Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards 2025: Full-Service Brokers

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Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Other Categories

By Emma Patch

published 27 May 2025

Contributions from
Lisa Gerstner

in Features

About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2025
The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards aim to recognize and celebrate the best products and services in the personal finance arena. We asked you, our Kiplinger community, to help us name the products and services you think have delivered excellent value in the past year.

The survey results, which we’re sharing here in our second annual Readers’ Choice Awards, offer valuable insight into which providers shine when it comes to your everyday interactions and experiences with them. Our Awards recognize excellence in everything from credit cards, banks and brokers to insurers, tax software and financial apps. For each category, we’ve listed an overall winner that earned the highest score. We’ve also highlighted other products and services that earned above-average scores for various criteria we asked readers to assess.

By voting, our community has helped us form our guide to the very best financial products. These are the products and companies that you think stand out from the crowd.

Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Full-Service Brokers

We asked readers to assess brokerage firms that offer a breadth of services, whether online, by phone, through in-person assistance at branches, or some combination.

Readers rated the strength of their broker’s customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the firm to others and their overall satisfaction with the broker.

OVERALL WINNER: Fidelity Investments

Outstanding for:

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Customer service
Most recommended
Overall satisfaction

Readers favor Fidelity Investments above other brokers and had plenty of positive words about the firm. Many consider Fidelity a great broker for beginners and do-it-yourself investors and appreciate how easily accessible its 24/7 customer service is. “They continually have sharp people who actually answer the phone and help you whenever you need it,” says one reader.

Readers also praised Fidelity for having low fees and a breadth of services available in one place. A mainstream broker, Fidelity’s offerings range from self-directed brokerage accounts to full-fledged investment and wealth management services.

Fidelity also provides educational seminars throughout the year, a weekly newsletter and research tools, for which many readers expressed appreciation. One reader called the newsletter “always relevant, easy to read and very informative.”

Edward Jones

Outstanding for:

Customer service
Most recommended

With a client base of more than eight million, a network of more than 19,000 financial advisers and 16,000 branch locations throughout North America, Edward Jones is known for fostering long-term relationships with its clientele.

Readers like that they can meet in person with advisers locally, and find the advisers easy to work with. One reader, for example, says that their broker holds regular chats over coffee to discuss important updates. Says another, “The adviser I deal with doesn’t push products but seeks to provide what would be best for the customer.”

Raymond James

Outstanding for:

Customer service
Most recommended

With more than 8,700 financial advisers, Raymond James’s businesses include brokerage services, professional asset management, insurance solutions, trust services and investment banking, as well as private and commercial banking.

Readers commented on great personal service from Ramond James professionals, who they found to be knowledgeable and thorough.

E*Trade

Outstanding for:

Overall satisfaction

Acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2020, E*Trade was one of the first online brokerages, and it offers a wide range of financial products, including brokerage accounts, IRAs, custodial accounts and managed portfolios.

Readers find E*Trade’s research tools especially useful. “For solo investors who seek research information, the website is tops,” says one survey respondent.

Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Other Categories

Emma Patch joined Kiplinger in 2020. She previously interned for Kiplinger's Retirement Report and before that, for a boutique investment firm in New York City. She served as editor-at-large and features editor for Middlebury College's student newspaper, The Campus. She specializes in travel, student debt and a number of other personal finance topics. Born in London, Emma grew up in Connecticut and now lives in Washington, D.C.

With contributions from