# Your first stock



## bettrave (Jan 10, 2013)

What would be your first you buy and why?


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## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

Probably a bank stock - they go up over time and keep increasing the dividend


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## lostwords (Feb 21, 2014)

My first stock was bns. Brought a certificate this January and been dripping it


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## SkyFall (Jun 19, 2012)

Ge & csco


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## the_apprentice (Jan 31, 2013)

Wells Fargo. I don't remember why, but my guess was because of the weak economy at the time which presented a huge buying opportunity in that sector.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

My first stock was the stock of my employer - a high tech company that shall remain nameless. I bought it in Nov 2000 for $58 a share.

One month later it traded at $28. 52% drop in one month.

One year later it traded at $19. 67% drop top to bottom.

Luckily for me, my employer's business was doing really well. I continued to buy stock on a regular basis to average down my ACB. I sold in 2003 to break even in nominal terms. Of course, I lost money in real terms due to inflation.

And that's kids how I became an indexer.


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## AMABILE (Apr 3, 2009)

BCE------my first employer in 1966, which I have never 
cashed and continue to drip to this very day.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

For me it was FTS CLOSE TO 30 YEARS AGO..


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## Gabs (May 7, 2014)

FN. Dealt with them twice as a customer for both residential & commercial mortgage & their financials looked good plus they dipped after Q1 results. Currently looking for my 2nd stock


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

My first Canadian stock would be New Flyer Industries (NFI) - because I loooove their extra-long bendy buses: http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/#!/content/1.1894148 (my rides to and from work became less crowded and more bouncy )

Unless Bell, Emera or Fortis limit orders will go through first...


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## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

marina628 said:


> For me it was FTS CLOSE TO 30 YEARS AGO..


Wow. What was your cost at that time? The dividend must have increased 30 times since then


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

Reading the responses thus far, there appear to be two interpretations of the OP's ambiguously worded question:

1) What was the first stock you ever bought?

2) If you were buying your first stock today what would it be?

Me, I'd opt for #2.


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

Nemo2 said:


> Reading the responses thus far, there appear to be two interpretations of the OP's ambiguously worded question:
> 
> 1) What was the first stock you ever bought?
> 
> ...


And what would it be?


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

Moneytoo said:


> And what would it be?


Haven't got a clue. :biggrin:


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Nemo2 said:


> Reading the responses thus far, there appear to be two interpretations of the OP's ambiguously worded question:
> 
> 1) What was the first stock you ever bought?
> 
> ...


I think the OP's question was clear. What would it be today......What one would pick last month, or last year, or last decade, or last century is irrelevant today. 

I am not sure what it would be for me, but being a value investor, it would be a stock with increasing EPS, low P/E, low P/B, and a fairly steady stream of increasing dividends. Probably a financial stock of some type.

Added: for sure something off Norm Rothery's all star list.


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

AltaRed said:


> I think the OP's question was clear. What would it be today......What one would pick last month, or last year, or last decade, or last century is irrelevant today.


Evidently, not _that_ clear to some respondents, who offered historical purchases as examples. :wink:


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Are we supposed to read the question before we answer?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I don't think it really matters, because buying just one stock is probably a bad idea, unless you have a copy of tomorrow's newspaper.


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## rikk (May 28, 2012)

So the post is, I think, a rewording of the old "what are you watching", "what are you watching right now" type posts ... well, I'm considering CIBC (CM) for my wife's account ... dividends, a bit beat up with maybe a bit more to come, the psychological effect of a split should that happen.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Actually I would buy FTS today too...


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

andrewf said:


> I don't think it really matters, because buying just one stock is probably a bad idea, unless you have a copy of tomorrow's newspaper.


Maybe it's for June stock picking competition: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/stock-picking-competition-1476534/


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Probably BNS. Strong historical returns and international exposure. Collect dividends all along the way + maybe a few stock splits in the years ahead.


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

My first stock bought was Enbridge. Despite the lofty valuations when I initiated my position, it has produced excellent capital and dividend growth. Those who seek a non-financial stock alternative should be looking at ENB.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Nemo2 said:


> Evidently, not _that_ clear to some respondents, who *offered historical purchases* as examples. :wink:


LOL, but true. :biggrin:

I have no historical purchases, just modern ones since only began buying stocks in late 09. However, were I buying today, I would buy insurance companies; many are trading at 09 prices.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Remember well buying Pfizer just before Viagra came out and made $1500 on the trade, my knees were shaking as it went thru, got me hooked on the stock market.

Have to second your thought on insurance companies T-gal, have oodles of GWO, SLF and PWF, great dividends for dripping. The feeling is these financial types will perform nicely as interest rates rise down the road. Should be a decent time for purchase as they have come off.


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## NorthKC (Apr 1, 2013)

I think my first stock will either be a bank or Bell. They've both hosed me enough over the years so I think it's time for me to collect those "fees" back especially since they will still continue to be around for a long time!


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

One day, tired of waiting for (what seems like forever) a decent stock to dip, I'll just get seduced by one of those New Offerings, like today's "Element Financial Corporation - 6.40% 5 Year Cumulative Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series E"...


