Etrade

I haven't tried Etrade but I do have an account on TD Ameritrade. So far I have had a great experience and its easy to use. The best thing is that there are over 100 ETFs that you can trade commission free unless you sell them before a period of 30 days. These ETFs include index funds, bond funds as well as sector funds. You can also enroll shares in a dividend reinvestment program at no extra cost and TD Ameritrade does not charge any recurrent fee for reinvesting dividends. If you are looking for a good account for your son I recommend them because you will save money if you buy commission free ETFs and have more money compounding which makes a world of difference in the long run. Among some of the index fund ETFs that you can trade without paying commissions on you buy and sell order are some that track the S&P, Russell indexes and a few different bond funds. You can open an account without any initial deposit.