You can hold it for life, then pass it on as part of your inheritance to your kids. Nothing stopping that.
"If you want to sell, but nobody wants to buy?..."
Same thing as if you have a car you own. There will always be SOMEONE who wants to buy, but you may have to go lower on the price than you wanted.
there is a 3rd way
you can sell stocks (even though you dont own any), then buy then back at a lower price
This can ONLY be done if the broker knows you well and allows it.
AND its done in the same trading period
(all selling/buying of stocks is done within set periods
At the end of this period all trades are reconciled
(so if you say buy 3000 (for X) then later sell 2000 (for Y) in that period at the end of it (Y-X) will be billed to your account. IF X is greater than Y the difference will be debitted from your account or you will be expected to pay the difference. AND 3000-2000=1000 shares will be credited to your online portfolio (or you will sent a share certificate for 1000 shares
So its possible to sell 3000 shares for X THEN buy 3000 shares later for Y
when the trades are reconciled you have a net of zero shares and a profit (hopefully) of X-Y
If the shares fall in price then Y becomes greater than X and you make a profit
Even better is - you never actually paid out X in the 1st place, Since all your trades are reconciled at the end of the period (i.e you dont pay for shares when you buy them- you pay at the end of the period), your only financial transaction is the receipt of the profit (Y-X)
(i.e you receive a profit with no actual financial outlay)
Problem comes if shares increase after you sold, so that Y becomes larger than X
Since you MUST buy them in the period you can lose a LOT of money in a short time)
Stocks represents "share" of underying company's business. As long as the business is making money and expanding, so will the stock price, and dividend payment. When its business suffer losses or worst case bankrupcy, profits stops and stock price decline. So there is no such thing as "receive share of profit forever"
Most of large cap stocks have heavy trading volume, so there will always be a buyer on the market. But prices can fluctuate wildly. There is always a buyer of your share, but at lowest possible price market can bear. Your goal is to sell your shares at a profit (higher than your original purchasing price).
Very small cap stocks or penny stocks sometime have thin volumes, and it is possible you can't find buyers, so your broker will lower the price until somebody steps in to buy it. (assuming you submit market order).
Thats what I thought about gm stock about 8-9 yrs ago. There is no forever although Warren Buffett has had an amazing run with KO.
You need to conduct research. I have an IRA and 401k that im keeping to pass on to my kids. I have a pension from the military that i started receiving this year at 38yrs old plus im working on a 2nd pension from my state that i will receive at 58.
My kids will be okay because they will obtain my houses, money and their college is paid for....lucky little brats
So basically, if I understood right, there are 2 ways you make money on the stock market.
- You can either buy stocks for X and sell them for more money.
- Or you can make money with the dividend of the profit the company you bought a share of makes.
So why can't you just buy some stocks and then receive a share of the profits forever?
And also, if you buy some stocks and you want to sell them, but nobody wants to buy them. Do you stay with them? What happens then?
