How to Buy Stocks

Summary

---

Earn Your Leisure Podcast – “How to Buy Stocks”

Date: October 25, 2025
Hosts: Rashad Bilal, Troy Millings
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

---

Episode Overview

In this episode of Earn Your Leisure, Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings break down the fundamental steps to buying stocks for beginners. The hosts guide listeners through setting up a brokerage account, funding it, understanding basic investment concepts, and choosing the right platforms for different financial goals. Their candid, energetic tone demystifies stock investing, making it accessible for everyone ready to take control of their financial future.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening a Brokerage Account

(02:32 – 04:27)

• Why a Brokerage Account is Necessary

  • “Before you can invest, you have to have a brokerage account to even deploy your money to.”
  • Traditional brokers like Vanguard and Fidelity are recommended for long-term investing due to stability and reputation.
  • Newer, more user-friendly apps such as Robinhood, Webull, and Interactive Brokers are also mentioned.

• Personal Responsibility & Financial Independence

  • “This is about you. This is about you guys. You need to make sure you have your own brokerage account. You’re doing your own investing, you’re taking your own finances and affairs in your hand.” (03:13)

---

2. Understanding Stocks and Why to Invest

(04:27 – 05:41)

• Explaining Public vs. Private Companies

  • Public companies (e.g., Tesla, Microsoft) are available for anyone to buy shares; private companies are privately owned.
  • “...as their value goes up, your investment going to go up over the course of time as well, right?”

• Investing and Inflation

  • Investing is presented as a key strategy to beat inflation: “Only way to beat inflation is to actually invest, right? Because that’s how your money’s actually working for you over the course of time.” (04:52)

---

3. Setting Up and Funding Your Account

(05:41 – 06:02 & 10:21 – 10:32)

• Steps to Open an Account

  • Download the app, provide personal information (like Social Security number for legal requirements), and link a bank account.
  • Demonstrates simplicity and necessity:
    • “You gotta provide this information.” (05:38)
    • “Then from there you link your bank account to it... and then that funding goes both ways.” (05:41)

• Transferring Money In and Out

  • Transfers can go both directions between your bank and brokerage.
  • Timing for transfers is discussed in detail (see next section for hacks).

---

4. Funding Hacks: Faster Transfers

(10:32 – 11:35)

• ACH vs. Wire Transfers
  • Standard ACH deposits can take 3–7 days, especially for new accounts.
  • Time in the market matters, so faster deposits can be important.
  • HACK: Use wire transfers with your brokerage’s wiring instructions:
    • “Let’s say I’m sending $5,000 to my E*TRADE account. That’s going to get there within 30 minutes rather than waiting five to seven days.” (10:50)
    • “Five to seven days in the market can change a lot, right?” (11:20)

---

5. Money Market Pitfall: You’re Not Invested Yet!

(11:35 – 13:01)

• Common Mistake with Brokerages and 401(k)s

  • “When your money goes into a brokerage account, it goes into what’s called the money market. That’s like a savings account pretty much for a brokerage account.”
  • Many people mistakenly believe the transfer itself is investing, but the money just sits there until you choose an investment:
    • “Don’t think that, okay, I opened up Fidelity. I link it to my Chase bank account. I put $2,000 from Chase into Fidelity, and now I’m invested into the stock market. That’s not quite how it works.” (12:23)

• Importance of Making an Investment Selection

  • “Just because you open it, you put it in. Now from there, you have to actually put into investment.” (12:57)

---

6. Choosing the Right Brokerage for Your Goals

(13:01 – 14:07)

