Investing

Share market investing isn’t reserved for hot shot stock brokers and retired millionaires, anyone can take part. While it’s not rocket science, there’s more involved than gambling on a stock tip you got over the back fence. You need to understand how the market works, research different stocks and balance your risk.

What are shares?

Shares, stocks, equities.. they’re different words for the same thing.

When you buy shares you buy part of a company. You become one of the owners, along with thousands of other people. You make money when shares go up in price, and you sell, and when the company pays a dividend. A dividend is your share of the profits and comes as cash.

Historically shares outperform all other types of investments. However, as we’ve seen over the last year, they’re a lot more volatile than things like property.