conveniently linked on the company’s software platforms if they have the same tax ID number on them (the same is true at Schwab).
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Vanguard review »
BlackRock
One final investment firm worth considering is BlackRock. This company is one of the world’s most famous asset managers, although it does not specialize in retail investing. Main Street investors can only open mutual-fund accounts with the firm; it does not offer brokerage accounts for do-it-yourself investors.
A mutual-fund account at BlackRock can be opened online or with
this hard-copy application. The account has several choices for registration, including joint, individual, custodial, and trust. For an IRA or 529 setup,
this paper application should be used instead.
In the company’s fund accounts, exactly 594 BlackRock mutual funds can be traded. There are no other investment vehicles, such as stocks or bonds. Mutual funds from other fund families are off limits, too; so BlackRock is far behind the other two firms in our survey for retail customers. Nevertheless, the company’s mutual-fund accounts have no fees, and there are no transaction fees on fund trades, either.
Where BlackRock shines is in the realm of asset management. The company owns the very famous ETF provider iShares, which oversees roughly $4.3 trillion in assets. Some of the BlackRock mutual funds noted above carry the iShares name.
Some of the BlackRock iShares mutual funds can be traded at Schwab and Vanguard, and of course, the iShares ETFs are easily tradable at virtually all discount brokers.
For investment advice, BlackRock once again fails to deliver amateur investors very much. The company has no branch locations for retail investors and does not offer any type of portfolio management for them under normal circumstances.
BlackRock does offer a great deal of services for institutional investors. For example, it performs risk-management functions and creates Aladdin software, which is a popular program for managing client assets. The company has an extensive offering of alternative investments; these are assets like real estate and private equity.
Best Investment Firms Judgment
All three investment firms presented here have their strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, BlackRock is not an ideal firm for mom and pop investors. Vanguard is much better for amateur investors, while Schwab is a good choice for both beginners and experienced traders, thanks to its thinkorswim software. Institutions will want to consider BlackRock for its high-end services.
Updated on 10/11/2025.
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