• Platform Preferences and Use Cases
  • For long-term investing: Vanguard and Fidelity are favored.
    • “Vanguard for long term. I prefer for strictly long term and. Or Fidelity. You can’t go wrong if that’s the mindset. I’m buying and holding this for at least 10 years.” (13:24)
  • For information, news, and trading: E*TRADE, Robinhood, M1 Finance are highlighted.
    • “E*TRADE, Robinhood, M1 Finance... they provide even more information and news and other things that is helpful to the user.” (13:42)
  • Vanguard isn’t recommended for active trading; it’s for those “purposely, intently trying to invest.” (13:57)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is about you. You need to make sure you have your own brokerage account. You're doing your own investing, you're taking your own finances and affairs in your hand.” (03:13)
• “Only way to beat inflation is to actually invest, right? Because that's how your money's actually working for you over the course of time.” (04:52)
• “You gotta provide this information.” (05:38)
• “Let’s say I’m sending $5,000 to my E*TRADE account. That’s going to get there within 30 minutes rather than waiting five to seven days.” (10:50)
• “Don’t think that, okay, I opened up Fidelity. I link it to my Chase bank account. I put $2,000 from Chase into Fidelity, and now I’m invested into the stock market. That’s not quite how it works.” (12:23)
• “Vanguard for long term. I prefer for strictly long term and. Or Fidelity. You can’t go wrong if that’s the mindset.” (13:24)

---

Timestamps to Key Segments

• [02:32] – Starting your investment journey and basics of brokerage accounts
• [04:27] – What is a stock? Public vs. private companies and why invest
• [05:41] – How to set up and fund a brokerage account
• [10:32] – Hack: speeding up account funding using wire transfers
• [11:35] – Money market accounts and the mistake of not investing after funding
• [13:01] – Comparing brokerages and how to pick the right one for your needs

---

Conclusion

This Earn Your Leisure episode provides a practical, down-to-earth guide for anyone wanting to buy stocks for the first time. Bilal and Millings emphasize empowering listeners to take control of their financial futures, break down every step in clear language, and arm their audience with the tools (and hacks) needed for smart investing. Whether you’re just planning to open your first account or want to optimize your set-up, this episode gives you the confidence and know-how to get started.

---

Transcript

[Indeed Host]

Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. You need the right person with the right background who can move your business forward. If you want candidates who truly match what you're looking for, trust Indeed Sponsored Jobs With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, your post stands out to quality candidates who actually fit the role. According To Indeed data, 90% are more likely to be hired and trusted by 1.6 million companies. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. Now with Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast13 just go to Indeed.com podcast13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed. On this podcast. Indeed.com podcast 13 terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the right way with Indeed.

[iHeartRadio Advertiser]

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting? Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. Learn how podcasting can help your business. Call 844-844-IHeart.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Hey, I'm Kyle McLaughlin. You might know me as that guy from Twin Peaks, Sex and the City, or just the Internet Stand. I have a new podcast called what Are We Even Doing? Where I embark on a noble quest to understand the brilliant chaos of youth culture. Each week I invite someone fascinating to join me to talk about navigating this high speed rollercoaster we call reality. Join me and my delightful guests every Thursday and let's get weird together in a good way. Listen to what Are We Even doing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Graves County Narrator]

The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Graves County Participant]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.

[Graves County Narrator]

Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Graves County Participant]

So how to start investing in stocks? And the three of us get this question all the time. So we wanted to lead with that and we want to break it down as simply as we can. So first you need a brokerage account. What is a brokerage account? Okay, a brokerage account simply guys allows you to buy stocks, sell Stocks invest. Okay. And so some of the more notable names you might know of or me be familiar with or you may not be Vanguard, Fidelity. Those are two ones that has just been around for, for the test of time now. And if you are thinking long term, these two, these two entities are ones you want to consider. Fidelity, Vanguard you want to think about. Once I do take this step to invest. Let me open up a Fidelity account. Let me open up a Vanguard account. You want to start there with the premise in mind that you are thinking long term. Then you have everything from more, more newer apps, more user friendly ones like Robinhood, Weboy Interactive Brokers, TastyTrace, to name a few. So listen guys, it starts with before you can invest you have to have a brokerage account to even deploy your money to. Okay. And this is lateral from your job. This is separate from whatever you are getting at your place of employment. This is, this is on you. The, the book came out. We want to make sure this book become a number one bestseller. You deserve. This is about you. This is about you guys. Okay? And so you need to make sure you have your own brokerage account. You're doing your, your own investing, you're taking your, you taking your own finances and affairs in your hand. Okay, next up and I'll take it.

