Money Blue Book

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been taking somewhat of a financial blogging hiatus for the last few months. However, during this period of time, I’ve been spending my days productively – traveling overseas, tending to my other online and real world ventures, as well as scouting out opportunities in areas that remain yet untapped. It’s not easy spotting the next big thing, particularly in the realm of online money making ideas, but I have a few new interesting ideas in mind. Perhaps one of these days once I’ve worked them out in my head and actually tested them out, I’ll share a few of the better ones with readers.

Of course, until I find a way to definitively achieve financial independence or acquire a method to ensure a guaranteed passive income stream, I will inevitably have to end my extended vacation and return to my full time job sometime in the next few weeks. Thus I’ll be getting back to my regular full time day job as a self employed attorney and part time gig as a blogger very shortly. Blogging has been an interesting part time job for me for the last two years (bringing in a very steady and rather lucrative income stream), however at some point, the inevitable pangs of writer’s block and declined motivation inevitably creep. Thus it was nice to finally get away and get a multiple month breather after all this time. However, now that I’ve taken my sabbatical, spent time with the family, and pursued other extracurricular activities, I’m almost ready to get back on the horse again and retake the reins.

My Current Net Worth and Financial Status Update Compared To Last Month

Reliable Passive Online Income Through Blogging

Despite my multiple month absence from my normal blogging duties, I continue to rake in a steady monthly income via my small network on profitable blogs and affiliate websites. While I used to earn a significant portion of my monthly take via my small legal practice as an attorney, I have been undergoing a winding down process in recent months to slowly transition my way out of the whole trading hours for dollars routine that working as an attorney entailed. While the legal work and training has certainly been interesting at times, my heart has never been all that much into it. Pursing the viability of online businesses and trying to harness all that the Internet can provide has always drawn much more appeal for me. The lure of being able to make money online by blogging from the comforts of one’s home is what got me started in this industry years ago.

As my primary online blogs (most notably, the financial blog you are reading now) have grown to the point where their traffic levels are now inherently stable and the sizable income profits they now earn are now very reliably self sustaining, I am at the process of trying to decide where to go from here – call it a fork in the road if you will. Do I sell off a few major sites for instant income now and turn my entrepreneurial attention elsewhere, or do I put in the additional effort now and continue to grow these sites into something inevitably bigger?

While the nature of blogs and Internet businesses can be fickle at times, I truly believe that the future of media and information lies with the adaptive power of Internet. The web is continuously transforming how old and new information is consumed. While it would certainly be great to possibly sell off my most prized websites in terms of traffic levels and income, I am somewhat cautious about cashing out too soon when I think there is still tremendous upside to be had in the coming years. Of course, anything is possible and these things are just a handful of the issues that I’ll be pondering a lot about in the coming months as I slowly get back to my old blogging routine again.

Continue Investing In A Down Stock Market

Not much further needs to be pointed out about the stock markets beyond the truism that big wealth can be made during the worst of times. Markets have certainly been choppy and volatile recently, but given a sufficiently long period of time, they will almost always recover in spades. Despite having rather significant chunks of money invested into various index funds and individual stocks, I barely glanced at my holdings throughout the month. Perhaps it was because I’ve been traveling overseas, but more likely than not it was because I see my investments as appropriately geared for the long haul and I don’t want to be overly bothered by the emotional highs and lows of short term price swings. “Set it and forget it” is how I’ve been investing these past few months.

If you haven’t already opened up an investment account with a discount broker or opened up a retirement account with a Roth IRA broker, now is as good of a time as any.

My New Home Construction Is Nearly Complete

As long time readers may already know, my new house has been under construction since summer 2009. After months of construction activity and suffering through periodic pauses due to severe winter snow, the home is now nearly complete. With construction now projected to conclude by the end of March 2010 and with my home mortgage application paperwork eagerly waiting on the sidelines, I am preparing to close on the house by the end of March. It’s been an interesting ride in terms of my journey to become a first time homeowner. I went through spats of doubt, indecision, and even exuberance during my home purchasing process, so one can’t say that I didn’t fully think my decision through. I had and still have occasional doubts of the timing of my purchase, particularly in light of the reality that the real estate market is still lingering in the doldrums. However, I have faith that in due time, the home prices and sales numbers will recover, as early indicators do seem to be bearing that out. Particularly in the Washington D.C. suburbs of Maryland and Northern Virginia where I live, the housing market has been remarkably resilient. Living close to the epicenter of the federal government, which powers and maintains such a reliable supply of jobs definitely has its positive secondary benefits in terms of ensuring the need of a continuously growing housing supply.

