There's a couple stocks I want to buy. I've never bought stocks before.

What do you think is the easiest / cheapest way to start purchasing stocks?

Thanks

Are you willing to learn the mechanics of orders, executions, etc?

Any of the big online brokers, Schwab, Fidelity, Ameritrade whatever they are called now, are comparable, I think.

You set up and fund an account and start putting in orders. Maybe you can have some help getting started placing orders by phone but those are most expensive generally. Online trades are the cheapest.... $4.95/ticket at Schwab is what I pay.

You need to know about market order, limits, stops, day, GTC, etc. at least.

Any of the brokers that JALLEN mentioned will suffice. They all have excellentonline platforms, although I give the edge to Schwab for ease of use. They also all have retail offices that you can visit. A rep there will be happy to go over the basics of the platform and of buying and selling stocks. I would suggest picking one and going in for an introductory meeting.

I like Motif.

You create your own mini portfolio of up to 35 stocks (called a Motif). Set the % distribution that you want each stock to take up in your portfolio. Then, you make a single trade for $9.95.

get an account somewhere (there are lots of choices, me personally I like Fidelity or Vanguard) fund it and buy away.

I use Fidelity as that is where my accounts are. $4.95 per trade for stocks and ETFs. You of course need to set up and account with your selected brokerage company and that's where you initiate trades. There are a lot of them. Some just do your trades and keep track of things for you (capital gains et al) and some offer research tools and a bit of guidance at no cost... some don't.

Any of the ones already mentioned are pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I like Motif.

You create your own mini portfolio of up to 35 stocks (called a Motif). Set the % distribution that you want each stock to take up in your portfolio. Then, you make a single trade for $9.95.

That sounds really cool. What is minimum investment to open?

I won't comment on Motif per se but for a person who wants to buy a couple of stocks I don't think it has any place in this discussion.

I use Schwab and they have everything you can possibly want.
Ton of info and can do an investment report based on your desired security risk.
I imagine they all have this but have been using Schwab and seems to be decent.
YMMV

I use TDAmeritrade with investment advice from a number of Motley Fool areas. I am very happy with both.
Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I like Motif.

You create your own mini portfolio of up to 35 stocks (called a Motif). Set the % distribution that you want each stock to take up in your portfolio. Then, you make a single trade for $9.95.

That sounds really cool. What is minimum investment to open?

I don't recall what the minimum was, but it was a small amount. $250 or maybe $1000.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I won't comment on Motif per se but for a person who wants to buy a couple of stocks I don't think it has any place in this discussion.

I'm not a trading expert at all, but it seems that if someone is going to buy more than two stocks at $5 a trade, then it would be cheaper to just buy them together as a bundle.

They have subscription plans as well, that give you a few trades free per month as well as a bunch of next day trades free. There's also a recurring investment feature that let's you periodically add money into your motif.

My AMD, Amazon, and Apple stocks are just as good in my Motif account as they are in my Vanguard, Betterment, or Wealthfront accounts, as far as I'm aware.

What kind of expenses does Motif charge? It would seem that a personalized mutual fund would have some associated costs.

quote:

Originally posted by sasquatch28:
What kind of expenses does Motif charge? It would seem that a personalized mutual fund would have some associated costs.

None if you make your own Motif. .25 to .5 if you use one of their professionally managed Motifs.

Also, it looks like the price went up to $20 per real time trade and $10 for next day trade.

It's still a good deal when I want to rebalance my portfolio. I don't have to sell a half dozen stocks and buy another half dozen. Moving money around in between stocks, and even adding new ones, is considered one transaction.

I look for a good nylon, cotton blend. I usually get black with no patterns or logos. I like to buy lots of the same, that way I don't have to worry about pairing them up when I wash them.

Hanes have treated me well lately.

The only reason i opened this thread was to see if there would be a sock joke.

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:
I look for a good nylon, cotton blend. I usually get black with no patterns or logos. I like to buy lots of the same, that way I don't have to worry about pairing them up when I wash them.

Hanes have treated me well lately.

My favorite method of buying stocks is to purchase it at its peak then sell when it goes down. Rinse, Repeat.

I'm not saying it's a pleasant experience but judging by my history, it's my favorite method.

On a serious note, JAllen's list is good enough and you can google for a list of companies yourself. Understand what services and costs do they offer. Online trading, research abilities, talk to a person is needed, account maintenance fees if any to keep an account open, cost per trade.

I'm with Schwab just as JAllen but that's just probably because it's been the first mass consumer company for stocks. It's prices has gone down to match new entrants; I remember paying between $30 to under $50 per trade. I just never looked to switch because I'm used to them, they're used to me, and I have gravitas with them.

There is a brokerage called Robinhood that has an app and website that does not charge fees to open or maintain an account, transfer funds, or buy stock.

However, there are fees charged by the US Securities & Exchange Commission and FINRA on all sell orders.

That's all I know about it.

https://about.robinhood.com/

I prefer Vanguard and recently moved my Schwab accounts to them also, though there are other good places already mentioned. Vanguard does not charge me anything to buy/sell ETFs and $2 per stock trade online. These days though I don't buy individual stocks but mutual funds and ETFs instead.

Here's a good overview of some of the big online trading players:

https://www.fool.com/the-ascen...tocks/#td-ameritrade