Choosing the best brokerage firm for your investing needs might seem overwhelming, but we're here to help! Most brokerage firms now offer $0 account minimums and commission-free trades. They compete in their tools, features, and support. That’s where your needs come into play.

Your life will change. Maybe you’ll buy a home, get divorced, get married, start a business, have a baby, switch careers, or start planning for a big goal like retirement or a dream vacation. Your brokerage should grow with you.

To find the right brokerage firm, ask yourself:

• Do I want to learn as I go? Look for platforms with strong educational tools that explain the “why” behind each decision.
• Is it easy to use, or just easy to look at? A clean interface is great, but it should also save you time and help you take action.
• Do I prefer to manage money on my phone? If mobile is your main device, the app experience really matters.
• What kinds of investments do I want access to? Beyond stocks and ETFs, consider if you’ll want funds, bonds, or retirement accounts like a Roth IRA.
• How much research do I need to feel confident? If you like digging into details, look for screeners, data, and expert insights.
• How much money am I starting with? If it’s a smaller amount, fractional investing will help you buy into big-name stocks without needing big money.
• How involved do I want to be? If you’re short on time, you might prefer a platform that offers automated investing or robo-advisors.

Read the best brokerage guides I’ve already put together: 👇

Best brokerage firm for beginners guide: ⁠https://www.stockbrokers.com/guides/beginner-investors⁠

Best brokerage app guide: ⁠https://www.stockbrokers.com/guides/mobile-trading⁠

Episodes mentioned:

16. Dark Pools, PFOF, and Market Makers

9. How to choose a brokerage firm

8. How to write an investment thesis and use a stock screener

12. How to invest (Building Your “Dream Home”)

56. How to construct an investment portfolio

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Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

If you have debt or you have money, you’re impacted by the credit market, whether you realize it or not. It’s the largest market in the world, and it impacts everything from your mortgage and auto loan to the savings account you earn interest on. Understanding how it works can help you make smarter decisions about when to refinance, borrow, or invest.

Think the Fed controls your mortgage or car loan rate? Not exactly. In this replay, we unpack the real power player...the credit market. From the shape of the yield curve to trillions in government debt rolling over this July, the market ultimately calls the shots.

Your mortgage rate? It’s tied to the 10-year Treasury yield. Credit card and car loan rates? They follow the curve, too. We break down how the yield curve, built on U.S. government debt, sets the tone for borrowing and saving across the economy. While the Fed influences short-term rates, the market takes over from there, pricing long-term risk, setting interest rates, and moving your money.

So why does the government care? Because they’re rolling over a mountain of debt in July, and every tick higher on the 10-year makes that debt more expensive. Even top investors like Scott Bessent, a former Soros Fund CIO, are sounding the alarm on the U.S. government’s growing interest bill, keeping all eyes on the 10-year Treasury.

There’s never been a better time to understand how the credit market really works.

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👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
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✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

Let’s break down how sector investing works—because sometimes, the easiest way to give your money a job is by starting with an entire sector instead of picking just one company.

In this episode, we explain the 11 sectors of the stock market using something called GICS—the Global Industry Classification Standard (sounds fancy, but we’ll make it make sense). You’ll learn the difference between cyclical sectors that thrive when the economy is booming (think financials, tech, consumer discretionary) and defensive sectors that hold strong even when times get tough (like healthcare, utilities, and consumer staples).

Money flows from one sector to the next as the economy moves through the business cycle. From early recovery to late-stage expansion to recession—every stage favors different sectors. We’ll show you how to spot the rotation, understand sector tailwinds and headwinds, and use that insight to build smarter investing ideas.

By the end, you’ll be able to answer:
Am I playing offense or defense with my portfolio? And is it time to switch?

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Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
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✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

How do you know if a stock is "on sale" or overpriced? It's time for a math refresher! In this replay of Market MakeHer podcast episode 59, we learn all about stock valuation and how to look at the price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio to make informed investing decisions. (We mentioned some stocks and referred to how they were performing back in October 2024 - FYI!)   

🔮 P/E Ratio Demystified

"P/E ratio is just the price divided by earnings." 

We teach you the math and give you real examples to make it make sense, but feel free to ask us a question!  

🧟‍♀️🧠 Takeaways

• Price alone does not determine if a stock is expensive.
• Understanding PE ratios is crucial for stock picking.
• P/E ratio is calculated by dividing the price by earnings.
• Market perception influences stock prices significantly.
• Investors should consider both past and future earnings.
• Self-directed investors need to stay informed about market trends.
• Diversification is key in investment strategies.

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

In Part 2 of our mini-series on “The Federal Reserve aka The Fed,” we break down how the Fed responded to inflation, why they waited so long, and how their decisions affected everything—from interest rates and mortgage costs to job markets and financial markets. This was one of the fastest rate hike cycles in history! It was the result of a tricky balancing act between fighting inflation and protecting the recovering economy. By the way, Fed Powell referred to Tariffs as transitory again recently, and this has actually happened before - that’s why the Fed chooses his words very wisely, diction is one of the FOMC’s tools in their toolbox. 