The first month of the new year was a good month for me financially. Now you must be wondering to yourself – how can that possibly be – especially considering that my calculated net worth dropped in excess of $15,000 for the month of January. Well, because I only show a singular snapshot of my financial picture in each of my monthly net worth updates – they generally don’t reveal sufficient cash flow numbers to offer one a complete picture of my true financial health from all appropriate angles. Thus, the balance sheet numbers reflected on these reports can at times be somewhat misleading, as in this particular case. At first blush, my January numbers would seem to suggest that this particular month was a disappointing one. But truth be told, in terms of earnings stability and projected future income potential, January 2010 was yet another reliably steady month for me.

For January 2010, the combined income accumulated from this personal finance blog, the revenue generated by my other online affiliate ventures, and the part time income I earned from my small legal practice as an attorney – all saw slight increases. However, much of the income stats were gobbled up by the hefty estimated tax payments I had to make to the federal and state government during the month. Because I operate my small business and solo legal practice using a cash basis form of accounting, I don’t spread the estimated quarterly tax payments evenly throughout the year, but rather record them on my personal financial balance statements only when they are actually paid out – resulting in these precipitous drops in total net asset value that occur four times a year.

There was one major financial hit however which came from a furious stock market correction that reared its ugly head at the latter half of the month, which pretty much wiped out the hefty gains I would have been on track to record. But as far as the worth of my stock investments go, I don’t generally pay substantial attention to them – as I see them as long term investments that will ultimately pay off years down the road. Month to month dips in stock portfolio value don’t generally rattle me in any significant way (so long as there aren’t serious financial Armageddon type issues lingering in the market). On the whole, so long as I can continue to pull in a steady income with my online website businesses and small legal practice, I am generally content to stay the course. No one ever said becoming a millionaire would be easy, as there are bound to be unexpected bumps on the road. But so long as the rules haven’t changed to any major degree, the economic and financial landscape will inevitably improve in the long run, and such long term investments will ultimately enjoy much success.

My Current Net Worth and Financial Status Update Compared To Last Month

Paying My Quarterly Estimated Taxes As A Self Employed Taxpayer

For those not familiar with what quarterly estimated taxes are in general, or not sure as to why they took such a big bite out of my networth this month, here’s a quick explanation. Estimated taxes are basically the  income taxes that self employed individuals like myself  pay on income that is not subjected to withholding. This income includes everything  from self employment income, interest, stock dividends, rental income, and gains from the sale of assets, etc. It’s important to pay attention to this obligation, because failure to timely pay the quarterly assessed estimated taxes on time does result in a hefty penalty and associated interest charges, even in those cases where you are ultimately due a refund when you file the tax return.

Most people never have to deal with paying estimated taxes because their employers usually already withhold their federal, state, and social security taxes on their paychecks. But for self employed small business owners like myself, because we don’t have someone else to withhold these types of taxes for us, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has mandated that we do so ourselves – requiring us to make four projected pre-payments throughout the year at set intervals on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. One of these hefty tax payment dates occurred in January, which is why the vast bulk of the income I generated during the month was siphoned off to pay the Man. But next month, my networth will likely return back to its regularly anticipated upward growth trajectory.

Buy Low, Sell High – And Continue Investing In A Down Stock Market

Some are saying that we are up for another routine market correction after a somewhat furious run up from spring 2009, while others are running around in circles predicting another major collapse again. But once you cut past the rhetoric and emotional hyperboles, you realize that it’s really just business as usual. The economy naturally ebbs and flows and there is always bound to be good stock market days and bad ones as well. But if you are generally optimistic about the distant future as I am and are willing to make your long term investment bets today, I am confident that years from now, your investments will pay off quite handsomely.

While I keep a rather sizable amount stored away in my safe and secure FDIC insured high interest bank accounts for emergency fund purposes, the vast bulk of my savings reside in discount broker accounts – invested into a variety of long range investments. I intend to stay invested for quite a few years – at least 3-5 years before I plan to engage in any significant portfolio reshuffling. I think the market is currently at its low and that all indicators strongly suggest that there is only tremendous upside from hereon. It is certainly possibly for the market to continue getting spooked and experience a pullback, but I don’t think we are in for another financial Armageddon scenario or are on the verge of a serious economic depression – the likes of which were talked about during the early part of last year. We are definitely on the road to economic recovery – however, admittedly, the road is long, and heavily paved with pot holes and obstacles.

Cashing In and Taking Advantage Of Credit Card Rewards and Bonuses

This month I also happened to redeem a rather large chunk of the credit card rewards I’ve accumulated over the last many months – converting my various credit card reward points into usable currency – namely, gift cards. Overwhelmingly, the more lucrative card reward program I use at the present time is the Citi Thank You network, with the American Express Blue Cash program being a close second. Because I used reward credit cards to pay for pretty much everything I purchase, I tend to rack up a substantial amount of reward points in a very short period of time.

The amount of credit card reward points I had accrued after only a year of routine credit card spending was rather enormous (in my opinion) – an amount that exceeded a value of $1,500. Ultimately, I decided to convert the majority of them into gift cards to places like Marshall’s and Macy’s. I don’t go shopping for clothing very often, but I’ll probably go on a small shopping spree in the near future with my new found loot. I had the option to convert my accrued credit card reward points into a cash lump sum, but for those who are familiar with credit card rebates and rewards, the point to cash conversion rate is frequently pretty low – and you tend to lose a big chunk of your points during the conversion process. While pure cash back credit card rewards are more versatile and bypass the hassle of having to manually convert accrued points into usable gifts or rewards, I’ve found that point based reward programs tend to offer a higher purchase rebate percentage. If you don’t mind a little work or putting in a little effort towards micro-managing your points, you’re better off going with a point based reward program.

I know credit cards tend to get a very bad rap with many out there believing them to be the source of all evil as evidenced by the government’s recent crusade to regulate every aspect of how credit card issuers run their businesses. However, I personally feel credit card programs are what you make of them. If you spend responsibly and pay off your balances in full every month, the credit card usage incentives they provide can be extremely lucrative. Even those who persistently carry monthly balances are not without options – there are a variety of 0% balance credit cards and low interest credit card deals out there for the qualified applicants to take advantage of. Keep those FICO credit scores high and monitor them regularly with programs like MyFICO Score Watch like I do, and you’ll ensure that you’ll always have access to the best credit card offers according to your personalized needs.

Well, it looks like January 2010 has finally arrived. Goodbye 2009, and hello 2010!

According to most public sentiment surveys I’ve seen thus far, the overwhelming consensus is that 2009 was a particularly terrible year. The economy tanked, retirement savings were largely wiped out, and home equity values were pretty much eviscerated. However, where there’s misery, there always seems to be a smidgen lining of hope. Despite most people’s vastly negative opinion of 2009, the great majority of surveys indicate a very optimistic outlook for 2010. Maybe it’s because this time around, we are no longer staring at the barrel of an imminent financial sector meltdown and hearing the ghastly doomsday warnings of a possible decade-long economic depression, but things certainly feel less dire than the same time 12 months ago.

Most certainly, while we are still languishing under the worst economic recession in decades with depressive unemployment rates continuing to climb, the pace at which the economy continues to worsen has drastically decreased. In other words, while the economy is still deteriorating, it’s worsening at a significantly slower pace than before. This is very good news for the aspiring optimists and opportunists in all of us. Most significantly, there also does appear to be tangible economic metrics emerging to back up the growing optimistic fervor for 2010. While I personally think we are still many months away from a real and sustainable recovery, I think we are decidedly heading in the right direction as punctuated by the fact that I’ve been jumping back into the stock market of late and starting to invest strongly and aggressively in long term positions again – positions that I think will pay off handsomely in the future. Previously during the very early part of spring 2009, I exited and stayed away from the market to protect myself from the effects of the irrational fear and panic that was crippling the American psyche. But with the way things are now, I am pretty confident that the worst case scenario has been averted and all that remains now is for the economy to begin its long and steady natural progression towards recovery. While home prices will almost undoubtedly not return to pre-recession levels anytime soon, home prices will most likely stabilize during 2010, leading to a positive and steady ripple effect across other sectors.

In terms of my New Year’s resolutions for myself in the financial planning and income growth department, I plan to make 2010 a banner year for my bank savings account balances and investment holdings. Now is the most opportunist time to start placing one’s bets for the distant future. Despite the mild market run up since spring 2009, stock market prices on the whole are still lagging and have not returned to pre-recessionary panic levels. If you have cash on the sidelines and have been waiting for the so-called “best time to start investing”, now is the time to start opening up a discount broker account and start investing those excess savings into long term mutual funds, or better yet – into the exchange traded funds (ETF’s) of your choice. I’ve personally chosen to invest heavily into riskier financial and emerging market funds (such as the XLF and EEM funds) to fully maximize the potential of my future gains. However, your personal investment strategy is up to you and dependent on your willingness to assume risk today for a greater payday in the not too distance future.

