Women’s Site Offers Change-of-Mind Trades

Financialmuse.com, a financial Web site for women, added an online brokerage service Monday that carries a “return policy” meant to help dispel fear of investing.

Financial Muse Securities Corp. offers trades starting at $25.95 each, and investors can sell their stocks commission-free within 30 days of purchase.

Cassandra Toroian, president and chief executive officer of Financialmuse.com, said the brokerage wants to give customers who are new to securities “a little bit more comfort” and a chance to get their feet wet. “If you’re not happy with a stock you bought, you can at least get out of it commission-free.”

Customers would still incur losses caused by a decline in the stock’s value.

Ms. Toroian, a former banking analyst at Ryan, Beck & Co., started Financialmuse.com in November, launched its Web site three months later, and opened an online banking service last August.

The Wilmington, Del., company’s trading platform recognizes that women, who typically have less time than men to surf the Internet, want to avoid the bells and whistles found on many Web sites, she said.

Many women do not like “all of that cool tech stuff that all of the young Web site developers want to put on a Web site,” Ms. Toroian said. “We’ve done a lot of work to make sure our site loads fast,” she said.

The site also includes explanations of investment lingo and strategies. “I hate to use this word,” she said, but “women feel truly empowered.”

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