What should you know?
For many people, the ‘Stock market’ conjures up visions of hundreds of riotous traders huddled together buying and selling complex instruments that mere mortals could never hope to understand.
This vision is encouraged by some in the industry who use this misconception to justify their unnecessarily high fees and focus us onto their products, rather than our personal financial needs and goals.
The reality is far simpler and straightforward.
The stock market is everything you see around you. From the phone in your pocket, to the food you eat, the car you drive, the house you live in, and the holidays you take. Everything that you spend money on in your day to day life is a part of the stock market.
Why should you care?
Owning a globally diversified portfolio of stocks makes you the part-owner of the companies we all buy goods and services from on a daily basis.
These companies work tirelessly on your behalf to generate profits without you having to do anything. As a stockholder, you receive your share of the profits (dividends) and benefit from increases in the share price as the companies you own grow and become more valuable.
Investing in stocks is a simple way to participate in, and benefit from, the continued advancement of the global economy and the human ingenuity that drives it. It doesn’t have to be costly or complicated and is something every family should take advantage of.
