what's the least you can invest when buying stock?

Question

anyone know?

Answer 1

One share, but to open an account at most brokers you need to have a certain amount of money to open the account. If you only have a bit, search for a broker with no minimums. Otherwise, Scottrade and SogoInvest (cheaper!!) will open an account for you with as little as $500.

Answer 2

You can literally invest pennies in stocks. Penny stocks are those that sell for less than $10 per share. Some for pennies or even less than a penny each.
You will have to buy stocks in "blocks" usually 5 or 10 shares of a stock. But with penny stocks you can buy a thousands of shares and risk only your pocket spending money.
So have some fun if you want, just watch out for the fees that brokers charge you. They get a cut when you buy or sell plus a set fee (percentage) for making a trade.

Answer 3

Hi,

There is a way to invest in stocks without a broker and if you keep reading I will tell you how.

The method is called DRIPs.

A DRIP is a Dividend Reinvestment Plan. It offers indidual investors, even a15 year old, a cost-effective way to build equity in a stock.

The DRIP is run by a corporation and it allows people to make cash purchases of stock or to reinvest dividends (if any). I have a DRIP program with Goodyear Tire and Rubber, but it ran into problems a few years ago and stopped paying dividends.

You only need one share of stock to become eligible. In some cases it can be purchased directly from the company, but normally needs to be purchased through a broker. You could have your parents open up an brokerage account and purchase the share in your name.

There are no fees or commissions when you reinvest your dividends.

There are lots of companies that do this - over 1000. The company likes them because it's a low cost way to get capital or cash for their business. Because of that companies welcome new investors into their DRIP plans.

What makes DRIP popular is that most of the plans require very small cash outlays even as low as $10, some as low as $5.

Some of the world's largest companies like IBM, AT&T, and McDonald's have DRIPs.

Very wealthy investor like DRIPs because it allows them to bypass the broker's commisssion which lowers the investors cost of investing

Another benefit is known as dollar-cost averaging where a fixed amount is invested on a regular basis. The stock rises and falls with the market, but by investing periodically, the average cost of the shares tends to average out and not be affected by the market swings.

Liquidating or selling your shares can be a problem because brokers want to get a commission for selling and buying stock for investors, but the company will buy them back in some cases.

Dividends are considered income and used to be taxed by the IRS, but a change in the law makes them non-taxable. But if you sell your shares and make a profit you have to pay tax on the profit. There are two types of taxes for profits or capital gains: one is short term and costs more than the other kind of capital gain which is called a long-term capital gain and that occurs when you hold a stock for more than six months.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber's stock symbol is GT, but don't invest in this one because it doesn't pay a dividend yet..

YUM is the symbol for Yum! Brands, Inc and they own Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

This Web site has a list of DRIPs: http://www.directinvesting.com/

To find DRIPs that pay good dividends, look in Investors Business Daily, Barrons, or the Wall Street Journal. There is a column that has dividends and return %. Most don't pay as much as a Treasury Note or a CD, but they have earnings growth to offset that income disadvantage. Than look them up in the URL above.

Google this keyword "DRIP lists" for more Web site. Be careful. Some of them charge a fee to sign up.

Kindest Personal Regards,

Walt Brown
Site Build It Certified Webmaster
[e-mail]

Answer 4

One share. You could buy a share worth $5 and pay $12.95 to buy it.

Look into DRIP's (Dividend Reinvestment Plans). GE, J&J, and hundreds more offer their stock directly for little or no fee. The average minimum investment is $100 - $300.

Good luck.

Answer 5

One share.

However, if there is a commission or sales load then why would you want to buy anything than may be worth less than what is costs to purchase?

If you really want to buy stocks then consider no-fee, no-load mutual funds. However, most will have a minimum purchase requirement of at least $100, some as much as $2000 or more.

Answer 6

Investing in stocks is a good idea if you do some homework first. And then you can invest as much as you are willing to lose without effecting your life style.

Answer 7

Through a brokerage such as sharebuilder.com, you can literally invest only one penny in a stock. They charge a $4 buying fee. So, if you send them $4.01, you will get one cent worth of a stock. Not particularily a good idea, but it answers your question.

Answer 8

invest buying stock

Answer 9

1 stock, depends on the price of the stock

Answer 10

Normally to do this online you need a $2000 brokerage account as holding equity, then you trade out of that money...