My Current Net Worth and Financial Status Update Compared To Last Month

Allocating Cash Savings For The Closing Of My New Home Purchase

Back in August 2009, I signed a contract for the purchase of a brand new construction 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom cottage style single family colonial home. For several months now, I’ve been patiently monitoring the construction progress of my first home purchase ever – swinging by the home lot to take photos of the inside and outside at least once every week. Most recently, the transformation from a pile of dirt to a free standing wood and concrete structure has been nothing been dramatic. With the roof tiles now in place and the windows having been installed, the home is starting to really take shape. While the housing construction is proceeding rapidly and steadily, there have been a few slow downs due in large part to the recent snow storm activity that we’ve been experiencing in the D.C. Baltimore area the last few weeks. Coupled with the time off effects of Christmas and New Year’s, construction work has occasionally stalled – but I expect things to start picking up again briskly when construction starts rolling into January.

Currently, the new home is tentatively scheduled to be completed and delivered sometime early March 2010. As such, I’ve prepared and saved up a sizable cash balance to pay towards my new home mortgage 20% down payment. With the home priced at around $622,000 (this is pretty much average for the D.C. area), I presently have set aside and reserved more than the necessary $125,000 down payment I will need for home mortgage purposes. While there have been several times that I’ve been tempted to allocate this special purpose money into various lucrative stock market investments, I managed to do the right thing and keep the funds safely segregated in their own separate bank accounts.

Funding My IRA and Opening Up A New SEP-IRA Account For Stock Investing

Most people rely on their employer’s 401(k)’s with matching contribution packages for most of their retirement planning needs. But because I am currently fully self employed with my network of online businesses and run my own legal practice from my home office, I have to depend on myself. Fortunately for solo practitioners and self employed folks like myself, the IRS provides a useful mechanism for us to still take full advantage of the tax deferred benefits of individual retirement savings accounts – namely the SEP-IRA. Because I’ve already maxed out my limited Roth IRA and Individual IRA contribution limits and desire to contribute more, I recently, I opened up a SEP IRA account with Fidelity Investments. The greatest benefit of a SEP-IRA account apart from the obvious tax deferred benefits, is that the maximum contribution limit is pretty generous – at 25% of an individual’s compensation, capped at a maximum of $49,000 for both individual tax years 2009 and 2010. Eventually, I may very well open up a few more other SEP-IRA investment accounts with other reputable online discount brokerage firms to test them all out – but for now, I’m going with Fidelity.

Relying On My Passive Online Income Streams For A Living

Unfortunately, due to several notable and rather complicated personal situations during the last few months, I’ve neglected to post on my personal finance blog and other online blogs as frequently as I would have liked to. While I’ve continued to maintain and tend to my online businesses and network of profitable websites on a regular basis, I have not really posted new articles with much regularity. But despite my lack of effort and lack of any substantial headway in the way of content creation, my online income streams continue to remain very stable (with even signs of growth). This brings me to the most powerful and compelling aspect of why I truly believe any person who is strongly self motivated ought to start blogging to make money online and not delay in tapping into the powers and limitless potential of the Internet. Because of all of the effort I had previously put into my online craft for the last 2 and a half years, I’ve built up a very substantial network of online traffic streams that remain solidly consistent despite my lack of present effort. Contrary to what most layman and blogging beginners believe, once you have built up solid search engine traffic and have earned reputational authority in the eyes of major search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo – your keyword rankings pretty much stay consistent indefinitely (and dare I say it, permanently). Once you have this search engine authority built up, it’s very difficult for new blogging and website entrants into the field to supplement your existing position. This probably explains why numerous major media companies have been trying to contact me recently to inquire about potential buyout opportunities or website acquisitions. Frankly, I have very little incentive to entertain such offers as I truly enjoy the significant incomes I generate from the sites that I own, as they require very little effort on my part – but of course, with the right offers, anything is possible I suppose.

For those of you who have always thought about wanting to start blogging online to either share your  interests with the rest of the world or just to make some money on the side or even provide your family an alternative income source during these difficult and unpredictable times – now is the time to start blogging and pursuing your web business aspirations. The more you delay, the more such opportunities will gradually slip away. Carpe diem!

