In the UK stock market, "shares" is the word and that's more descriptive. "Stocks" is more an American term. When you buy shares, you become a part-owner of the company. You have a share in it. If it does well, the price of the shares goes up and you can sell them at a profit. And you get a share of the company profits, paid out as dividends.
But to buy or sell shares, you need a stockbroker and they charge fees, which can wipe out your profit. So if you don't have buckets of money to play with, the way to go is what the Motley Fool suggests - FTSE index-tracker unit trusts. Put your money in one of these and it gets invested in all the biggest UK companies, the ones on the FTSE index. Because the index is there, the unit trust manager doesn't need to think and that keeps fees down. And the point with unit trusts is that it also keeps fees down because your money gets pooled with everyone else who invested in it, so the manager can make really big purchases and sales of shares at once. Instead of shares, you have units in the trust which can go up and down like shares do based on the value of the shares the fund has bought.
It's perhaps not as exciting but a FTSE fund does better than anything else 75% of the time and I've done well out of regular saving into one.
There is a LOT of money to be made but you have to be lucky. It is equally possible for you to lose the lot if the company goes bust.
You may want to start with reading "The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need" by Andrew Tobias, "The Elements of Investing by Charles Ellis, and "Five Rules to Investing" by Pat Dorsey.
There's a large amount of money to be lost in investing, when done by a novice (and indeed when done by a so-called 'expert').
Investing for Dummies is an excellent, readable text: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Investing-Dummie...
Start with Jim Cramer's books, before you invest any thing.
Do a lot of research on a company you want to invest in. Set your goal.
Hi
I am looking to invest money into stocks or something like google/ facebook. However, i have no idea how to invest or what 'stocks' even are. i have just come across them over the internet.
So my questions are..
How do i invest in something like google/ facebook?
What is meant by the term 'stocks' in investment?
Are there any books/ website which teach you how to invest?
Do any of you have any experiences with investing you would be willing to share? (Purely due to the fact that i can make my self more familiar with this kind of business).
Is there a large amount of money to be made in investing?