What You’ll Learn:

• What the Fed thought was happening in 2021 (spoiler: they called it “transitory”)
• How inflation kept rising—and why the Fed had to play catch-up
• What aggressive rate hikes are actually supposed to do
• And what we’ve learned (the hard way) about responding to supply-driven inflation

If you’ve been trying to understand how we got from 0% interest rates to 5.5% in under two years, this episode connects the dots. Because once you understand “the why” behind the Fed’s moves, the headlines make a lot more sense.

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

🎯 Grab the free bingo card link here and play along with us!

We're hitting pause to reflect, reset, and re-energize for the new quarter — both in the stock market and in our personal growth.

We revisit the goals we set with our signature S-M-I-L-E bingo card (yes, “Embrace the Chaos” really delivered last quarter), then break down what actually happened in the markets, including how tariff talk, falling confidence, and a shift in market leadership are shaping Q2.

We discuss:

• What the market’s cautious tone means for investors
• Why the Magnificent 7 stocks are losing steam
• How smaller companies and international stocks are surprising everyone
• What falling Treasury yields and wider credit spreads are telling us
• And how to set fresh goals using the S-M-I-L-E framework: Skill Up, Monetize It, Invest Wisely, Level Up Relationships, and Embrace the Chaos

Join us as we close out one quarter and plan for the next — with intention, insight, and a little bit of market madness.

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

Lately, the market’s been moving over 1,000 points a day. We call this volatility fueled by uncertainty. We’ve been talking about falling yields, rising rates, and now tariffs are back in the headlines… but what if the real story is in the credit market?

In this episode, we’re replaying one of our favorite breakdowns: bond vigilantes — who they are, how they got their name, and the role they’ve played in shaping market history. And with everything happening right now, it’s more relevant than ever.

We walk through what’s going on with the 10-year Treasury yield, why a major hedge fund’s exit triggered a wave of selling, and how a “buyer’s strike” in the bond market could turn into something even bigger. Jess shares why she thinks this yield surge might be what actually caught Trump’s attention, and what that means for the rally that followed.

We also tie in the basis trade and why volatility in the bond market can be a warning sign for the economy.

This episode brings historical context to today’s chaos — because once you understand the credit market, you start to see how it quietly drives everything else.

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

You voted, we delivered — and barely slept. The market is TARIFF-IED! 🙃 

In this episode, we interrupt our regularly scheduled Fed deep dive to break down the 2025 Trump tariffs shock and what it means for your portfolio. It's a tug-of-trade-war and self-directed investors shouldn't try to time the markets, but should be informed, prepared, and diversified. 

You’ll learn what tariffs are, how these sweeping new tariffs are fueling inflation and shaking up the job market while putting the Fed in an impossible bind. We’ll walk you through the ripple effects on the U.S. dollar, Treasury yields, and how investors are rethinking their strategy in real time. Plus, we dig into what history teaches us about past trade wars — from the Smoot-Hawley Depression era to the 2018 showdown with China — and how those lessons apply now. History is echoing...

Check out these related episodes:
18. Understand the Yield Curve, Treasury Bonds...
47. The Recipe for Market Selloff: Carry Trade, Sahm Rule, Recession Fear
55. How did the stock market perform under Biden vs. Trump?
56. How to construct & Manage an Investment Portfolio
63. Elephant in the Stock Market: Trump Tariffs...
79. Investing Basics: Dollar Cost Averaging

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

If you’ve been hearing about inflation but aren’t totally sure what it means—or why everything suddenly got more expensive after the pandemic—this episode is for you.

We break down what inflation actually is and explain the real reasons prices went up: broken supply chains, government stimulus checks, rising wages, and energy shocks. It wasn’t just one thing—it was everything, all at once.

But here’s why this matters now: Fed Chair Jerome Powell is bringing back the word “transitory” to describe inflation again—this time because of tariffs. We explain what that word means, why it caused so much confusion the first time, and why using it again could be a big deal.

This is the first episode in our Fed Deep Dive series—where we connect the dots between the past, present, and what the Fed might do next.

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...

In this episode, we’re diving into one of the most important (and misunderstood) topics in the stock market: what happens when things start to go south. We break down corrections, bear markets, and recessions—and how to tell the difference between them—while also exploring whether we could be on the verge of another "lost decade" for investors.

We also take a closer look at the current disconnect between how people feel about the economy (sentiment) and what the numbers are actually showing. From cautious consumers and rising savings rates to record-high household debt and steady earnings growth, the story is more nuanced than headlines suggest.

If you're feeling uncertain about where the market is headed or what it all means for your portfolio, we’ve got you. We walk through smart investing strategies, explain the importance of asset allocation (especially as you approach retirement), and share how to stay focused when the noise gets loud.

Support the show

Ask Us a Question, Leave a Review, Follow, Subscribe:
🔗All Market MakeHer Links
👀 ⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠
✨ Jess Inskip: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
✨ Jessie DeNuit: ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠
Funny Finance Shirts and Merch

About Us 🌚🌞
Market MakeHer is an investing education podcast taught by a 15-year finance expert to her friend, a beginner investor. Our mission is to demystify the stock market and make financial literacy accessible to all self-directed investors! We teach complex investing topics in a different way - from "Her" perspective.

Important Disclosures:
Investing involves risk. There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities. Market MakeHer LLC provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only. We are not registered financial advisors & do not provide personalized investment advice. Consult with a l...