I have accounts at both Sharebuilder and Buy and Hold. I am no longer making purchases through Sharebuilder as I much prefer Buy and Hold. Here's why:

Sharebuilder:

Purchases can only be made on Tuesdays and you have to have your order in the previous Monday. That's fine if you don't care what price you pay, but I prefer to have a little more control over the timing of my purchases.

Selling - ugh! It's downright expensive. I am basically a long-term buy & hold investor but there are still times when I want to sell shares (made a poor investment decision, want to take profit, etc.) but the cost is prohibitive and the few times that I have used a sell order Sharebuilder gave me the lowest price per share of the day - I think when you sell they just take your shares and then sell them later at a better price pocketing the profit.

The Gain & Loss Tracker has not been keeping accurate records for several weeks now - I had to set up my own Tracker on the Fool Portfolio to know how my account was doing.

Very few of the Hidden Gems picks are available through Sharebuilder.

I do kind of like their research info. and their IPO Center though I've never actually purchased any IPO stocks.

Buy and Hold:

I like the price - for $14.95 per month I can have unlimited trades - buy or sell. Transactions can be made free Monday - Friday during the "window trades" - 10:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., or 3:00 p.m. This is nice because if I've been watching a stock and that I want to purchase and I see that the price is looking like it might dip down somewhat during the afternoon I can set up a purchase order for say 12:30 when I can get a better price.

Funding the account is simple - I can link it to my checking or savings and my purchases will be paid for through electronic funds transfer. Sharebuilder does this too - but they make me actually deposit the funds first and then make my purchases.

I don't really think much of the Buy and Hold stock tracker either - but at least it's accurate.

Well ... that's all I can think of to mention right now - hope it is helpful. I would definitely recommend Buy and Hold over Sharebuilder.

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