Special Promo Offer: 100 Free Trades For New OptionsHouse Accounts

Whether you’re a buy and hold investor or a savvy trader of penny stocks, I’m pretty sure commissions and fees are a few of those brokerage conditions that you pay particular attention to. If you aren’t too concerned with them, then perhaps you ought to be. After all, high fees and hidden trading costs have a nasty way of surreptitiously consuming huge chunks of your potential stock gains and profits. Nowadays, there really is no reason why any investor ought to pay full price for his or her stock investing needs. There are a broad range of heavily discounted brokerage firms to choose from, each offering its own unique online trading experience and each touting its own unique mix of low fees and hassle free conditions.

If you’re not completely new to the world of investing, I recommend checking out OptionsHouse, a fairly intriguing newish entrant to the discount broker foray. While the name OptionsHouse may be unfamiliar to those not intimately plugged into investment circles, the company is a fairly established company, associated and backed by PEAK6 Investments, one of the biggest options trading brokerage companies around. Despite the “options” moniker in its name, the firm is not an exclusive options trading firm as it provides a large wealth of resources for stock trading as well.  While options trading is its primary expertise and specialty, the company still caters to the stock and fund investors out there – touting trading rates that are some of the cheapest, if not the absolute cheapest rates in the market today. At a mere flat $2.95 for each stock and exchange traded fund (ETF) trade, you would be hard pressed to find another reputable discount broker capable of matching such low commission fees for equity transactions. In the cost arena, OptionsHouse is a standout, even amongst all of the other top recommended names in my online discount broker review list.

Like most legitimately established online broker firms, OptionsHouse is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), the non profit federal government entity tasked with protecting investors from financial harm in the event of a catastrophic brokerage failure. As such, OptionsHouse customer accounts are insured against loss and protected by SIPC insurance up to $500,000 with a variety of other protection measures in place as well. In terms of its target customer, OptionsHouse’s primary account base consists of active individual stock and options traders with some semblance of investing savviness. While OptionsHouse may also appeal to true beginners to investing, its advanced trading tools and technical analytical option analyzers may slightly intimate newbies. If you are a first time stock market investor, I’d recommend going with a more down to earth, more accessible discount brokerage firm like Scottrade, TradeKing, or even E-Trade. But if you are an active stock or options investor, Options House’s incredibly cheap stock trading commissions and low cost fees for options trades will certainly offer you immense appeal. Stock and options investors who trade frequently or execute larger than average trade sizes will have the most to gain from what this discount brokerage firm has to offer.

OptionsHouse Is An Up and Coming Award Winning Discount Brokerage Firm

While I personally don’t think one should judge or make a decision on which is the best discount broker based on the number of accolades and rewards received alone, these type of editorial recognitions do go a long way in helping investors and traders weed out the winners from the losers. Despite its fairly recent entry into the market, OptionsHouse has already earned a reasonable amount of attention from the professional reviewers – including a 4 star rating in Barron’s 2008 Best Online Broker Survey, along with a #1 ranking in the category of “Usability”. In its 2009 Online Broker Survey, Barron’s awarded OptionsHouse a 4.5 star overall, tagging the brokerage firm the “Best For Options Traders”, as well as rating it #1 in “Trade Experience”, beating out other notable brokerages like thinkorswim, optionsXpress, Etrade, and Charles Schwab. However, it will probably take a few years of such consistent performance before OptionsHouse will truly be able to unseat the current reigning champs like E-trade Financial or TradeKing – firms which have consistently ranked at the top on multiple review listings like SmartMoney’s Best Broker Survey, and Kiplinger’s annual review of the top online brokers.

Cheap $2.95 Flat Commissions Rate For Stock Trades, and Low Flexible Rates For Options

As I indicated above, OptionsHouse offers some of the lowest commission fees in the market today – adopting a primarily flat pricing model that is very popular among those account holders who want to avoid the hassles of tier based or volume influenced pricing. Currently, Options House touts a remarkably cheap $2.95 flat rate for all stock trades, regardless of the number of shares purchased, and regardless of whether the trade was executed online or with the assistance of a broker agent. I have yet to see many other legitimate brokers that can even come close in terms of pricing. The only cheap discount broker firms that can even remotely compare are perhaps the ones that offer conditional free stock trades such as Zecco. While Zecco does indeed offer an allotment of monthly stock trades for its customers free of charge, there are certain pre-qualifying conditions that must be regularly met (either the maintenance of a certain account balance or satisfaction of a certain volume of trading activity).

For option trades (the firm’s bread and butter), OptionsHouse offers its customers the flexibility to pick the rate that works best for them. Those that trade less than 10 contracts can pick the “Up to 5 for $5 rate” where their  first five option contracts are only $5. Trade over 10 contracts? You can select OptionsHouse’s low $8.50 +.15/contract rate for maximum value. You are free to change your options commission rate as your trading behavior changes to help you maximize your savings. In a comparative analysis of OptionsHouse’s option contract savings to its competitors for anywhere from 5 to 100 contracts, OptionsHouse easily beats out other top performers such as TradeKing, TradeMonster, thinkorswim, E-Trade, optionsXpress, and Fidelity Investments. Contrast that with what some of the other top name brokerages charge and you’ll understand why OptionsHouse’s prices are so remarkably cheap. For example, top brokers like TradeKing may charge just $4.95 per option trade, but they also tack on an extra $0.65 fee per options contract. Those that trade large quantities of option contracts will benefit the most from OptionsHouse’s efficient pricing structure.

When it comes to investing in stocks, ETF’s, and options – OptionsHouse is an extremely affordable brokerage choice. However, if you’re looking to trade other financial products beyond just those three such as mutual funds or bonds, you may want to be mindful of the fact that while OptionsHouse’s commission fees for stocks and options are super cheap, it’s prices for other products beyond its core base are higher. My advice is to open an account and use OptionsHouse for stock, ETF, and option trades, but go directly to the mutual fund sources for all of your other investment needs. For example, Fidelity and Vanguard are the two most popular providers of mutual funds and index funds today. If you want to invest in either a Fidelity or Vanguard labeled fund, you should open accounts with both of them directly to avoid the extra transactional fees associated with mutual fund investing.

Overview Of OptionsHouse’s Online Brokerage Account Features

Along with its extremely low cost commission fee structure for both stocks and options, OptionsHouse also offers its customers the conveniences of no maintenance fees, no minimum trade requirements, and no extra charges for broker-assisted trades (a rarity among discount brokers). Those traders and investors who trade frequently or trade large volumes of equity in one sitting will benefit strongly from OptionsHouse’s flat pricing for stocks and very competitive flexible pricing for options.

In terms of its basic account offerings, OptionHouse provides all of the usual assortment of cash and margin account types that most customers have come to expect from their online discount brokers. OptionsHouse account holders have the ability to conduct purchases and sales in transactions involving stocks, options, ETF’s, mutual funds, Roth IRA’s, Traditional IRA’s, Education IRA’s, and many more. To assist account holders, the firm provides its customers a broad range of educational resources including books, guides, webinars, calculators, simulators, and various screeners to help them take maximum control of their financial lives – and they’re not just all for options trading either. Those that want to test out OptionsHouse’s investment functions and tools but don’t wish to commit to using real funds can opt instead to take a trial run using OptionsHouse’s Virtual Trading tool, which allows an individual to execute mock transactions using what’s essentially play money. It’s a good way to get familiarized with all of the widgets and trading features that the company has to offer.

After having used my OptionsHouse investment account for some time now, I have to say that the trading platform is generally pretty intuitive and similar to what I’ve come to expect from my online brokerages. While account holders are given some limited ability to customize, such as the ability to change colors here and there, and offered the ability to tweak how various charts and graphics display information, most of the online account features are intuitively preset. The firm keeps its award winning (rated highly by online reviewers for “trade experience”) interface simple and offers an online trading platform that ought to satisfy and beat the needs of most active stock and options investors. You are of course welcome to take a video tour of the brokerage firm’s online interface for more information.

Bottom line, I would recommend OptionsHouse as a deep discount brokerage choice for stock and options trades. If you believe you will invest primarily in mutual funds on the other hand, I’d recommend opening an account with the appropriate mutual fund provider directly (example: Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Schwab) to avoid the extra mutual fund transaction costs. Also, if you’re a relatively new investor who is still getting the hang of investing, I would recommend going with a brokerage firm that caters more to beginner investors – firms like Scottrade and TradeKing. But if you already have some background or basic experience with investing, then OptionsHouse’s incredibly low rates and transactional costs will suit you very well. At a flat $2.95 for stock trades, it’s almost impossible to beat that with any other discount online broker.

In case you still need a further incentive, for a limited time during the firm’s special promo period, OptionsHouse is offering new customers a special promotional 100 free trades during the first 60 days after a new account is funded with a minimum of $3,000.