Best Brokers for Long-term Investing

Interactive Brokers is one of the most established brokers globally, offering the professional-grade Trader Workstation (TWS) alongside IBKR GlobalTrader, a simplified mobile app better suited to beginners. Founded in 1978 and publicly listed on NASDAQ (ticker: IBKR, an S&P 500 constituent since August 2025), it serves more than 5.5 million client accounts and offers access to 170 markets in 40 countries.

For long-term investors, the case for IBKR rests on three durable advantages. First, breadth: with stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, futures, forex, mutual funds, commodities, and cryptocurrencies all under one roof, you can build and rebalance a genuinely diversified portfolio without maintaining accounts at multiple brokers. That matters over a 20 or 30-year horizon.

Second, cost efficiency that compounds. There is no inactivity fee, no custody fee on securities, and no account minimum, so a buy-and-hold portfolio can sit untouched for years without erosion. Currency conversion costs 0.002% (0.2 basis points, minimum $2), among the cheapest available anywhere, which is significant if you regularly convert euros or pounds into dollars to buy US stocks. On a $10,000 conversion, that is $2, compared with $50 at a broker charging a 0.5% markup.

Third, counterparty strength. IBKR is a well-capitalised, publicly listed company subject to quarterly reporting and regulated across multiple top-tier jurisdictions (SEC, FINRA, CFTC, CBI, FCA, CIRO, ASIC, SFC, SEBI, MAS, MNB). For assets you intend to hold for decades, the financial stability of the institution holding them is arguably more important than the headline commission.

IBKR also offers the Stock Yield Enhancement Program (SYEP), which lends out your fully paid shares for a share of the income, and pays interest on uninvested cash. In October 2026, IBKR Pro pays 3.38% on USD balances above $10,000 (the full rate applies to accounts of $100,000 or more, smaller accounts get a proportional rate). Want to know more? Read our Interactive Brokers review.

Fidelity allows you to build a diversified long-term portfolio by combining mutual funds, ETFs, individual stocks, bonds, CDs and more, all within a single account structure. For investors following a buy-and-hold or index-based approach, this breadth means you rarely need to look elsewhere.

Fidelity’s ZERO index funds are a genuine standout for long-term investors: a small family of index mutual funds carrying a 0.00% expense ratio and no minimum investment. Over a multi-decade holding period, the difference between a 0.00% and a 0.20% fund is meaningful. On a $100,000 portfolio returning 7% a year for 30 years, a 0.20% annual cost reduces the final value from about $761,000 to about $720,000, a gap of roughly $41,500. Fidelity’s broader range of actively managed funds is also well regarded for investors who prefer professional management.

For retirement-focused investors, Fidelity places heavy emphasis on retirement planning, offering IRAs (Traditional, Roth, SEP, and Rollover), 401(k) administration, and a comprehensive suite of planning tools and calculators. This is where Fidelity distinguishes itself most clearly from execution-focused brokers: the platform is built around the assumption that you are accumulating over decades rather than trading.

On costs, Fidelity charges $0 commission on US stocks and ETFs ($0.65 per options contract), offers a large selection of no-transaction-fee mutual funds and has no account minimums and no inactivity or account maintenance fees. Fractional share investing (from $1) also makes systematic monthly contributions practical regardless of share price. Uninvested cash sits in a money market fund core position that pays a variable yield.

The main limitation is geographic: Fidelity’s US brokerage accounts are for US residents. International investors should look at Interactive Brokers or Saxo instead. Fidelity also has no demo (paper trading) account.

E*TRADE, now part of Morgan Stanley following its 2020 acquisition, is one of the largest US brokers, offering stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, futures and, since July 2026, spot crypto trading in bitcoin, ether and solana (0.50% commission). The Morgan Stanley backing is worth noting for long-term investors: your assets sit within one of the world’s largest financial groups, which matters when the holding period is measured in decades.

E*TRADE is known for competitive, transparent pricing. It charges $0 commission on US stocks and ETFs, $0.65 per options contract ($0.50 with 30 or more trades a quarter), $1 per bond on secondary bond trades (minimum $10, maximum $250) and offers a substantial list of no-transaction-fee mutual funds. For buy-and-hold investors, there is no account fee and no inactivity fee. The only small charge is $2 per paper statement, which you avoid by choosing e-statements.

E*TRADE also started rolling out fractional shares in 2026: you can buy as little as 0.001 of a share, with a minimum order of $5, on a growing list of stocks and ETFs. Orders in dollar amounts are not available yet.

For retirement accumulation, E*TRADE offers the full range of tax-advantaged accounts including Traditional and Roth IRAs, Rollover IRAs, and SEP IRAs, alongside custodial accounts for investing on behalf of children, which is useful if your long-term horizon extends across generations.

The platform also offers strong education and research: video tutorials, articles, webinars, and third-party research integrations. Power E*TRADE is an intuitive platform with sophisticated charting and screening tools, available on web, desktop, and mobile, while the standard E*TRADE app keeps things simple for investors who just want to make monthly contributions and check in occasionally.

Saxo (formerly Saxo Bank, majority-owned by J. Safra Sarasin since March 2026 and wholly owned since July 2026) has more than 1.5 million clients and offers access to more than 71,000 instruments including equities, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, options, futures, forex and commodities. This breadth allows long-term investors to construct well-rounded portfolios tailored to their financial objectives and risk tolerance, with genuine access to international markets across Europe, North America, and Asia.

Two features matter particularly for long-term investors. The first is counterparty strength: Saxo holds an A- credit rating from S&P and is designated a systemically important bank in Denmark. Since the J. Safra Sarasin acquisition, it is backed by a Swiss private banking group. When you intend to hold assets for twenty years, the balance sheet behind your custodian is a legitimate part of the decision.

The second is fee structure, which requires attention. US stock commissions are tiered by account level, starting at 0.08% (minimum $1) on Classic and falling on Platinum (from €/$/£200,000) and VIP (from €/$/£1,000,000). The Classic tier has no minimum deposit and there is no inactivity fee. The number to check is the custody fee: Saxo removed it in most of its European markets, but its international site still lists 0.15% a year on stocks and ETFs for Classic clients (0.12% on Platinum, 0.09% on VIP). On a $100,000 portfolio, 0.15% is $150 a year, which over a long holding period matters far more than the headline commission. Check the rate card for your country before opening an account.

Saxo also provides substantial research through SaxoStrats, its in-house analyst team, along with educational content and its platforms (SaxoInvestor for straightforward investing, SaxoTraderGO and SaxoTraderPRO). Want to know more? Read our Saxo review.