[Financial Advisor]

I'll take it even step further too because I want to kind of expand on that a little bit. Because for some people like to even why investing is important or what a stock is, right. Like we talk about stocks as far as that's ownership and there's private companies and then there's public companies, right? So the public companies, anybody can own it like Tesla, like Microsoft. A private company is like earn your leisure where only we own it, right. So it's important to invest in these public companies because as their value goes up your investment going to go up over the course of time as well, right. So the only way we talk about inflation, only way to beat inflation is to actually invest, right? Because that's how your money's actually working for you over the course of time. But another question that I get about the brokerage is like even like how to set it up. And it's, it's really not too complicated. Guys like you go to the app store and you download Charles Schwab is another one or you download Fidelity and all of these, these, these apps and platforms have similar type of things where you just got to fill in your information. So they have to, it's called like know your customer, right. So they'll Ask you, you're like your social. They actually your, your, your number, your email. You have to provide this information, guys. You can't try to.

[Financial Advisor Colleague]

I ain't putting my social in there.

[Financial Advisor]

You gotta provide, you gotta provide this information.

[Financial Advisor Colleague]

Yeah.

[Financial Advisor]

And then from there you link your bank account to it. This is important for people to fully understand as well because they're like, well, how do I get money into the account? Right, you gotta fund it. You link your bank account to it and then you fund it and then that, that funding goes both ways. So you put money in from your bank account, $2,000 from my bank account into Fidelity.

[iHeartRadio Advertiser]

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Call 844-844-iHeart to get started. That's 844-844-iheart. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers are into true crime, sports, comedy, culture, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. And all this reach means everything. Just think about the universal marketing formula. The number of consumers who hear your message times the response rate equals the results. Now let's get those results growing for you. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show you at iHeartadvertising.com that's iHeartadvertising.com or call 844-844 iHeart. One more time, call 844-844-IHeart and get podcasting working for you.

[Graves County Participant]

All I know is what I've been told and that to have truth is a whole lie.

[Graves County Narrator]

For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Financial Advisor]

I'm telling you.

[Graves County Participant]

We know Quincy killed her.

[Graves County Narrator]

We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[Indeed Host]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

[Graves County Narrator]

My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Graves County Participant]

I did not know her and I did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said. They literally made me say that I.

[Hunter, Host of Hunting for Answers]

Took a match and struck and threw it on her.

[Graves County Participant]

They made me say that I poured gas on her.

[Graves County Narrator]

From Lava For Good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

[Graves County Participant]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.

[Graves County Narrator]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcast.

[Hunter, Host of Hunting for Answers]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our Girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Financial Advisor]

And then when it's time to move from money from fidelity to your bank account. Vice versa. Yeah, vice versa. But where it's held that this is important. But I know we're gonna talk about retirement.

[Financial Advisor Colleague]

Can I give them a hack from what you just said, this is important too because that transaction time it can if you're a new customer, that might take five to seven days. And so for us having money that we sent and we don't know where it's going and it's taking five to seven days. It's a new account opening. You could feel a little angst, especially.

[Financial Advisor]

Robin Hood.

[Financial Advisor Colleague]

But what you can do, right? And this is, and this is a good tip, I use E Trade. And so when E Trade I found out the wire instructions, right? So when I get the wire instructions that come from E Trade. Now, when I send the money, right, let's say I'm sending $5,000 to my e Trade account. That's going to get there within 30 minutes rather than waiting five to seven days. And so, yes, you can do the ACH transfers, which take three to five or maybe five to seven if it's your new account. Or you can't get your brokerage's wire information and have that money expedited. Because five to seven days in the market can change a lot, right? Like we, we saw over the past week, right? On Monday, it's up by Friday. You could have lost a lot or you could have gained a lot. So you want to make sure that your money gets there in expedited fashion. Why? Transfers is another way that you can, you can hack that.

