Brian Baker, CFA, covered investing and retirement for Bankrate. He previously worked in equity research at Diamond Hill Capital Management and is a CFA Charterholder. His work has appeared online in various publications including MarketWatch, Fortune, the Omaha World-Herald, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Detroit News, MSN and Yahoo Finance. He also serves on the Investment Task Force for the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Prior to joining Bankrate, he covered mergers and acquisitions for MLex Market Insight in Washington, D.C. Baker is passionate about helping people make sense of complicated financial topics so that they can better plan for their financial futures.
Readers can rely on his articles to learn more about a variety of investing topics such as how to start investing, investing through mutual funds, when to sell a stock and how investors can manage their emotions.
Baker’s passion for investing developed in college after reading about the success of long-term investors like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.
Investing can be intimidating, but following some basic principles can put you on the path to achieving your financial goals.
— Brian Baker, CFA
Wealthfront ranks among the best robo-advisors, offering sophisticated portfolio management, a top cash management account and some of the most useful planning tools. Wealthfront scores big in all major areas – then somehow does it all at low cost, too.
While Webull may not receive the fanfare of Robinhood for no-fee trading apps, the broker is at least as capable and may even make a better mobile or web-based trader than its popular rival.
Robinhood offers zero commission trades on stocks, ETFs and options — a key feature that made Robinhood a household name. Commission-free cryptocurrency trading is also available, albeit with a built-in markup.
Though investors who want to be in control may feel Vanguard falls short, hands-off investors who like the investment firm's low-cost mutual funds and ETFs will feel right at home.
Fidelity made a name for itself with mutual funds that were ahead of the curve, and its online broker platform looks to help customers share in that success via in-depth research tools and low transaction costs.
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