advice on sites to buy stocks?

[backwoods]

I'm thinking of purchasing some stocks(never done it before) and I am lookin for a good site to do it on. etrade, sharebuilder, scottrade? Anybody use any of these? I plan on just buying some shares of one company and not really do any other buying and selling.

[boonedoggle]

I was just talking to my wife about buying some of FORD MOTOR COMPANY (F). The shares are just over $2! This is a company that has been around forever, and there is no way they'll fold. I think they can only go up from here...as soon as they fire the entire board!

[FXAdam]

A friend of mine who trades for a living recommended this site to me:

www.interactivebrokers.com

A wide range of instruments and very competitive commissions. I haven't actually used it yet but I sure wish I had the cash to these days.

[mikeyj23]

I'm a Schwab customer, personally. Unbeatable service.

There are a ton of sites out there with a wealth of information. My advice would be to find a discount broker like Scottrade, TDAmeritrade, Etrade, and Interactive Brokers is also one.

Do your homework!! Sites like Fool.com, Smartmoney, Kiplingers and such will provide you with a lot of great basic and advanced knowledge in order for you to make an educated decision about what you want to invest in.

Good luck! THe market is crazy right now!!

[fxpose]

I've kept an account with Etrade since 1998. I've traded individual stocks over the years and lost a ton of money doing so.
I recently bought some CD's from them and just this week bought some ETF's (QQQQ's and Spyders). The ETF's are somewhat like mutual funds but you can trade them any time like stocks and they'll less volatile than dealing with individual stocks.
If you don't want to trade you can simply open an account with them and park your money in their savings account which currently pays 3.30 APY. You have immediate access to those funds for trading.