If you try this at a full-service brokerage, you're likely to get a stern lecture.

FORBES: Russian Roulette Investing

Version 4 makes Schwab look more than ever before like the full-service brokerage firms it used to scorn.

FORBES: Charles Schwab, Version 4.0

They have no established broking business to lose and the Internet could help them win valuable customers from the full-service brokerage firms.

ECONOMIST: Stockbroking

He sees Personal Capital providing a transparent, high-quality, mass-customized service for these investors and moving past the paternal, craftsman-like approach of a full-service brokerage or the assembly-line mentality of mutual funds.

FORBES: Personal Capital Is More Than Mint For Rich People

Whether you are a do-it-yourself investor with an online brokerage account, or you get investment recommendations from a broker at a full-service brokerage firm, you'll typically receive an account statement monthly, or at least quarterly, and a trade confirmation every time you buy or sell a security.

WSJ: Why You Should Read What Your Broker Sends You

So far, traditional full-service brokers have resisted using the Internet in any way that would cannibalise their existing offline brokerage business.

ECONOMIST: The real virtual business

At the time, it had a significant brokerage operation but did not have the research or investment-banking conflicts of interest that saddled full-service firms.

FORBES: Life After Wall Street