Supermarkets are great because we can go to one store and buy everything we need to feed ourselves, from eggs to pasta to Cocoa Puffs (all dietary staples, in our humble opinion). Financial supermarkets are kind of the same, but for financial services. They’re a one-stop shop for everything finance, from stock investing and real estate brokering to banking and financial planning services.
But while they might sound great in theory, they’re not as popular in the financial world as actual supermarkets are in the world of food. This is partially because people tend to shop around a little bit more with their financial needs than they do with groceries, because let’s face it: getting a good deal on bacon might not be life-changing, but investing with an overpriced broker could be. And not in a good way.
Also, especially in light of financial fiascos like the mortgage crisis of 2007-2008 and Wells Fargo’s reported shadiness in 2017-2018, people tend to be a wee bit skeptical of putting all their financial eggs in one company’s basket.
Mmm, eggs…
Anyway, financial supermarkets are also somewhat limited in what they can offer because of laws and regulations that prohibit certain kinds of mergers in the finance industry. So even if we love the idea of managing our money through one financial supermarket, they may or may not be able to offer every single service we’re looking for. So we might end up shopping around a little bit anyway.
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Finance: What is a Full-Service Broker?3 Views
Finance a la shmoop what is a full-service broker? full-service
"everything" close relative of the bulge bracket remember those guys want
to trade stocks here at this full service brokerage well you got it [Clipboard appears with checklist]
how about trading some bonds yep need investment advice hoo you bet we got rap
accounts here too does it have to be good advice well it's different gonna
retire well they'll suggest Goodyear or fire stone or Michelin if they're you
know socialist and European gonna quit working and play golf all day well then [Man playing golf]
a full service broker has advice for that as well want tax planning yep
referrals to other professionals like estate planning lawyers and that kind of
stuff got a kid heading to college in a decade all right well it's time to talk
529 savings plan got a grandparent dying soon whoo time to talk IRA distributions
and charity need Warriors tickets yeah what well they're full service they just
build they'll charge you for it but they're full full something [State Warriors basketball team playing a game]