Learning about the stock market

I have always wanted to learn how the stock market works but it has always remained an enigma because whenever I tried to find out more about it, I would ether find it too tedious that by the end of it I had no idea what I started off with. But the recent stock market fiasco was an impetus to understanding more about it.

This is just what I could manage to research about and understand over last weekend.

Share/stock is a document issued by a company, which entitles its holder to be one of the owners of the company.

The more shares you own, the more of the company you own, and the more control you have over the company’s operations. Companies sometimes issue different classes of shares, which have different privileges associated with them.

Active Shares

A company’s stock price depends on·        What investors think about the stock, not necessarily what the company is “worth.” (Companies that are growing quickly).

 ·        Company and market news.

·        Market forces

·        General investor opinions

Premium is the difference between the offer price and the face value.  

Public Markets

How each stock market works is dependent on its internal organization and government regulation. The NYSE is a non-profit corporation, while the NASDAQ earns money by providing trading services. Going public gives the company an opportunity for a potentially huge capital infusion, since millions of investors can now easily purchase shares. It also exposes the corporation to stricter regulatory control by government regulators. When a corporation decides to go public, after filing the necessary paperwork with the government and with the exchang, it makes an initial public offering (IPO). The company will decide how many shares to issue on the public market and the price it wants to sell them for. When all the shares in the IPO are sold, the company can use the proceeds to invest in the business.

  How does one trade in shares?

Every transaction in the stock exchange is carried out through licensed members called brokers. These brokers have a network of sub-brokers who provide them with orders. 

Types of stockbrokers

·        Full Service Broker - A full-service broker can provide a bunch of services such as investment research advice, tax planning and retirement planning.

·        Discount Broker – A discount broker let’s you buy and sell stocks at a low rate but doesn’t provide any investment advice.

·        Direct-Access Broker- A direct access broker lets you trade directly with the electronic communication network  Dividends are payments made by companies to their stockholders in order to share a portion of the profits

Dividends depends on

·        How many shares of stock they own

·        Total amount being divided up among the stockholders. (lump sum is divided up amongst all of their stockholders)

·        The total number of shares issued by the company 

When Dividends Are Paidwhenever the company reports a profit.( upto four times each year). The more time there is between dividend payments can indicate financial and profit problems within a company. 

Why Dividends Are Paid

·        sharing their profitable times with the stockholders

·        luring other investors into purchasing stock in the company that is paying the dividends. This can lead to increases in stock price and additional profit which can result in even more dividend payments. 

Getting the Most Out of Your Dividends

In order to get the most out of the dividends that you receive on your investments, it is generally recommended that you reinvest the dividends into the companies that pay them since increases in stock prices will affect the newly-purchased stock as well  

Stock options is Having the Rights to purchase a corporation’s stock at a specified price. . Kinds of  Stock options·        Employee stock options are a form of employee incentive, compensation or part of remuneration.

 ·        Performance Stock Options vest if pre-determined performance measures are achieved.  

Kinds of investment options:

 ·        401K Plans- The easiest and most popular. Most jobs offer this savings program where the money can be automatically deducted from your payroll check

·        Life Insurance
It allows you a sense of security and provides a valuable tax deduction

·        A bond is basically a promise note from the government or a private company. You agree to give them a set amount of money as a loan and they keep it for a set number of years with a predetermined amount of interest. This is typically a safe bet and one that is a good investment for a first time investor because there is little risk of losing your money.

·        Mutual Funds one person manages the money of several or many investors and invests in a list of various stocks to lessen the effect of any losses that may occur.

·        Real Estate includes your land and anything permanently attached to your piece of property. Real estate can make you a lot of money over time  

Demat- dematerialized account Just as you have to open an account with a bank, you need to open a demat account if you want to buy or sell stocks.  

Primary and secondary markets

·        primary markets securities are bought by way of public issue directly from the company. It is the only moment when the enterprise receives money in exchange for selling its financial assets. 

·        Secondary market share are traded between two investors. Most trading is done in the secondary market.  

Bulls and bears- uses for the terms that I didn’t know about earlier

Bulls

·        A market in which prices are rising.

·        A market participant who believes prices will move higher is called a “bull”.

·        A news item is considered bullish if it is expected to result in higher prices.   

Saving Vs. Investing

Savings

·        funds for emergencies

 ·         making specific purchases in the relatively near future (generally within two years)

·        to store funds and keep them safe. This is why savings are generally placed in interest-bearing accounts that are safe (such as those insured or guaranteed by the federal government) and liquid. However, these generally have low yields.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Chasing Value: 2009 blazing picks — Q3 review
• Evaluating a Stock
• Too Far, Too Fast – Barrons.com