when someone buys stock, do they need to have a firm? such as merrill, schwab, or fidelity? give examples?

Answer 1

No you do not need a broker/dealer to buy shares of stock, you can buy directly through the transfer agent (which is the company responsible for distributing the stock of a company ) and you have the choice of having them send you physical share certificates if you want. This does make them harder to sell though.

Answer 2

You generally have to have some sort of broker to act as an intermediary for you. I don't think many companies sell stock directly to small investors. It's too much hassle for the company to deal with small-time investors that may buy only a few hundred dollars worth of stock.

So if you're interested, go look at the online brokerages. Many advertise that they charge a flat fee, whether you buy one share or a thousand. This should save you some money, if you know what you want to get.

Answer 3

Adam is correct. While there are many companies that don't do direct investment, there are a great many that do.

For example, if I wish to invest in PepsiCo, I could make a phone call directly to PepsiCo and send them a check for a number of shares. Typically, they will create and maintain an account in your name for you and automatically reinvest the dividends back into more shares. This is all free and they don't care if the dollar amount is small, as long as you can buy at least one whole share.