Foo - I want to make a stock purchase

I want to buy one stock, what is the cheapest online broker to use...

remigton or maybe savage stevens.

actually, you don't

Zecco (http://www.zecco.com/Default.aspx) is the cheapest, but I'd go with one of the more established ones. I've used Scottrade and Ameritrade and am pretty happy with both of them. Scottrade is cheaper ($7), so I use it the most. Ameritrade's site is a little easier to use. Scottrade seems to be bigger on local customer service, which you may or may not care about.

Sharebuilder (I believe theyre part of TD Ameritrade or someone else) is good and offers some trials if you do an automatic investment plan you dont pay for the trade. You can only invest on tuesdays, but if you set it up and transfer the money today, your investment goes through tomorrow. Im buying a bunch of XM sirius today.

actually, you don't

Listen to him, don't have any faith in the US economy or stocks. They'll never, ever, ever, ever recover. Put your money into bike schwag. That's what I do, and look at me.

Listen to him, don't have any faith in the US economy or stocks. They'll never, ever, ever, ever recover. Put your money into bike schwag. That's what I do, and look at me.

pcad, this one's for you: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:TZA

scottrade

In a little over an hour I'll own teeny tiny bits of XM Sirius to along with my recent Ford and GM purchases. My grand total invested personally is $80 and I got $25 free from Sharebuilder/MyPoints.

I'm totally working the free points on what I've been buying online (including the stocks) and should have several $75 Marriot Cheques at the end of Janurary to put towards hotel stays for the wedding.

the stock I want to buy is .01, I want to invest ~$500 to $1000....
can you use credit card for scottrade or etrade? or do you have to wire money?

the stock I want to buy is .01, I want to invest ~$500 to $1000....
can you use credit card for scottrade or etrade? or do you have to wire money?
Brave at .01 :twitchy:. But, I use Scottrade. $7 a trade. I wish I had more cash to buy right now, it's a buyers market.
They have several options to fund your account. It takes a couple of days on your initial set up. I do mine right from my checking account and can usually buy stock the same day I transfer.

now its at .49 .... could have made some decent returns on that...

I bought Citigroup @ $40. Fortunately I unloaded it @ $34. Sadly, I rolled it over into Bank of America.

But if any bank is going to come back and make a ton of dough after all this settles, it's B of A. It popped pretty good today, 27+%, which only brings it back to $14.59/share. Oh well. It's doing better than Citi.

I'd buy a good carbon frame, box it up and wait till bike prices sky up next year and see what you could get for it - probably more profit than any GM stock dividend.

I don't watch news in the a.m anymore - just 'Squawk Box' - all that seems important now is on that show.

why would bike prices go up next year... all of my econ profs say deflation here we come...

I bought Citigroup @ $40.

I worked for them at the time, all of the managers thought that it was way undervalued and were buying it up.... thats when it was ~42

why would bike prices go up next year... all of my econ profs say deflation here we come...

word!

deflation may come to wholesale, but it's not going to reach retail until late in the year if at all. The government bailing out the various sectors will help keep deflation away.

deflation may come to wholesale, but it's not going to reach retail until late in the year if at all. The government bailing out the various sectors will help keep deflation away.

Not too sure about that. Gas prices will likely stay low and the tightening belts of customers aint helpin.

I was going to say that it is easy enough to make your own stock, and the key is roasting the bones first. Never mind.

Gas prices will likely stay lowSweet! I'm gonna go get a kickin' deal on an Excursion.

deflation may come to wholesale, but it's not going to reach retail until late in the year if at all. The government bailing out the various sectors will help keep deflation away.

deflation hits retail before wholesale... thats why its dangerous to economies...

i was going to buy some $.01 stocks, but most of the brokerages charge an extra fee in addition to the $7 for stocks under 2 bucks.

why would bike prices go up next year... all of my econ profs say deflation here we come...

The simple fact that a majority of frames are made overseas makes me wonder how long the prices can stay where they are now. Oil prices could skyrocket again. China pressured to get their currency in line with the rest of the world and at the same time their economic growth dropping from 20% to 8%. If the world economy tanks for the next year or two I find it hard to believe demand for expensive frames would stay at the levels they are now. Less demand and then a scaling down of production on the high end to focus on more profitable mid-priced frames = added cost for high-end carbon. Ask Detroit automakers how this works.

Cheap goods from overseas are no sure thing anymore IMHO. My industry (swimming pools) had an across the board 8-11% increase in chemicals and hardgoods passed on to wholesalers in October. I pass that increase along to my customers. If you value the quality of your product I don't think you want to cut prices when the wholesaler's are increasing your costs. I'd like a Tarmac and don't expect to see their price coming down in the near future- if they do I would be suspicious of Specialized cutting corners and selling Tarmac frames made at a new factory, for less money, and possibly lesser quality.

If anyone has a different take on this (read: industry insider) please enlighten me as I'm thinking about springing for an '09 model in the next few months rather than next summer when I expect them to be another 10-20% more expensive.

From what I see, the costs will either stay the same or go up... the factories will do anything to keep selling bikes as will the shops.... I see it in my industry already, everyone is getting pinched except the consumer... they are getting amazing deals !