Originally Posted by After Shock Media

Why through a "company"?
I started with TD Ameritrade year or so ago. The company I had used before then, even with their advice did not perform that well above what is considered average. Figured I would take the chance and try it on my own for awhile and I did above average even with a loss here and there. Ended my relationship with the company several months ago and have been purely self investing via TD Ameritrade.

I also do not really day trade at all. I have done a few quick trades but that is not representative of my outlook or portfolio or whatever you would call it. At least 75% of my money in stocks is in very long term investment stocks. My Roth IRA fund is a mix of medium to medium high risk funds, which I also max out each year for tax purposes.

Sorry drifted, back to the point at hand. Why would you use a company?
As a stock this may sound totally counter productive and silly with the market. Yet I have been investing a bit into my local banks stocks. Right now they are down some as is most of the financial sector. However they only did loans on triple A prime, and never did any sub prime lending at all. They have always been posting profits and so forth. So even though I am down cash right now because they are, I am buying up more.

I am also good with some tech stocks, some energy stocks, several food/beverage stocks, defense contractors, and a few more. Not sure if it is normal or not but I do seem to notice I buy a lot of stocks based on companies that I also use or buy. Such as Coca Cola, Campbell's, and whatnot.