[mimimouse1]

I don't want to pay someone or have to pay commission to invest in the stock market, how can one do this on their own without going through anyone or is that not possible?? Can you advise? Thanks.

[ScottGem]

Not possible. Only people with a "seat" on the exchange are allowed to trade stocks. So if you want to trade, you need to do so through a broker with trading privileges.

[amdeist]

If you work for a company that offers stock purchases, such as Walmart, you can purchase without a broker. If not, there are some discount brokers like Scott Trade, Ameritrade and others that charge very low fees, but you will have to complete forms to set up an account either online or in an office. Unless you have lots of money, stay away from full service brokers, who will charge you significant fees on your trades.

[mimimouse1]

Is Scott trade Canadian? I appreciate your information.

[amdeist]

Rodger Riney founds Scottsdale Securities in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 1980. The first two branch offices open in St. Louis, Mo, and Phoenix, Ariz.
It has changed significantly since then, but its branch offices are in Virginia. It is an American company. You can go to scottrade.com and learn just about anything you want to know about the company.

[pathisfer]

Try investing in mutual funds first- you'll get a feel of the volatility of the market and they are less risky than purchasing individual stocks. Most brokerage firms have a certain amount you have to invest to even open a brokerage account where you can start trading individual stocks. With mutual funds, the amount you have to invest initially is smaller and you can set up a plan where you do automatic monthly investments, etc...
Also with mutual funds, there is no trading commission and there are a lot of "no load" (meaning no commission going in) mutual funds and the fee (management fee) is built into the price per share of the mutual fund.
If you have an old 401k that you can roll over into a brokerage IRA, that's a good place to start trading stocks- there are no capital gains/losses taxes to report when you buy and sell. If you are currently not investing in a 401k or IRA, that is where I would start if your company has the 401k option, if not, look at opening a Roth IRA (if you are under the income limitations).

[ScottGem]

If you work for a company that offers stock purchases, such as Walmart, you can purchase without a broker.

That's misleading. The fact is that if a company offers stock trading as an employee benefit, then the company is still trading through a broker but the company is paying the commissions. Again, only someone with a seat on the exchange can process trades. So all trades have to go through such a person. Whether the cost they charge for processing the trade is passed to the trader or not is a different story.

There are exchanges all over the world. There are actually three where the trading floor is in NYC (NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ). Whether an online broker can offer trades for a specific exchange depends on whether they have a seat or a partnersip with someone who has a seat on that exchange.

[morgaine300]

Also with mutual funds, there is no trading commission and there are a lot of "no load" (meaning no commission going in) mutual funds and the fee (management fee) is built into the price per share of the mutual fund.

Just a note on those fees. There may be account management fees for having under a certain amount in your fund. And that is not necessarily the same amount you need to open the account.

Fees can be a little tricky. A management fee is generally a yearly fee (though perhaps charged quarterly) to manage an account with too low a balance. Whereas a transaction fee can happen if you get a fund outside of the family of funds offered by a specific brokerage. Loads go with the fund itself.

For instance, T. Rowe Price's 500 Index fund has a $10 per year management fee, charged $2.50 per quarter, if the balance drops below $10,000. But it only takes something like $2000-2500 to open that account. There's no transaction fee if you have an account at TRP and get it through them. If you get it through ETrade, there is a $20 transaction fee every time you buy or sell. (I suspect there's a similar fee through other places like Fidelity or Vanguard or whoever.) The account is also no-load, regardless of who you get it through.

Check all these fees carefully. If you don't understand them, call the broker and ask that they be explained. Some make it complicated to find them on their website.

But I do agree that mutual funds is a good way to go. If you're stuck on buying individual stocks, make sure you go to a discount broker. Oh, and Ameritrade, if I'm remembering correctly, is mostly for high-dollar investors. I couldn't go there, at least not the last time I checked.

[arthur1975]

Are you investing using a 401k or are you buying with cash? If cash do you have more than 1 million dollars in assets? The reason why I ask is that if you have more than 1 million dollars there are investments that are available to you and not everybody else.