I'm with Fidelity and couldn't be happier. I'm not a trader though.

The linked back account is so you can transfer money into your brokerage account. No reason it's not as safe as anything else. Just remember, your brokerage account is not FDIC insured so don't be slack with the password and user name information.

So, if I were you, I'd contribute up to your employer match limit

Then the rest of money you are stashing I'd put in a retail investment account. Generally 401ks don't have very great options and if you ever need that money there is penalties for taking it out

But it's up to you, BUT it would be pretty hard not to out perform the funds in your 401k

I have an E trade and a Fidelity account, both with linked accounts

They have really high quality security measures and two step authentication, really no reason to be worried

I can't really speak to the newer trading apps like M1 and Robin hood though, I'd be leery of using them only because they aren't as established and like Robin hood glitches have happened

Keep in mind that many 401k plans offer a brokerage option that allows you to invest your pre-tax income with waaayyy less restrictions on what you can invest in. Usually they’ll allow everything a brokerage account will, although options are sometimes not allowed.

The pre-tax part is important! Your principle will be higher (compared to post-tax) and every percent of growth will be more impactful $ wise. Obviously you have to pay taxes eventually, so your personal situation might affect whether this is the right way to go. Personally, I will maximize my pre-tax contributions to get as much growth over the next 25 years, then do additional post-tax savings into a brokerage so I can have some savings where income tax is already paid (will still have to pay cap gains, qualified divs, etc).

TD Ameritrade has some of the best charting software out there (ThinkorSwim), and trading is free; executions are sometimes absolutely terrible, however. Robinhood is a pile of crap, unless you enjoy using your cell phone to throw money away. Etrade is nice, and it is also free, but it lacks a lot of what TDA gives you. My wife's dad really likes Fidelity, especially after his account got smoked in the last bubble; he learned to become more hands-on. There are zillions of other brokers out there . . .

"Playing around" usually means losing money, pretty much all of it. Another of the benefits of TD Ameritrade is that they offer a ton of free educational resources online (with quizzes!), through their secure platform; YouTube also has a treasure trove of educational content, but much of it is trying to sell you crap. You can open an account at TDA with nearly nothing, so it is a good choice overall, even if the money you put in just sits there for a year (for free).

Over the past decade, the free information on this stuff has improved exponentially. It's a perfect time to learn and watch (and better understand why so many others are losing or making money right now).

Lateral-G "QUOTE OF THE WEEK"
 

Week ending March 27, 2020
:trophy-1302:.....goes to rustomatic.....:trophy-1302:


Robinhood is a pile of crap, unless you enjoy using your cell phone to throw money away.


Thank you Paul.

I finally made a few trades yesterday. Got rid of some dead weight, picked up a new stock and added to some other well performing holdings.

I missed getting a few more as they were running higher than my offer and missed selling one as it ran lower than my ask. This just reaffirmed to me I was making the right choices. We'll try again Monday on them

And with that, I am officially out of the oil business...

I had held onto XOM and KMI for the past few years mainly for the dividend...but this latest deal with Russia and OPEC was the final straw.

There are way too many other companies out there on sale right now to keep these on board.

It was interesting to watch closely while making the trades, the stocks I wanted I kept chasing up while the stocks I was selling I kept chasing down. This told me I was doing the right thing and I finally just made it happen.

Good riddance oil, now I can feel good again about buying sub $2.00/gal gas...

Fundamental changes.

I'm long and my funds and stocks are being watched by a very small broker.

And cautiously optimistic. Strange times, strange times indeed.

Oil is strange. Were gonna need it and the demand for it is ever increasing despite what the stocks tell us. it's bad now but the economist reports I read is the electric cars and buses all need the recharging (caption obvious) but where is that energy coming from? Solar= not enough, Nuclear=everybody's scared. Oil=easy, not sure.
I'm not heavy in oil, other than some divi Chevron stock.

I've thought about the same thing, Lance. I'd loose a lot for sure, but I feel I could recover if I put the money elsewhere. What's happening with oil is definitely weird. It's this crazy substory within the craziness of the Coronavirus issues.