How can I buy Apple stock?

[MDLarson]

I'm totally foreign to stocks, but I've always wanted to buy at least one share of AAPL. I don't want to pay a stockbroker, I just want to buy it, sit on it, and maybe sell it later or whatever stockholders do.

[Jadey]

You can buy a single share of stock from Apple and a bunch of other companies from www.oneshare.com The fee isn't so cheap, but it's a novelty.

[MDLarson]

Hmm, I've actually heard of that before, but thanks for the link. Interesting to note is the "top 10" list:

1 Apple Computer (here's the link)
2 Microsoft Corp.
3 Coca Cola
4 Disney (Walt) Holding Co.
5 Harley Davidson
6 McDonald's Corporation
7 World Wrestling Federation
8 Intimate Brands, Inc.
9 Krispy Kreme Doughnut
10 Kmart Corp

I might just do that for fun (and to keep Apple on top! ). But any other options? How do serious shareholders do it?

[kenny]

What I did is open a brokerage account with Fidelity (www.fidelity.com) and do all my trading online. You can do the same thing with Ameritrade or eTrade. I chose Fidelity because they are an old-school full brokerage, with all of the conservative behaviour that comes with that. It is my money after all.

Ameritrade and eTrade may be perfectly ok (their fees are certainly lower), but I've never been able come to terms with the fact that they are simply very successful dot-coms...

[apb3]

If you do purchase one share from a broker you will need to specifically request a paper copy of the share. This could take a while. I purchased a share as a gift and my request took just short of a month. oneshare.com may be faster but I've never used them.

[tagliatelle]

I own one share of Real Software, the company that makes Real Basic. I have bought it at the bank.