Serious question, did anyone else just pick a broker based on a friend's say so?

I opened my first account with a big name broker because my cousin told me to, and I didn't look at the fees for almost two years. Last month, I finally saw they were charging me $50 per trade. I switched to a platform with a flat $5 fee, and I'm saving hundreds a year now. Why did I wait so long to check for myself?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_kim631mo ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard. I did the exact same thing with my first retirement account. A coworker I trusted just said "go with this company" and I did, no questions asked. It took me three years to realize their fees were eating up a huge chunk of my money. The relief when I finally moved it was unreal. It's crazy how we just take advice without looking into it ourselves.

robert_jones1mo ago

My uncle did that with his whole life insurance policy, just signed up because his golf buddy said it was good. He was paying almost double the normal rate for a decade before a financial advisor friend pointed it out. It makes you wonder how much money gets left on the table because we trust people more than paperwork. We really need to teach this stuff in school, because that gut check to read the fine print saves so much pain later.