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One of the largest investment brokers on earth with literally TRILLIONS of dollars under management, Vanguard is also one of the most customer-centric firms around. They offer all of the investment tools and resources needed for anyone aiming for early retirement. They have a large variety of fund offerings with costs that are some of the lowest in the industry. Vanguard is my broker of choice and I plan to move close to 100% of my invested funds to my Vanguard account over the next few years. If you're interested in a solid, full-service investment broker that you can stick with for the long term, look no further than Vanguard.
Note: If you already have an investment account with another broker but would like to try Vanguard, you can quickly and easily execute an "in-kind" transfer of your current holdings to a Vanguard account. This transaction has no tax consequences, doesn't require any buying or selling, and can be initiated online in a few minutes, so its simple to switch.
Though I think being knowledgeable enough to manage your own investments should be your ultimate goal, there are many people who would prefer to have some professional help. I'm mostly against using traditional personal advisors because of their high fees and (typically) unimpressive results, but I think the relatively new field of "robo-advisors" is a great alternative. Of the robo-advisor services that I have tried, I think Wealthfront is the best. Wealthfront starts with a short questionnaire to assess the best investment plan for your specific needs. Once your account is created all you have to do is deposit money and Wealthfront handles the rest. Your deposit will quickly be invested in a diversified portfolio of low-cost funds which is actively managed by sophisticated, automated software. Account rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting are performed regularly and automatically. If you're interested in trying out a robo-advisor, I'd recommend starting with Wealthfront.
Open your account today: Wealthfront.
