How do I buy american company stocks? I don't live in the US and I am not a US citizen.?

I'm not interested in active trading. I just want to buy a small number of stocks (say 1000$ worth) of an american company as a long-term investment. How do I do that? I have never invested in anything more complicated than a bank account before.

Please be very specific:
-- Can I do that from europe? Do I use a european bank or a branch of an american bank (citibank, ABN-AMRO?)?
-- Where do I need to go? Bank? Special company? Online?
-- How much will I have to pay in fees (rough estimate of any expenses other than stock value) for this one-time transaction?

Thanks a lot!

I believe that you do not have to be an American to invest in American stocks. First get a stock broker, you may want one in your area so you can meet with him and talk about your financial goals. Through the brokerage company, who your stock broker works for, (i.e. Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch...) they should be able to pay out your dividends/profits in your currency, Euros. The fees are generally a percentage of what you buy and sell. If you buy $1000 in stocks, they may charge 5% for example and if you sell off some stocks a couple years later, they will take a small percentage of the amount you are selling off. If you are looking for long term investments, I'd suggest a mutual fund over stocks, but both are still gambles on the economy. If you want something really secure, but will yield more than a savings account, I would say put it in an IRA. But of course I don't know how it works in Europe. GOOD LUCK!

To : t337

May I ask? What do you mean by IRA ? Report It

Nasdaq. Over The Phone Or Internet.