Chemical Bank customers at five branches found their banker and a full-service broker under one roof last week.

Q. Aside from the cost issue, why have so many people apparently turned away from full-service brokers?

As a beginning investor, it can be difficult to choose between a discount and full-service broker.

But any celebration of the death of the full-service broker is premature.

On the other hand, not all full-service brokers are worth their hefty commissions.

"Whether its discounters or full-service brokers, everyone's finding it difficult to get through," an official said.

If you go to a full-service broker, the minimum commission is $75 to $100 sometimes.

But we see that Schwab is increasingly eating into full-service brokers.

People who were willing to pay more for advice went to full-service brokers.

Its technology allowed individuals to make their own trades automatically for $9.99, far less than the fees charged by full-service brokers.