Brokerage Comparison - Schwab vs Scottrade

I have accounts with both Schwab and Scottrade. They both have features that I like. I use each brokerage differently to take advantage of these features.

Schwab

Better research

Better calculation of gains up to the minute

Better service

Dividend reinvestment can be done on both stocks and mutual funds for free
Better planning tools like Retirement planning
Trades are $12.95 and up
Has Banking services like credit cards, checking accounts, loans, etc.

Scottrade
Cheaper trades $7

Calculation of gains is a day late in their Gainskeeper application

Online market and stock data with minute by minute price and trading info
Scottrade has a graph on the front page that shows your overall account value.

So this is how I use these different brokerages. I buy stocks that I plan to trade more often with Scottrade. The trading is cheaper and I can monitor the stocks for quicker turn arounds with their live data feed. Scottrade also has this simple graph that shows the value of my account by day over the last week, month, 6 months, etc. I like this because it gives me instant feedback on how my decisions have played out over time. This is such a simple, basic thing but I can't find a comparable feature on Schwab. I buy dividend paying stocks at Schwab and reinvest the dividends. I also do all my retirement planning on Schwab to use their very useful tools. I do the majority of my research at Schwab since they have the most different suppliers of analysis including their own, S&P, Argus and others. I also tend to buy all my mutual funds from Schwab since they have a very wide selection of free, no-load funds.

Dick Davis Digest Newsletter Review

I have subscribed to the Dick Davis Digest newsletter for the last few years. The newsletter is a culmination of all the other newsletters. They get one or two stock selections and write ups from all the different newsletters. They publish these along with all the others. They probably have 20-30 stock recommendations in every newsletter. The newsletter is published every two weeks and is mailed to your home. Their online offerings are pretty slim. The write ups are usually pretty short and concise which coincides with my theory on picking stocks. If you can't explain in about 4 sentences why you own the stock then you probably shouldn't own it. I have made some very good stock purchases over the years based on recommendations from this newsletter. The other advantage of this newsletter is that you start to learn which other newsletters have the best selections or conform to your stock picking methodology. This way you can "try before you buy" the other usually more costly newsletter. I highly recommend this service.