[Financial Advisor]

And the last thing I'll say before we move on is that I, I used to get this a lot. When people Talk about their 401ks, they have a 401k, the money's coming out of it, that they're checking. Their money's coming out of their paycheck and they automatically assume that it's being invested. And I asked like, what are you invested in? They're like, I don't know. Did not see their statements. And they're not actually invested in anything. When your money goes into a brokerage account, it goes into what's called the money market. That's like a savings account pretty much for a brokerage account. Like, it's sitting on the sideline. You have to direct where the money's going. So the next thing we'll talk about, like actual investments. But don't think that, okay, I opened up Fidelity. I link it to my Chase bank account. I put $2,000 from Chase into Fidelity, and now I'm invested into the stock market. You, that's not, you're not investing. But like I said, that's not quite how it works. That actually happened. Like I said, I've seen that. I see that. I saw that with retirement when I was a financial adv. To see that with retirements, people have money. They used to have like 20, $50,000 into their retirement account. Because they didn't. They didn't. They were never fully educated that you had to pick something. And they just. The default for their retirement plans was a money market account until they decided what they wanted to do with the money. They never decided what they wanted to do with the money. And the money was not growing. It's not a money market is not invested right. That's like a point zero. It's sitting on. It's sitting on a salah. So that's just important. Just because you open it, you put it in. Now from there you have to actually put into investment.

[Financial Advisor Colleague]

That's a fact. Chris, I'm gonna go back up to this this slide where we're looking at the. The brokerages.

[Graves County Participant]

Yeah.

[Financial Advisor Colleague]

Is there one that you prefer or the other or is this case by case like I know E trade is not on there. Everybody eylu knows I love E Trade but I'm using. So I'm using that because for informational purposes it. It's easier for me. I love the way that we can get information. Is there. Is there one that is preferred or.

[Graves County Participant]

The other Vanguard for long term. I prefer for strictly long term and. Or Fidelity. You can't go wrong if that's the mindset. I'm buying and holding this for at least 10 years. Vanguard and Fidelity are phenomenal. E Trade, Robin Hood, M1 Finance. Some of those other ones are good too because they provide even more information and news and other things that is helpful to the user. So there's no order. But except for the long term piece, Fidelity and Vanguard are the ones you're not trying to trade in those you. Well, Vanguard, at least you're not using that to be a trader. You trying to. You're purposely intently trying to invest.

[Indeed Host]

Hiring isn't just about finding someone willing to take the job. You need the right person with the right background who can move your business forward. If you want candidates who truly match what you're looking for, trust Indeed Sponsored Jobs. With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, your post stands out to quality candidates who actually fit the role. According To Indeed data, 90% are more likely to be hired and trusted by 1.6 million companies. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. Now with Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves. @ Indeed.com podcast13 just go to Indeed.com podcast13 right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast 13 terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the Right way with Indeed.

[Kyle McLaughlin]

Hey, I'm Kyle McLaughlin. You might know me as that guy from Twin Peaks, Sex and the City or just the Internet Stand. I have a new podcast called what Is what Are We Even Doing? Where I embark on a noble quest to understand the brilliant chaos of youth culture. Each week I invite someone fascinating to join me to talk about navigating this high speed rollercoaster we call reality. Join me and my delightful guests every Thursday and let's get weird together in a good way. Listen to what Are We Even doing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Graves County Narrator]

The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Graves County Participant]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.

[Graves County Narrator]

Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Hunter, Host of Hunting for Answers]

Short on time, but big on true crime. On a recent episode of the podcast Hunting for Answers, I highlighted the story of 19 year old Lachey Dungee. But she never knocked on that door. She never made it inside. And that text message would be the last time anyone would ever hear from her. Listen to Hunting for Answers from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.