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

I think in Canada my first stock was PM .... in mid-90s was investing into Israeli stock market...I think the first stock I bought was Bezeq


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## Jon_Snow (May 20, 2009)

I think one of my first stock purchases was Cedar Fair (FUN) in late 2009. Thanks to Jim Cramer for that one.


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## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

My 1st stock(4 yrs ago switching from mutual funds)was mcd
first tsx stock which followed a few days later was td
Last stock i bough a 4 weeks ago was de(john deere)i think it was a good buy(happy with the 18% dividend increase recently)needed/wanted exposure to agi/so far a bit of money made-was a value play in high 80's


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## Jacq (Feb 8, 2014)

Mine was some natural gas company that was operating in India (Canoro Resources) in about 1998-9 or so. This guy that worked in our office nagged me for days to buy it. I think I just did it to shut him up. I put in $10k at something like $.50/share and sold it for about $1/share about a year later. Dumb luck. Not so lucky since I see by the chart that it topped out at about $4.75 in 2005 but isn't around anymore. That guy is still in investor relations at another company.
Next one I actually put some thought into - Suncor in about 2003-4.


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## Synergy (Mar 18, 2013)

My first stock purchase was COS, followed closely by MCD. Still holding both.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Moneytoo said:


> I'll just get seduced by one of those New Offerings, like today's "Element Financial Corporation - 6.40% 5 Year Cumulative Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series E"...


Are you able to enter your EOI for that already?
Which brokerage are you with?
I was looking for it on iTrade's new issues section, but it is not listed yet...it should be hopefully soon since Scotia Capital is participating in the bought deal.


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

HaroldCrump said:


> Are you able to enter your EOI for that already?
> Which brokerage are you with?
> I was looking for it on iTrade's new issues section, but it is not listed yet...it should be hopefully soon since Scotia Capital is participating in the bought deal.


I'm with TD Waterhouse, subscribed for new issues, getting email notifications, but didn't ask for prospectus or tried to buy any yet...

I've been reading about Preferred shares a lot, and asking around, and just can't understand what's wrong with them?  Especially in this up and down equity market with low interest bonds - why not just buy preferds instead of bonds? So what if they get called or the rate gets reset in 5 years? But doing more digging instead...


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

Moneytoo said:


> I've been reading about Preferred shares a lot, and asking around, and just can't understand what's wrong with them?  Especially in this up and down equity market with low interest bonds - why not just buy preferds instead of bonds? So what if they get called or the rate gets reset in 5 years? But doing more digging instead...


Preferreds are very complex......we've found that, (when we're thinking of buying), getting an issue of the Hymas newsletter with recommendations is well worth the cost: http://www.prefletter.com/


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> I was looking for it on iTrade's new issues section, but it is not listed yet...it should be hopefully soon since Scotia Capital is participating in the bought deal.


iTtrade does not always get to participate in new Scotia Capital issues. I complained about that when the Fortis secondary issue came out about 6? months ago and was told that then. My guess (they wouldn't confirm that) is if Scotia Macleod brokers can place all of Scotia Capital's allocation in a bought deal with their clients, full service commissioned salesmen get it first.

Added: See http://prefblog.com/?p=25437 for James' perspectives on this. Unrated securities, joining other EFN junk.

Added2: Given the market prices of its sister Prefs, this one may well trade below $25 after opening.


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

Nemo2 said:


> Preferreds are very complex......we've found that, (when we're thinking of buying), getting an issue of the Hymas newsletter with recommendations is well worth the cost: http://www.prefletter.com/


Thank you, will keep it in mind if I ever get serius, but looks like I've got more free reading to do first...


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

AltaRed said:


> Added: See http://prefblog.com/?p=25437 for James' perspectives on this. Unrated securities, joining other EFN junk.
> 
> Added2: Given the market prices of its sister Prefs, this one may well trade below $25 after opening.


Thank you, great blog, found the post there about the other issue that I liked: EMA FixedReset, 4.25%. Oh well, there should be something even nicer on the horizon...


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

AltaRed said:


> iTtrade does not always get to participate in new Scotia Capital issues. I complained about that when the Fortis secondary issue came out about 6? months ago and was told that then. My guess (they wouldn't confirm that) is if Scotia Macleod brokers can place all of Scotia Capital's allocation in a bought deal with their clients, full service commissioned salesmen get it first.


Yeah, that makes sense....the full service customers get first call.

I haven't bought any prefs in a long time, so was just curious.
I'll wait and see how low this goes on the first day of trading.

There is a voracious appetite for yield, so it is possible that even unrated bonds and prefs. by non dividend paying companies such as this one might get lapped up by investors.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

In 1978. American Chromium. Opened an account with Midland Doherty to buy it. Made some money on it.


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## Kropew (Nov 24, 2013)

Bought BCE at 30.90$ in 2010, now trades at 51$


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## thompsg4416 (Aug 18, 2010)

If I were offering advice for a person to purchase just one stock... it'd definitely be a simple bank stock or maybe some BCE. Long term you can't go wrong.


