Hollywood loves the stock market. The chaos of the stock exchange floor, the tension of boiler room day-trading, devious power brokers making back room deals; it all makes for great drama. Then you have the true-to-life stock market stories in the news: insider trading, big money IPOs, the dot com bust. All of it is enough to make you steer clear of the market for good and travel down a safer investment path. But dont be frightened, history shows that long-term, theres no better place to put your money to watch it grow. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Stocks 101
Simply put, when you purchase stock in a company, you become part-owner of that company. Along with other shareholders, you all combine as investors in the business, and therefore reap its rewards, or suffer its losses. Stocks are most commonly divided into separate categories depending on the size and type of the company (e.g., mid-cap, small-cap, energy, tech, etc.).
While speculation can drive stock prices in the short term, its long-term company earnings that determine a stocks gains or losses. Speaking of short term, thats when stocks are extremely volatile. Over a span of just a few...