If the thought of investing in the stock market terrifies you, you are not alone. Individuals with very limited experience in stock investing are either horrified by scary stories of the average financier losing 50% of their portfolio valuefor example, in the 2 bear markets How Does Investing Work that have currently taken place in this millennium or are seduced by "hot suggestions" that bear the pledge of huge benefits but rarely settle.
The reality is that purchasing the stock exchange brings danger, but when approached in a disciplined way, it is one of the most effective ways to develop one's net worth. While the worth of one's home normally accounts for many of the net worth of the average specific, the majority of the wealthy and really abundant generally have most of their wealth invested in stocks.
Key Takeaways Stocks, or shares of a company, represent ownership equity in the firm, which offer investors voting rights along with a recurring claim on corporate profits in the form of capital gains and dividends. Stock exchange are where specific and institutional financiers come together to purchase and sell shares in a public location.

An individual or entity that owns 100,000 shares of a company with one million outstanding shares would have a 10% ownership stake in it. Most business have impressive shares that face the millions or billions. Common and Preferred Stock While there are two primary kinds of stocktypical and preferredthe term "equities" is associated with typical shares, as their combined market worth and trading volumes are many magnitudes larger than that of preferred shares.
Preferred shares are so called because they have choice over the typical shares in a company to get dividends As properties in the event of a liquidation. Common stock can be further categorized in terms of their voting rights. While the basic property of typical shares is that they should have equivalent ballot rightsone vote per share heldsome companies have double or several classes of stock with different ballot rights attached to each class.