Buying one share of stock in Apple?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I am contemplating buying D one share of stock in Apple, for her birthday. She has been saying for years that we should buy stock in Apple but neither H nor I have ever bought stock (aside from what our IRA funds buy, but we just give them our money and they decide what to buy). </p>

<p>Is it totally crazy to buy one share?</p>

2

<p>Sure, why not? What would your brokerage fee be? Unfortunately no one seems to issue those nifty paper shares anymore. It would be fun to frame and hang in her room!</p>

<p>Happydad manages his own IRA with E*Trade (etrade DOT com) and the brokerage fees aren’t hideous. There are some other cheapie electronic brokerages out there.</p>

3

<p>You’d have to open a brokerage account and perhaps fund it with an amount so that they don’t charge you account maintenance fees. You would get dividends from time to time that someone might have to pay taxes (or not).</p>

<p>I prefer to give out gold eagles. They’re pretty, and you can hold them in your hand.</p>

4

<p>Since your account would not be large, you’d have to pay a transaction fee (probably $10 per). So you’re paying $10 to buy a share and $10 to exit later… meaning you’re already buying apple at a 3% premium. Not the hugest deal, but if your brokerage also charges a fee to keep the account open for that size, you might find that single purchase bleeding net worth.</p>

<p>Agreed with BCEagle, just get a gold eagle or gold buffalo. Much more fun anyway.</p>

5

<p>I own 1 share of Wynn Las Vegas, so no, it’s not crazy.</p>

<p>My 1 share was up $100 at one point…I wished I bought 100 shares instead of 1. I paid no transaction fee.</p>

6

<p>You can add 1 share a year…</p>

7

<p>If you go with sharebuilder (which is owned by to ING Direct which is now owned by Capital One) you can usually find credits for free trades on retailmenot.com. The only requirement is you don’t put it in as a “real time” trade and instead schedule for it to happen at some point on Tuesday.</p>

8

<p>Apple’s a bit on the high side these days at $606. I prefer to buy low sell high rather than vice versa.</p>