Ice, we took about $1,000, which was what we felt comfortable losing at the time, and set up an account with an online service. We've bought and sold various stocks over the years, and I think that the account grew by a couple of hundred bucks as of the last statement.

For my SEPIRA, we use our local bank's investment division, and our bonds we use a brokerage house. We also have a 403b and a 401k from old jobs which are small, so we've just left them in place.

Don't know if that helps to answer your questions.