So, okay GrkS. Say I have access to reasonable assets available for investment. Done the standard retirement portfolio, mutual funds & real estate. Now I want to get into stocks. In particular a certain area of the technology sector that I know quite a lot about. I have a couple specific companies in mind, three in fact.

Would something like etrade let me get started? Or should I go thru my financial planner (she's more conservative than we are--we ignored her advice a few years ago and made $$$).

I'm in Canada, and we have these accounts called 'self directed RRSPs'. They are basically like 401Ks. What do you think of these? Useful, or just a chance for the banks to make more service charges (the accounts are pricey).