[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm reading the margin materials and it says you can use this to deal with short-term financial problems for personal or business use. I call in to inquire about this and I am told that for every dollar in my account, they will allow me to borrow one dollar at 9% interest. So essentially I am getting back the money that I put into the account. I can then buy stocks with the balance, which is really their money.

[/ QUOTE ]

Margin is great when you are right, it stinks when you are wrong. Yes, you can borrow, but be aware that the amount you can borrow constantly changes with the value of the equity in your account.

[ QUOTE ]
Ok so say I have $10,000 in my account. I pull it out and have $10,000 in cash and $10,000 to buy stocks with. Then I use that to open a new account, do the same thing and now I have $20,000 to buy stocks with and $10,000 in cash. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can't actually take out the 10K, because your equity in the account would then be 0.

With 10K on margin, you can do...
Buy Stocks 20,000
Margin loan (10,000)
Total Equity is therefore 10,000

[ QUOTE ]
Not that I would want to do this with my knowledge, but if one could beat the juice with their stock picking prowess...isn't this a way to exponentially grow your purchasing power with basically no capital of your own at work?

[/ QUOTE ]

Margin allows you to double your buying power. Over 25K and classified as pattern day trader, intraday you can do 4-1 open at any given moment, which is practically unlimited total buying power.

If you know what you are doing, margin (and other low cost loans) are a great thing!