Top Merrill Edge Alternatives

Of many electronic investment banks, Merrill Edge is a popular name. It was created in June 2010 to unify BofA security and Merrill Lynch. It migrated over 500k customers from Bank of America(BofA). With 2 million+ customers, they use 2500+ advisors from various banks and call centers. It has awards from JD power, best UX by StockBrokers.com, and many more.

They offer free services in Merrill Self-Directed, with comprehensive research, insights, and full support guidance, without any minimum balance. Merrill Guided Investing starts with a minimum of $5000 investment and 0.45% annual fees. It suggests a proper portfolio that is created, managed, and rebalanced by Merrill Investment professionals. Merrill Guided Investing & Advisor begins with minimum investments of $20k. It uses 0.85% of the annual program fee and has all features of Merrill Guided Investing, except that a devoted advisor is assigned to you.

Merrill Edge Investment and Research Features

Merrill Edge offers its solution via a four-point investment cycle. These four steps are goal prioritization, opening an account, investment selection, monitoring account & adjustments. In each step, we can access guided methods. With Merrill Prioritize, we can look for emergency funds, retirement, home payments, education, etc. Once this goal is set, it offers proper plan preparation and budgeting tips.

To pick the correct account-type, we need to select what benefits are necessary. Based on that, pick from accounts made for retirement, college, investment, savings, etc. Then, select an investment from mutual funds, stocks, ETFs, and fixed incomes. Once done, the last step is managing the Portfolio with proper reviews, diversification, monitoring, and preparations.

In the investment plans, the rates of fees by Merrill Edge are different. There are extra charges in various transfers, security fees, Visa debit cards, checks & bills, etc. As said, it has $0 commission in stocks, ETFs, and some Mutual Funds, whereas $0.65/contract in Optional Plans. Some benefits with Merrill include $0 investments, free debit cards & payments, and in-person customer support.

Also, Merrill Edge exercises researches from BofA equity research, Morningstar & Lipper, and Stock Story. Overall, Merrill Edge is perfect for casual and mid-range investors, with $0 investments and minimum charges.