How to reduce cost of investment?

I want to buy 20-30 stocks with my $10,000 and hold them for a year. But my broker is charging me $30 for each transaction. ie.. it will cost me $60 to buy and then sell one stock.. this takes away 6% of my earning in each stock.

Is there any way I can buy stocks for very little overhead cost (say 1%)? I am Canadian so I can't take advantage of the $4 fees which some brokers offers to Americans only. There're banks offering lower fees ($10/transaction) if I trade 30+ times a quarter. But I am not rich enough to be an active trader.

Any advise? (except dumping Canadian citizenship and apply for US PR:)

btw... why spread $10,000 into 30 stocks? I want to follow a model portfolio which looks good to me. I don't want to risk all in one single stock.

20-30 stocks is a bit much you really only need 10 to be diversified.

Your stragety of a year hold may backfire as well especially if its a stock. I would recommend looking at Mutual Funds. http://www.morningstar.ca should have a listing of all the no load mutual funds that are based in in the Frozen Tundra and the home of the greatest sport (HOCKEY) in the world. Buying once and holding it for a year makes better sense with Mutual Funds than do stocks. If you are buying in patterns throughout the year then Stocks are the better option.

Good Luck.

Well you can buy as an OPTION, and enjoy the profit.

Save the fees and go to Vegas. It's the same thing. NEVER buy single stocks. You have a better chance to make money at the Blackjack table.

And why would you want to divide $10,000 between 20-30 stocks? That's $300-$500 in each stock. If each one earned 10% (good return), you'd lose on each investment. You'd have to earn 12-18% return to break even. (The fees equal 12-18% of your CAPITAL, not 6% of your return. Sixty dollars times 30 stocks is $1800, or 18% of $10,000.)

I'd advise a financial counselor. Any broker who didn't look at you and say, "WTF?" is just waiting to rape you.

If you have only $10K and want to buy 20- 30 companies and trade 30 times a quarter, you might be better off buying Lottery tickets.