Most people procrastinate on stock market investing because it carries the risk of losing money, while many invest based on a friend’s recommendation and lose money. The first stock experience shapes your risk profile. Instead of gambling with short-term returns based on market moods, consider investing in fundamentally strong stocks for the long term. If your first stock provides positive returns, it will encourage you to stay invested and adopt an investing habit rather than lose confidence in the stock market.
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How to get started with buying stocks
To give you a broad picture, the stock market is where you buy a stock to participate in a company’s future growth, and growth takes time. An athlete winning a gold takes years of work and preparation. Either companies sponsor well-established athletes or those in whom they see potential. The established ones have a higher chance of winning a gold medal, whereas the emerging ones carry greater risk of losses but also have the potential for windfall gains if successful.
You can start with a well-established stock to build a core portfolio as you learn about the stock market. That way, your core portfolio can preserve returns and absorb risks.
To begin your stock market journey, you need a brokerage account for buying stocks.
Finding the correct stock on the broker app
Thousands of stocks trade on different stock exchanges. Thus, when we talk about a stock, you will see a few letters written in brackets stating the exchange on which the particular stock trades and the ticker under which it appears. You may see several options when you type a company’s name in the search bar of your broking app, but the exchange and ticker help you discover the same stock you have read about.
The stock exchange matters because if you buy a Canadian stock on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, you might be subject to cross-border taxes and forex risk. A dividend from Canadian stocks is exempt in a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), but dividends from a US stock are taxable.
To avoid these complications, consider buying a Canadian stock on the TSX.
Choosing your first stock
Once you know the stock exchange and ticker symbol, the next step is to choose which stock to buy. For beginners, it is better to look around and think of the companies that you see in your everyday life. You have used their goods and services for years and can’t imagine a life without them. That indicates that these companies are well integrated into the economy, enjoy customer loyalty, and have an economic moat.
Once you finalize the company, look at their last two years of profits, revenue growth, and debt, as debt burden, competition, and regulatory changes can disrupt even the best companies.
Shopify (TSX: SHOP) is a good stock to buy now before the holiday season picks up, especially if you have delayed a few purchases for the Black Friday sale. Shopify enjoys strong sales growth of 25–30% annually. In fact, Shopify reported 34% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter of 2026, its highest second-quarter growth since 2021, when the pandemic boom created windfall gains.
Not only does it have strong revenue growth, but it has improved its operating margin to the mid-teens percentage. The company has no debt and ample cash reserves.
The stock is trading at a high valuation of 14 times sales per share and 59 times forward earnings per share. The best time to buy this stock is between March and June during its seasonal weakness. However, long-term investors can even buy now as the steady high growth rate will drive the stock up over the years.
And just like that … you’re buying your first stock.
