One very cheap way to purchase one stock is a Direct Stock Purchase Plan. These are programs offered by some companies that allow investors to invest in their stock for relatively low cost. In your case, Costco has this program. They offer this program through Computershare which is a company that runs these programs. (http://www.computershare.com). If you search Investment plans on this website, you will find Costco's program. If other company stock interests you, the best place to look is the company's investor relations page. you can usually find this by going to a company's home page and looking on their 'about us' or search it if they have a search option. Costco's is on the bottom left part of their homepage. http://www.costco.com

The fees for this option are minimal or sometimes free. In Costco's case, you need to initially invest $250. There is an initial setup fee of $15, and it costs $5 each time you send a cheque to buy more shares or $2 if you set it up automatically. There is also a small 3 cent fee per share you purchase.

A nice feature with these programs is that your dividends you receive can also purchase more stock for you compounding your investment.

The only drawback to this program is that you have to keep track of your investments, and it is more difficult to than mutual funds or ETFs to diversify. They are also not instantly purchased or sold like brokerage accounts, however they are great low cost alternatives which allow new investors to get involved in investing!

good luck!

I am in my mid 20s..working around 4-5 years now and would like to invest in some stocks (thinking costco, etc) What program is the easiest / moderately priced, for me to use and trade stocks? Is it as simple as entering my checking account number, enter how many shares I want to purchase, click, boom, done? ANY advice is good, as you can see I am completely new to this.