BetterInvesting Club Members Can Get Free Trades Through Folio Investing; ING
| 29 September 2009

Folio Investing has
announced plans to offer commission-free trading windows to select BetterInvesting member clubs in an exclusive pricing agreement.
Folio Investing is somewhat unique in the broker space as they allow investors to trade baskets of stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. These baskets, which the firm calls "folios," can be custom or pre-built. The firm offers a plan to customers that charges a flat fee of $29 per month or $290 per year to trade commission-free in two daily trading windows. It appears this fee will be waived for "qualifying" clubs.
BetterInvesting is a not-for-profit investing organization that has been around the better part of 50 years. Formerly known as the National Association of Investors Corps., the heart of the BetterInvesting approach is the investing club. More than 67,000 of the group's 90,000 members nationwide belong to one of 8,600 local investing clubs.
Sharebuilder -- now a part of ING Direct (ING) -- offers a similar flat-rate pricing model. Customers can pay a fee of $12 per month for 6 trades or $20 a month for 20 trades. Additional trades cost $2 and $1 each, respectively. Their flat-fee approach only applies to automatic investing plans, however.
"It seems only natural that BetterInvesting and Folio Investing should come together to provide a combined service to clubs," said Owen Bowers, Vice Presdient of Business Development for Folio Investing, in a statement. "The Folio Investing model ideally fits with the teachings and education programs offered by BetterInvesting."