Before you can dive into the glorious chaos of stock trading, you need a place to do it — aka a brokerage account. Think of it like a digital piggy bank, except instead of coins, it holds your dreams of early retirement and possibly some mildly questionable meme stocks.

You don’t need to walk into a fancy bank with a briefcase — just sign up online. There are tons of options: some apps make it feel like a game (which it’s not), while others look like spreadsheets had a baby with a Bloomberg terminal. Pick one that’s beginner-friendly, has low fees, and - ideally - lets you buy fractional shares. Bonus points if the interface doesn’t make your eyes bleed.

Most banks have their own trading/stock accounts that you can sign up for, but we recommend the ones below instead, as most banks charge much higher fees for buying/selling, as well as currency conversions.

If you're Canadian, we highly recommend using Wealthsimple (which is what we use). If you sign up using this link, then we both allegedly get $25 when you fund your account (haven't tested this to see if works).

If you're American, then you're probably looking at using either Robinhood or Webull. Those links aren't affiliate links; so we don't get any kickback if you use them. Those are the two platforms that our American friends tend to use the most.

This one’s pretty straightforward: your brokerage account is useless without cash in it. Link your bank, transfer some funds, and voilà — you’ve got buying power. That’s trader-speak for “you can finally do something.”

Important note: this isn’t Vegas. Don’t dump your rent money in here. Start small, only invest what you can afford to lose (because you might), and ignore that inner voice whispering, “What if we just go all in on this one stock?” That’s how people end up on Reddit asking what “margin call” means.

Whatever amount of money you plan to invest with; start by adding only 10-25% of that for the first month or two, until you fully learn how everything works. Don't put all of your money in on the first day.

Now for the fun (and slightly terrifying) part — actually trading. Buying a stock means you’re purchasing a tiny slice of a company. Selling means you’re letting go of that slice, hopefully for more than you paid. Simple in theory, chaotic in practice.

Use the search bar in your app to find a company — Apple, Tesla, even that weird stock your cousin won’t shut up about. Hit “buy,” choose how much you want (in dollars or shares), and confirm. Boom — you’re in the market. Want out? Hit “sell.” Just like that, you’re a trader.

Don't worry about getting it perfect. Even seasoned pros make questionable decisions. The key is to stay curious, stay cautious, and don’t panic every time a chart goes red.

You might see something called "options" ("calls" and "puts") ... we strongly recommend not touching those until you've been trading for at least two years. Those are advanced trading options that have incredibly high risks, where you can potentially lose all of your money if a trade doesn't go your way. We don't touch options around here; and we never will. They're for degenerate gamblers and market manipulators; not for casual investors who are just getting started.

This is the “I want to pick the winners myself” portfolio. You’re choosing individual companies — Apple, Nike, maybe that up-and-coming EV startup that your barber told you about. High risk, high reward, high chance of refreshing your app 12 times a day.

This type of portfolio is great if you like doing your own research, want more control, or just enjoy the thrill of watching one stock ruin your entire day.

ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) are the chill cousin of stocks. They’re baskets of investments — like a sampler platter of the market. You can buy one ETF and instantly own a piece of dozens or even hundreds of companies. Less stress, more sleep.

This approach is ideal if you don’t feel like learning 47 acronyms just to pick one stock. You still get exposure to the market, but with less volatility and way fewer emotional rollercoasters.

The hybrid model — a little bit of stability, a little bit of spice. ETFs give you a solid foundation, while individual stocks let you dabble in hot trends or companies you believe in. It’s like eating your veggies and still sneaking in dessert.

This setup is popular with people who want to invest responsibly… but also can’t resist throwing a few bucks at something with “AI” or “quantum” in the name.

This is the espresso-fueled, high-stress version of trading. Buy and sell the same stock in the same day — sometimes within minutes or even seconds. It’s not for the faint of heart, or anyone with a job that requires more than 6 seconds of focus.

Yes, people can make money this way. People can also lose their entire lunch budget before lunch. If you're thinking of trying this, know that it requires time, screen-staring endurance, and probably a second monitor. Or three.

Swing trading is like day trading’s slightly more laid-back cousin. Instead of minutes, you hold stocks for days or weeks, aiming to catch a "swing" in price. You're still watching charts, but you might also get to eat dinner without staring at candlesticks.

This strategy blends a bit of short-term action with a sprinkle of patience. Great for people who enjoy analysis, but also enjoy sleep.

Buy. Hold. Chill. Repeat. This is the Warren Buffett-approved method — you buy quality stocks or ETFs and sit on them for months, years, or even decades. You're not here for quick flips; you're here for that slow-burn, compounding magic. It’s the tortoise strategy — and we all know how that race ended.

Perfect if you're building wealth over time, want minimal stress, and prefer not to check your portfolio every time a tweet goes viral.

The Google Sheet is meant to give you an easy-to-access overview of your stocks (can easily be bookmarked, and accessed without needing to log in to an account). It's also a good way to get a more in-depth look at everything you own, all on one page, rather than having to click into each individual stock one-at-a-time, and/or just seeing a graph of your account as a whole (which is how most stock accounts show information). You absolutely do not need the Google Sheet; it's just there if you want it.

These are our handpicked list of 100 stocks that we think are worth owning/following. You don't need to own any/all of these; but these are the stocks we're currently evaluating and working with.

If you purchased stocks for any of the companies that are pre-loaded in the Google Sheet, then there are only 4 values that you need to update:

• Column C: # of Shares = Enter how many shares you've purchased.
• Column D: Average = Enter the price per share (not adjusted for any currency rates).
• Column J: Date Purchased = Replace the 'dash' ("-") with the date you purchased the shares on, in the format of MM/DD/YYYY.

Lastly, be sure to update your "Total Cash on Hand" values (L3 & L4), as well as your "Life-Time Invested" value (L2).

What you want to do here is update/replace one of the existing rows; specifically, columns A (Ticker) and B (Name).

Each row's ticker is colour-coded: Red for Canadian stocks, and Blue for American stocks.

When replacing existing values, you want to make sure you're replacing rows that match the colour/country of the stock you purchased.

Example:

• If you purchased an American stock then you'll want to replace a row that has a Blue background for the ticker value.
• If you purchased a Canadian stock then you'll want to replace a row that has a Red background for the ticker value.

If there are no unused rows to replace and you need to add a new row, it's important that you add the row in between two existing rows within a section. DO NOT add a new row to the very top - or very bottom - of a section; otherwise, the formulas will break and your sheet will have a lot of errors.

Once you've added a new row, you can copy and paste an existing row (of the correct color) into your new row, and then replace the Ticker & Name values (Columns A & B).

For Canadian stocks, you need to add "TSE:" before the ticker, so that the Google Sheet knows it's a Canadian stock.

If your Canadian stock isn't on the Toronto Stock Exchange, then Google might not recognize it. You will have to figure out your own workarounds for non-TSE Canadian stocks (sorry).

If a stock has been delisted, changed their ticker, or changed which exchange they're listed on, then it can potentially error-out and break the sheet. You can just replace the ticker and name with any other stock of the same country/colour, and the sheet should start working again.

This is quite possible, due to a number of reasons, including:

• User error when entering values
• Not updating your 'Cash on hand' and/or 'Life-time invested' cells.
• Your stock account using different exchange rates than the Google exchange rates
• Any additional fees that your stock account may charge you (currency exchange fees, buy/sell fees, etc.)

The Google Sheet should only be used as an easy way to see a rough estimate of your holdings. If you need specific/accurate amounts, then log into your stock account and check the numbers there, instead.