Kylaaaaaaa <333 Love seeing you here on my blog!!! Kekekeke. Gosh I got at least 3 more video ideas from your comment right there. There is SO much to cover and I agree, fear and not understanding the market itself is a big obstacle. But just like you said, nothing's better for learning and building confidence than getting some skin in the game! Personally $25 sounds like too small an amount even just for learning... because it should be just enough so that you'll care and watch it and learn what it's doing, but not so much that it worries you and causes indigestion. I think the sweet spot is somewhere around $50 or $100!

Then when you buy your first stock, try to follow why its price goes up and down each day. You can use websites like forexfactory.com for economic data releases that are moving the market, or just Google the stock for news articles. You'll start to see what causes price swings and start to discern when you should be worried vs chalk it up to market overreacting... and many times it's just the 2nd option!

As for brokerages, Scottrade or Etrade are all good options... I use Fidelity which is good too! Their user interfaces are all kinda same same so the important factors to consider are: 1) how low are the stock trade commissions (they really matter for small investors like us), 2) account minimums, 3) if you want to also buy mutual funds what kind of commissions do they charge for those too.

Hope that was helpful!!