The other way of getting shares, is chatting to management of companies that you are interested in investing in, and they will often make sure you get allocated some shares when a raising occurs. Generally have 2-3 days to get the money into the account and need to make a decision by the end of the day and they often want you to already be a shareholder and want to make a worthwhile purchase ($50k+). It's the way I have always done it, but still have to sign the SI forms. The advantage of having a large broking house is that they will have more opportunities for you to invest in, but the downside of the large broking houses is that unless you have millions of dollars/shares under their management, the smaller clients generally don't get offered the best opportunities, they get what the bigger clients don't want.
EIO Price at posting:
44.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Not Held
