Ranking the Full-Service Brokers

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is part of SmartMoney's annual broker survey special report. For more coverage, see "The SmartMoney 2009 Broker Survey," "Give Your Broker This 5-Part Test," and "Should You Dump Your Broker."

Talk about a tough year. Whether they’re getting help from the government, linking up with longtime rivals or fighting over account executives, full-service brokerage firms are battling for survival. But what they may need most is loyal clients, and to entice customers, they’re paying special attention to the basics, from spiffed-up account statements and flashy Web sites to decent stock picking in a lousy market.

For our ranking of full-service brokerage firms, we supplemented SmartMoney research with research from outside experts: Zack’s Investment Research for stock picking, J.D. Power for customer service and account statements, Forrester Research for trust, Dalbar for account statements and Corporate Insight for Web sites. The results: