I use Morningstar for mutual fund picks, but my broker (Merril Lynch) does not offer many of them. It's a pain because sometimes they don't offer good fund alternatives.
Is my only option to move to a new broker?
If so, which brokers have a reputation for offering the most fund options, especially the higher risk ones?
Schwab has a largest variety of mutual fund offerings, mostly no-fee, and is a discount brokerage.
Fidelity offers no-fee and loaded funds. Since the question mentioned this, note that Morningstar selected Fidelity funds as three of their Top 5 ranked funds of 2011 (in a fixed-income category maybe? I don't recall). This was just announced a few days ago.
Vanguard is good too, certainly for index funds. However, Schwab or Fidelity are better if you're interested in funds with higher-risk profiles.
Consider E*Trade, for mutual funds and ETF's. There's a little variation, but as of today, E*Trade offers 7600 mutual funds!
EDIT
Merrill is your broker. I assume you have a fee-based account. If you pay fees, you should get the widest range of fund alternatives to pick from! That is puzzling. I can't imagine why a full-service broker would have a smaller selection of funds than Schwab or Fidelity. A full-service broker should also be able to offer you specialty funds, e.g. those with higher risk, as you expressed an interest in, more easily.
You can research what different discount brokers offer on their websites. Try out TDAmeritrade or Fidelity. Anyone can go and research on their sites without getting an account.
