"If you can afford to invest $80 in Apple stock, but you cannot afford to invest $565 in Apple stock, you should not be investing $80 in Apple stock. I can poin

"If you can afford to invest $80 in Apple stock, but you cannot afford to invest $565 in Apple stock, you should not be investing $80 in Apple stock. I can point you to some very nice index funds, or just, like, I mean, open a checking account." Back when I was a kid, learning about financial literacy, the stock market, etc. my parents encouraged me to buy shares in a company I liked, whose products I used, etc. It wasn't a shrewd investment strategy, or a balanced portfolio (those would come later), but an introduction to the market, brokerages, etc. I put in as much as I could, being, you know, 12 or so. It was less than $565. Post-split, my cost basis on those shares will be a hair under a dollar. I've very glad, at the time, that a share of Apple stock was accessible to people like me.