Is your stockbroker charging you too much? Has your financial adviser saddled you with expensive investments that are not helping you reach critical goals? Is your health insurance policy low on benefits and high on premium? Maybe it’s time you considered switching financial service providers.

Thanks to changes in the financial services arena, shifting from one service provider to another is no longer complicated. Technology and innovation have made services more affordable—online robo-advisory platforms and discount brokers are examples. New and revised regulations have opened up avenues like fee-only advisory and easy portability of health policies. But while choice is good, switching to other alternatives requires careful deliberation. In this cover story, we will guide you through some of the options to consider, should you decide to junk your existing service provider and embrace another.

The choice of service providers in the stockbroking space is staggering. The options have only multiplied with the mushrooming of discount brokers. These brokers offer nofrills stockbroking accounts. You get the basic trading facility at a fraction of the cost of ‘full-service’ brokerages, which apart from helping you buy and sell shares, offer addons like research reports, advisory and sometimes, a dedicated relationship manager.

However, frequent traders often find the hefty brokerage charged by traditional brokers eating up their trading profits over time. This is where the discount brokers step in. They help you shave off up to 90% of brokerage costs incurred with full-service brokers. They charge a fixed brokerage per trade (from Rs 9 to Rs 20) across stocks, currency and commodities, so the amount you shell out remains the same irrespective of size of trade.

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