Let's Get Started with the Basics! Knowing Basic Types of Investments is Like Knowing the Difference Between Lipstick and Foundation!

Now that we have our shoe fetish under control and our savings plan in place, let’s start learning about investments. What’s the matter, that doesn’t sound fun? It would be easy to entice you with materialistic ideas: a red convertible Alfa Romeo, shopping in Milan, Italy, or con-verting a bedroom into a closet for all your clothes and shoes. How-ever, the real benefit to saving and being discipline with your money is independence. You have the power to control what happens to you; you’re not at the mercy of someone else’s decisions. 
We’ll review the basic types of investments so you know what it means to own a share of stock, mutual fund, cd, etc. 

Stocks

When you own even one share of stock, you own part of a publically traded company. Let’s say you buy a share of Coach. You now own part of the Coach Inc. and maybe some of their handbags! Most of the time, you buy shares of a stock because you believe the company has good growth potential. Let’s pretend Coach sold for $10 a share when you bought it. They come out with a spectacular handbag design, everyone buys them, their profits soar, and as a result, their stock now sell for $15 a share. You just made $5 for every share you own. 
Typically, buying one individual stock is more risky. You’re depend-ing on one single company to do well, grow, and not have any missteps. In other words, it’s like saying “Coach will always have to have better handbags than Louis Vuitton” (that’s probably not going to happen!). However, buying single stocks can make you earn more than anything else because a company can have explosive growth. 
Stocks trade all day long on the various stock exchanges. When you buy/sell a stock, you can either buy/sell it at whatever the price is right now or you can choose the price you want. When you chose a price, there’s no guarantee that you will get that price but it is nice to have the option.

Read more in my book, "A Woman's Place is in The Market"!  It's available for sale at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Womans-Place-Market-Caren-Laverty/dp/1945091754/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528668089&sr=8-1&keywords=caren+laverty or at Barnes & Nobles: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-womans-place-is-in-the-market-caren-laverty/1128709743?ean=9781945091759