Use discount equity brokerage firms to manage your portfolio

Choose this option if you trust yourself to make the investment decisions or if you're working with an outside financial adviser. Your main goal is to look for discounted commissions so that you save money each time you buy or sell securities. You won't have a hard time finding discount equity brokers.

I recommend: E*Trade Financial is perhaps the most popular discount brokerage firm. Not only can you easily view and manage your portfolio, but you have various equity investing options, including stocks, bonds, ETFs and mutual funds. You can't go wrong if you decide to sign up with TD Ameritrade, because it's well-known, too. You can monitor your loss and gains as well as manage your cash flow.

Use independent broker dealers to invest and manage your retirement portfolio

True, many large financial companies have bought independent firms. For example, Smith Barney is a division of Citigroup, but some independent equity brokerage firms still exist. You'll not only want to consider using these independent broker dealers for your investment objectives, but they handle other matters such as government policies, including legislation changes, taxes or employees' maximum contributions.

I recommend: Raymond James is a national independent broker dealer that offers several retirement plans, including 401(k), profit sharing or simplified employee pension. Stifel Nicolaus also offers these plans, but will also make sure your plan is in compliance with the law. This firm is a full-service brokerage firm and has been in business since 1960.

Use equity brokerage advisory firms to help you decide which equities to buy or sell

If you want an equity broker to help you make recommendations, you'll want to use an equity brokerage advisory firm. Such firms have research analysts that do all of the market research, including financial and technical analysis. They produce reports and recommend to the brokers what to buy and sell. Based on your objectives, the equity brokers will then give you the recommendations; then you make the final decision on buying or selling those securities.

I recommend: Charles Schwab provides one-on-one advice to its clients and it doesn't matter if your business is small or large. You'll also want to look at Banc of America because it provides personal service. You'll like the idea that Banc of America Investment Securities assigns a personal assistant to solve your needs.