Mr. Gorman is not the first executive without a brokerage background to head Merrill's retail operations.
Some advisers say that people who make regular investments through a trading technique known as dollar-cost averaging may be better served with no-load index mutual funds because their shares can be bought without paying brokerage commissions, which are required for each purchase of an exchange-traded fund.
He said Loyal3 is seamless enough that a transaction can happen in three clicks for as little as $10 without typical brokerage fees.
Even without a brokerage account at an underwriter, you can still access the IPO market through discount brokerages such as E*Trade, HarrisDirect, a unit of Bank of Montreal, and Charles Schwab, though you generally must have a sizable account with them.
The choices are many, even without full-service brokerage firms.
The iShares MSCI EAFE Index charges 0.36%, which is a good deal, but the fund alternative, the Fidelity Spartan International Index, charges 0.10% without a vexing brokerage fee.
Instead you can buy funds directly from companies like Fidelity or Vanguard without establishing a brokerage account (many mutual fund firms offer the same planning and money management tools as brokerages at no cost to account-holders).
The site connects with these firms via their individual APIs, and after a one-time authentication you can buy and sell stock with your preferred brokerage without leaving Instavest.
The app "connects renters with apartments," a fairly simple concept that is surprisingly hard to implement.By aggregating rent inventory directly from landlords and managers they, in practice, become a frictionless marketplace that connects renters and tenants without a mushy brokerage layer getting in the way.
And some launch a brokerage without the resources to train agents — smaller brokers who can't afford training might churn through agents because the sales team lacks training.
