Buying stocks online is a fairly straightforward process. Gone are the days of calling up your broker, unless you want to. This financial article will guide you through the process of buying stocks online.

Finding an Online Broker

The first step is to start an account with an online broker. Since you’re just starting out, focus your selection process on the larger names out there.

I recommend looking at Scottrade.com at some point in your search. They offer many nice features and $7 trades—unless the stock is under $1 per share.

As part of my continuing educational series on investing in the stock market, I will talk about the float today. The float is the number of shares held by the general public (shares outstanding). For instance, as of this writing, Google (Symbol: GOOG) had 311.5 million shares outstanding.

It’s important to know the float when buying stocks. Here are a couple things to keep in mind with higher and lower floats.

The energy sector has been on fire all year long. Oil prices continue to rise and there’s seemingly no end in sight. One way to profit in the energy sector is to buy the Exchange Traded Fund XLE.

Before I continue, I must note that as of this writing (July 12, 2007) XLE is in my portfolio.

Energy Select Sector Spdr Fund (Symbol: XLE) is traded on AMEX and it closed at $73.23 on Wednesday.

If investing directly in gold isn’t an option for you, look to Exchange Traded Funds. On Wall Street, there are five ETFs that are gold investing oriented.

The one I like is streetTRACKS Gold Trust (Symbol: GLD). This ETF is a way to invest in gold and trade it like a stock.

Is not having a lot of money to invest holding you back? I know many people who aren’t investing in anything, because they think millions are needed.

It doesn’t take a fortune to begin an investment portfolio. Today, I will pretend that I have $500 to start my own stock portfolio.

In my faux portfolio, I’m taking up four positions—to be diversified. One of those positions is very speculative, but it will give me that “home run” potential.

One of the best investing developments in recent years is the emergence and growth of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). They are opening up a whole new world for many investors.

An Exchange Traded Fund is a basket of securities, and it trades just like a single stock would. ETF’s are somewhat of a buzzword these days and there’s good reason why.

ETFs can be created to follow a broad market, an international market, an industry, or some other investing composition.

Starbucks (Symbol: SBUX) announced that they’d be offering salads in 4,400 U.S. stores by the end of July 2007. It’s part of their move to appeal to the lunch crowd.

Making an exit will be Jones Soda (Symbol: JSDA). The soda is usually in the cold case by the registers, but at month’s end, they’ll be history.

A company’s stock is rocketing upwards, because sales are expected to explode. There’s just one problem. By the time you’ve learned this wonderful news, the stock has already pierced 52-week highs. Depression sets in. You’re “late to the party” again. Or are you?

It’s not too late to capitalize.

The Blackstone Group LP (Symbol: BX) is about to become the world’s largest hotel owner. On July 3rd, it was announced that Hilton Hotels Corp (Symbol: HLT) agreed to an all-cash buyout.

In the deal, valued at $20.1 billion, Blackstone will purchase all of Hilton’s outstanding shares for $47.50 each. On a shortened trading day Tuesday, Hilton’s stock closed at $36.05 per share—up $2.18 on the day.

Blackstone’s stock nudged up slightly to $29.72—a 45-cent increase on the news.