The first decision here is whether you need the services of a full-service broker, who purportedly provides extensive research and advice, or a discount broker, who offers fewer services but lower prices for executing trades.

As a rule, full-service brokers are better for those uninitiated in the Byzantine ways of the market because many of the good ones will spend more time holding your hand, provided you're bringing them enough trades, which generate commissions for them. Also, as the better route for novices is the buy-and-hold approach rather than trading frequently, the higher trading cost charged by full-service brokers isn't so hard to swallow in the long run -- provided that they are purveying sound analysis and advice.

Choosing a broker is like hiring a physician: You want to know the horror stories up front so you can eliminate them from the field. There are ways you can get brokers to help you dig up the dirt on them, and it's your job to obtain these means on your first interview.

Ask a prospective broker for his or her CRD number, social security number, or both. CRD stands for Central Registration Depository, a place where various regulators file complaints against brokers. Take these numbers to your state securities administrator and request a background check. To locate your state securities administrator, call their umbrella organization, the North American Securities Administrators Association, (202) 737-0900, or visit their Website. You can also check out brokers through the National Association of Securities Dealers, which operates a public disclosure hotline: 800-289-9999.

These checks are no panacea, for brokers with clean records may be undesirable for myriad other reasons. Yet merely asking a broker for the numbers shows them who's boss from the outset. If they are taken aback by this request, or reluctant to deliver the digits, strike them from your list.

Like most creatures, brokers tend to act out of convenience, matching clients with investments that they like. This is fine, as long as your broker acts with concern for your particular station in life. For example, if you've retired on a tight budget, you should be looking at low-risk stocks to complement a diversified portfolio of bonds and money-market investments.

If most of your broker's clients are free-spending, risk-taking types, your different needs may get short shrift. What's worse, this broker might try to get you into the same securities as his high-flying clientele. They have time to make up for bad bets; older investors don't. By the same token, younger investors may miss out on some lucre if their broker's horizons are set by retirees.

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