Discount Stock Broker Fees Calculator

The following interactive calculator helps you compare fees at Discount Stock Brokers.

You can check which type of account - Stock Basket or Pay as you trade - is best suited to your investment strategy and activity.

This can give you a quick glance at how much you can save with a Stock Basket and whether this is a worthwhile choice.


Portfolio Input Strategy#1 Strategy#2 Strategy#3 Strategy#4
Investment Amount
Nb of Stocks in Strategy
Rebalancing Frequency
Turnover Rate (%)
Stock Basket Account Membership Fee Buy Fees Sell Fees Total Annual Fees as % of Portfolio
Sharebuilder Standard
Sharebuilder Advantage
Foliofn Unlimited Plan
BuyAndHold
Pay As you Trade Account Maintenance Fee Buy Fees Sell Fees Total Annual Fees as % of Portfolio
Sharebuilder
Foliofn
BuyAndHold
Traditional Broker
(see Input below)
Traditional Broker Fee Input
Maintenance /year
Buy Fee /Trade
Sell Fee /Trade

Directions:

  • Choose the number of Investment Strategies you want in your Portfolio

  • Enter an Investment Amount for each strategy

  • Enter a Nb of Stocks for each strategy: you will unlikely benefit with more than 50

  • Enter a Rebalancing Frequency for each strategy (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)

  • Enter a Turnover Rate for each strategy: this is the percentage of stocks that will be replaced at each rebalancing. Each Stock that is replaced generates a Buy and a Sell. See Rebalancing for an indication of the optimum Rebalancing frequency for various Investing Styles.

Example:
The default settings assume a 35,000$ Portfolio investing in 2 strategies:

  • a 25,000$ strategy with 25 Stocks, annual rebalancing and an expected turnover of 70%. This simulates a Value Investing Strategy.

  • a 10,000$ strategy with 10 Stocks, quarterly rebalancing and an expected turnover of 70%. This simulates a Momentum Investing Strategy.

    The Portfolio generates 25*70%*2+10*70%*4*2=35+56=91 transactions per year (half Buys, Half Sells)

Tip: if you want a rebalancing period >1year, use yearly rebalancing and reduce the turnover rate.
e.g. if you want to rebalance every over year, use yearly rebalancing and reduce the turnover rate by half
Note: The calculator is not suitable for Buy And Hold strategies.

Remember, these are just brokerage fees: investing involves other fees such as Bid-Ask spread, Tax. If you're a Momentum Investor with short rebalancing frequency, you may want to check Tax Secrets for Traders for tips on minimizing your Tax bill when trading.

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