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Brokerage services are available to clients with individual retirement and other custodial accounts, for which Equity Trust Company serves as custodian, through an account with our affiliate, ETC Brokerage Services, LLC.
ETC Brokerage Services, LLC provides a simple solution for combining traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds with alternative investments using an Equity Trust self-directed account.
Equity Trust Company clients can, online or over the phone, purchase the following public securities with an ETC Brokerage account:
Call 855-673-4721 or visit the ETC Brokerage Services website for more information.
You can invest in Mutual Funds, Stocks, ETFs and other public securities directly within your Equity Trust account. Equity Trust does not charge transaction or trade fees on the purchase or sale of mutual funds or ETFs.^^
^^ Fees may apply to trades. Refer to your fund’s Prospectus for more information.
ETC Brokerage Services is an affiliate of Equity Trust Company. Brokerage accounts established and maintained with ETC Brokerage Services, and all account services and transactions, will be rendered and effected by ETC Brokerage Services (not Equity Trust Company). Member FINRA & SIPC. INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED – NO BANK GUARANTEE – MAY LOSE VALUE
A mutual fund is a type of financial vehicle made up of a pool of money collected from many investors to invest in securities like stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other assets. Mutual funds are operated by professional money managers, who allocate the fund’s assets and attempt to produce capital gains or income for the fund’s investors. A mutual fund’s portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus.
Mutual funds give small or individual investors access to professionally managed portfolios of equities, bonds and other securities. Each shareholder, therefore, participates proportionally in the gains or losses of the fund. Mutual funds invest in a vast number of securities, and performance is usually tracked as the change in the total market cap of the fund—derived by the aggregating performance of the underlying investments.^
Stocks are fractional pieces of publicly traded companies. If you own a company’s stock, you own a piece of that company. Common stock is a security that represents ownership in a corporation. Holders of common stock exercise control by electing a board of directors and voting on corporate policy. Common stockholders are at the bottom of the priority ladder in terms of ownership structure; in the event of liquidation, common shareholders have rights to a company’s assets only after bondholders, preferred shareholders and other debtholders are paid in full.^
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of security that involves a collection of securities—such as stocks —that often tracks an underlying index, although they can invest in any number of industry sectors or use various strategies. ETFs are in many ways similar to mutual funds; however, they are listed on exchanges and ETF shares trade throughout the day just like ordinary stock. The price of an ETF’s shares will change throughout the trading day as the shares are bought and sold on the market. This is unlike mutual funds, which are not traded on an exchange, and trade only once per day after the markets close.^
You can also invest in Publicly Traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) within your Equity Trust account, through an ETC Brokerage account.
Publicly Traded REITs offer shares of publicly traded REITs that list on a national securities exchange, where they are bought and sold by individual investors. They are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).^
Public Non-traded and Private REITs can be held directly within individual retirement and other custodial accounts, for which Equity Trust Company serves as custodian.
Public Non-traded REITs also registered with the SEC, but don’t trade on national securities exchanges. As a result, they are less liquid than publicly traded REITs but tend to be more stable because they’re not subject to market fluctuations.^
Private REITs are not registered with the SEC and don’t trade on national securities exchanges. They work solely as private placements selling solely to a select list of investors.^
^ Source: Investopedia terms dictionary
3 Steps to Investing in Mutual Funds in Your Self-Directed Account
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