Interactive Brokers Reviews (December 2021)

Highlights
Minimum Initial Investment	$5,000
Management Fee	0.08% - 1.5%

Interactive Brokers Review

Interactive Brokers is a financial services company founded in 1994 and based in Greenwich, CT.

Interactive Brokers Pros & Cons

The Good	The Bad
Trades in low-cost ETFs. Access to human advisors. Wide selection of investment options. Competitive investment expense ratios.	Tax-loss harvesting not available. Small selection of account types offered.

Interactive Brokers FAQ

What fees does Interactive Brokers charge?

Interactive Brokers uses a fee-only model.

This means Interactive Brokers gets paid a flat fee regardless of what financial products or services you use. It also means they have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. Instead of making money on trades commissions or selling products, they recommend an asset allocation and get paid a flat-fee or a percentage of the assets under administration. That requires that they act in their client’s financial best interest at all times.

Interactive Brokers uses a commission-based model. In other words, they get a commission when they sell you investment products, such as stocks or mutual funds.

Interactive Brokers Fees
Description
Monthly Fee	$0 - $10
Commission Based?
Fee Based?
Management Fee	0.08% - 1.5%

What management fees does Interactive Brokers charge?

Interactive Brokers charges an annual management fee that starts at .08% and ranges up to 1.5%.

Many financial advisors charge based on how much money they oversee by using a fee-structure called “assets under management,” or AUM. For instance, a 0.40% fee translates to $4 per year for every $1,000 an investment advisor manages. Management fees, also known as maintenance fees, cover the operating costs of investment advisors and are typically deducted from your account every month or quarter. The management fee does not cover the underlying expense ratios of the investment vehicles purchased by investment advisors.

What are the investment expense ratios of Interactive Brokers?

Hiring an investment advisor with competitive investment fees is one of the most important steps to maximizing your portfolio's performance. Investment expense ratios can vary drastically depending on the types of accounts and assets involved. A survey by the ICI puts the average expense ratio for actively managed funds at 0.76% and indexed funds at 0.08%. The investment expense ratios of an investment advisor will vary depending on the type of assets they invest in and whether they attach additional charges to fund fees.

Interactive Brokers does not charge fees based on an investment expense ratio.

What features does Interactive Brokers offer?

Access to human advisors: Robo-advisors are great at keeping costs down and helping investors with modest balances make good investment choices. However, it is also nice to have access to human financial advisors when you need them.

Automatic rebalancing: Having a good balance of investments is important. But a well-balanced portfolio is not something you can set up and forget. Markets are constantly changing and can easily throw your portfolio out of balance. Interactive Brokers allows you to rebalance your investments back to your target asset allocation at set intervals.

Full-service brokerage: Interactive Brokers provides access to a wide selection of financial advice and products, such as facilitating trades, managing portfolios, and wealth management services.

What type of investment accounts and asset classes does Interactive Brokers support?

Interactive Brokers LLC offers the following types of assets and account types.

Accounts Supported
Supported Options	Unsupported Options
Individual Non-Retirement Accounts Joint Non-Retirement Accounts Traditional IRA	Roth IRA Rollover IRA SEP IRA Trusts 529 College Savings Plans Employer Sponsored Plans Custodial Accounts

These are the investment options Interactive Brokers LLC offers its clients.

Investment Choices
Supported Options	Unsupported Options
Stocks Options Mutual Funds FOREX Futures International Stocks ETFs	Bonds Pink Sheets / OTCBB Real Estate Startups Marketplace Loans Cryptocurrencies

What is the minimum amount you have to invest to open an account with Interactive Brokers?

The minimum amount to open an account with Interactive Brokers is 5000.

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