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I've been waiting for the last few weeks for Easy Equities (https://www.easyequities.co.za/) to officially launch. Now they have and I'm considering switching. No monthly or annual fee and only 0.25% transaction fees sound great. Anyone else have any opinions?

If your motivation to move is purely costs - then maybe what you should be doing is engaging with your current brokers advising them that you are looking to move, but, will remain if they are prepared to pare their charges and fees. It will be dependent on the size of your portfolio and frequency of buying/selling
There is always wiggle room in charges/fees except the statutory fees relative to buying/selling securities

easyequities.co.za is a product of First World Trader (Pty) Ltd, trading as GT247.com, which is a product of Purple Group Ltd....

Does it really seem legit to you guys? Is your money safe there?

As soon as I see numbers in a company name like that (that's not Chinese), I immediately think 419scam.
{ I found this, but it's way too long for me to read or care about - so I really actually have no idea what it's saying: http://www.noseweek.co.za/article.php?current_article=3041 }

@hamster, why would you keep the fnb account as well??

thanks for the response Hamster, still not sure why you would keep the FNB Share Saver. Does it offer something different to EE??
Just curious, as to your reasoning, so that i know which is the better option for me.

It does, between 0.4% nd 0.3% per annum depending on your balance.
But if you trade on the first trading day of the month the total fee is 0.1% + VAT...that includes STRATE, brokerage etc.

On EasyEquities the 0.25% is only the brokerage fee. STRATE is an additional R10 so for small amounts it might "hurt" a bit.

Share Saver is also one trade that gets me equal amounts of shares in the Top40 and MidCap. I can do it via EE but it will cost more I think. Plus the debit order and lump sums I put in is free since it is just transferring money from one account to another.

If I'm not mistaken there are credit card charges on EE.

https://www.fnb.co.za/share-investing/share-saver.html

I see Accenture voted Easy Equities as the most innovative concept for 2014: http://www.accenture.com/za-en/company/newsroom-south-africa/Pages/accenture-south-africa-winners-innovation-index-2014.aspx

Anyone else have more experience with them now that some time has passed?

Got an email today from Easy Equities. They've launched their tax free savings accounts. Looks like the best of the bunch so far. They seem to be offering a very wide range of investments, including it seems my favourite, the satrix indi. The reason I'm rating them above Satrix though is that there are NO account fees, and NO management fees (other than for the underlying etf). All you pay for is the usual and very low 0.25% brokerage commision, and the normal statutory fees.

They even have a nice little take on their site showing how much cheaper they are than the rest which I've attached here. If you're investing R250 a month they're a whopping 5% cheaper than Satrix themselves, and 1.6% cheaper than Standard banks offering. Of course if you're doing R2500 like everyone should in my view, then the difference will shrink, but remember fees compound so even a small amount is best avoided!

I'm still trying to get a listing of which ETFs they offer, because if I read the rules right then the Indi shouldn't be allowed as I thoughtthere was a restriction that the fund couldn't old more than 10% in any one company, and the Indi has 17% NPN at the moment. I've asked for clarification on this so I'll update you as things move along.

*Note I'm still not getting paid by either Satrix or Easy Equities, I just think they're the best options we have in SA at the moment!

Edit:
Here's the list they're making available to the TFSA, I'll still wait to hear on the > 10% issue. Now to decide which ETF to go for, as on one hand you want to make the most of the tax free benefit, but on the other capital growth is usually better for returns than dividends/interest. Thoughts?

Bettabeta Be Green ETF (BGREEN)
Bettabeta Equally Weighted Top 40 (BBET40)
DB X-Trackers Col in Japan ETF (DBXJP)
DB X-Trackers Col in USA EF (DBXUS)
DB X-Trackers Col in WLD ETF (DBXWD)
DB X-Trackers DJ Euro Stoxx 50 ETF (DBXEU)
Db X-Trackers FTSE 100 ETF (DBXUK)
Erafi Overall SA Index ETF (RAFISA)
Erafi SA Financial 15 Idx ETF (RAFFIN)
Erafi SA Industrial 25 Idx ETF (RAFIND)
Erafi SA Resource 20 Idx ETF (RAFRES)
Grindrod DivTrax ETF (DIVTRX)
Grindrod LowVol Trax ETF (LVLTRX)
Grindrod Property Index Tracker Closed Fund (PREFTX)
Grindrod Property Index Tracker SAPY ETF (PTXSPY)
Grindrod Property Index Tracker Top Ten ETF (PTXTEN)
Mapps Protect (MAPPSP)
Newfunds Equity Momentum ETF (NFEMOM)
Newfunds Govi ETF (NFGOVI)
Newfunds Ilbi ETF (NFILBI)
Newfunds Mapps Growth ETF (MAPPSG)
Newfunds NewSA Index ETF (NEWFSA)
Newfunds Shariah To40 ETF (NFSH40)
Newfunds Swix 40 ETF (NFSWIX)
Newfunds TRACI 3 Month ETF (NFTRCI)
RMB Mid Cap ETF (RMBMID)
RMB Top 40 ETF (RMBT40)
Satrix 40 Trust (STX40)
Satrix Div Plus Portfolio (STXDIV)
Satrix FINI Index Tracker Fund (STXFIN)
Satrix INDI Index Tracker Fund (STXIND)
Satrix Rafi 40 Total (STXRAF)
Satrix Resi Portfolio (STXRES)
Satrix Swix Top 40 ETF (STXSWX)
Stanlib SA Property ETF (STPROP)
Stanlib Swix40 ETF (STANSX)