Compare Investment Reviews are transparent about their fees. A good way to assess an advisor is to compare his or her fees with other advisers in your area who offer similar services.

Compare Investment Platforms: Which One is Right for You

The Invest Compare tool allows you to view and compare fund and account-level pricing by using the Search tool, adjusting any investment parameters for your situation. For example, the tool will allow you to compare owning the A-share of a fund versus the C-share on the same brokerage platform. In addition, you can compare the total cost and account value of owning a no-load fund on an NTF platform with ownership in a load-waived A-share on the same platform.

Several brokers earned high scores this year in a variety of categories, including advice, research and customer service. Top performer Interactive Brokers was cited for its beefed-up mobile app, and for its menu of research tools. Runner-up Schwab was recognized for its broad access to mutual funds at no transaction fee and for offering fractional purchases of most U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds.