fees for nothing

Today I was shocked after initiating a stock trade in my FUN stocks account and having over $300 disappear. In addition to the enormous loss I took on the FUN stocks - (FUN stocks are not necessarily a good investment!), I found out something new about ETRADE. If you do not make a trade each quater or have a balance higher than $10k they charge you $40 per quarter. I haven't made a trade in roughly two years, so they ate up $300. Would it have cost me $40 to make a trade each quarter? No. It would have cost me $20, but because I did not trade I was penalized. Needless to say I am closing this stock account and moving it over to Fidelity, where I will most likely roll my 401k over as well, that way they won't charge me in addition to the general losses I take on my FUN stocks. For those of you who don't have FUN stocks I encourage you to try buying some. Take a company whose product you like and use/or have read about and buy some stock! My parameters are simple. No more than $500 in any given stock and no more than $10 a share. I have had winner like Netflix and losers like ROXIO (Napster), in all I like the process - except for the fact that once again, I find myself having spent $300 on NOTHING!