Your bank account balances are insured by the FDIC. Assets in your brokerage are also protected, but by a different entity — the nonprofit Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or SIPC. In the ...

Whether you are completely self-sufficient or you are new to investing, before you dive in you’ll need a brokerage account.

Maybe you have a brokerage account and have been using it for many years. Maybe you're not yet investing on your own but are planning to get a brokerage account soon so you can start. Either way, ...

Laurie Sepulveda is a MarketWatch Guides team senior writer who specializes in writing about insurance, investing, personal loans, home equity loans, mortgages and banking. She lives in North Carolina ...