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## The ruined man (Apr 10, 2014)

I bought CHW not too long ago as well as TRZ.B


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## Ethan (Aug 8, 2010)

My first stock was West Jet. I put in $500 of my allowance money when I was 14.

If I were to advise someone starting out today on one stock, I don't think you could go wrong with one of the Canadian banks.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

For a simple first stock, one of the banks is probably a smart, safe choice.

My first stock was a company called Kick Energy KEC-T. It eventually got bought out. I purchased at $1.50 and it eventually traded north of $9 in a couple years. Of course, being young, I sold too early.


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## savvybuck (Feb 12, 2014)

My first stock purchase was JNJ in early 2011. I bought 100 shares at $59 a share and it was recommended by my dad actually heh


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## Canuck (Mar 13, 2012)

my first stock was JDS Uniphase around 1999, made a tonne of money and then lost a tonne of money 

If I were to buy a first stock today it would probably be BCE or Enbridge


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## crabstampede (Feb 28, 2014)

First stock was Badger Daylighting just before their recent spike. Bought at 32 sold at 38. Kept running up to around 45 i think, but it's back to 35 now so I was right lol.

I do index and bond etfs, reits now no patience for daily watching.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

First stock was BRK.B, second was TD.
Both outperformed the S&P 500 and TSX by low single digits, except TD did it with a nice dividend.


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## Ben1491 (Jan 13, 2012)

300 shares if TD @ $26.00/share (split twice) 18 years ago. 200 shares of RY @ $32.00/share (split once) the next year. Have added a lot more ever since, and I still have them. Why bank stocks ? Don't know anything about investment at that time (still is). All I heard was bank stock is good from my father and his friends......


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

If I was starting to invest now: BNS.

Why?

Dividend history: Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) – paid dividends since 1832.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

For my first stock, I'd buy a Canadian Bank stock. I pulled up a chart of RY on Yahoo finance back to about 1998 and compared it to s&P 500. RY outperformed by a long shot. Did it beat Berkshire Hathaway, brk-a? Yep, and not even including dividends. If you include dividends, I think all the big Canadian banks outperform S&P 500 *and* Buffett's Berkshire. I think you can't go too far wrong with any of the big banks. After I bought my first bank stock, I'd buy another, and another until I had a bit of all of them. 

You don't want the hottest stock that is making headlines as lots of the blow up not to long after take off. Buy something boring that beats the indexes over 20 years or so.


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## protomok (Jul 9, 2012)

First stock I bought - Bonavista Energy Trust - back in July/2009, soon followed by other oil and nat gas stocks. I figured oil and nat gas prices would bounce back immediately...didn't exactly happen!

If I was buying my first individual stock now I would probably buy an index ETF until I have enough money to diversify


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

My first stock no longer exists. It was called Petrolifera Petroleum (TSXDP).

It was partially owned by Connacher Oil & Gas (TSX:CLL) and then eventually was taken over by Gran Tierra (TSX:GTE).

It was a cheap stock. About $1 when I was playing with it.

However, as many others have mentioned, I would recommend a stock that is more reputable for a first buy.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

pluto said:


> for my first stock, i'd buy a canadian bank stock. I pulled up a chart of ry on yahoo finance back to about 1998 and compared it to s&p 500. Ry outperformed by a long shot. Did it beat berkshire hathaway, brk-a? Yep, and not even including dividends. If you include dividends, i think all the big canadian banks outperform s&p 500 *and* buffett's berkshire. I think you can't go too far wrong with any of the big banks. After i bought my first bank stock, i'd buy another, and another until i had a bit of all of them.
> 
> You don't want the hottest stock that is making headlines as lots of the blow up not to long after take off. Buy something boring that beats the indexes over 20 years or so.


+ ry


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## pastorash (Feb 3, 2014)

For my first stock last year I bought General Electric, didn't hold it long, as only a year ago I was looking to do a bit of market timing and capitalize. As it turned out, 2013 was a good year to do that, but I've wizened up a bit and am beginning to collect a small basket of buy and hold stocks. Proctor and Gamble was my first one in that category a few weeks ago, and I'm sure a Canadian bank or two will eventually make it into my portfolio.


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## Franky Jr (Oct 5, 2009)

First non speculative stock was December 2005, 34 shares TD at 29.43$. (post split $$). Still hold it, getting close to a double, if consider dividends then I have already doubled. Not bad through the recession and the fact that when I bought it it was up 18% for 2005. Which is why if you buy a Canadian bank stock now, in a decade you'll be OK.


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## Twixer (Nov 25, 2015)

My first stock was AAPL on friend's recommendation $195, late 2009. Sold all when Steve passed away at $420. Missed run to $700. Came back with Ichan at $400. Sold 2/3 at $125 (after split). 

I recommend people to start with some blue chip ETFs, let say Vanguard VGG, get educated, gain experience, even more importantly confidence and then gradually move to stock picking mega caps. If results are good start looking for medium caps and take more risk.

On Canadian side i would right now recommend to start with Agrium, on US market my pick would be Disney, and global stock would be Novo Nordisk


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