What is a Stock? 

A stock is a tiny amount of ownership in a large business. Generally, if the business is doing well, then the stock will be worth more and more money, and it can even pay you some money back if it does well enough.

Doing fundamental analysis on a stock is basically checking up on the internal policies and politics of the company, making sure that there aren’t any problems that could hurt the company’s bottom line later on. Traditional investors will tell you that this information is more valuable than the technical analysis in determining the strength of the stock, but it really depends on your strategy for investing.

Technical analysis is the price ‘performance’ of the stock’s position as it is traded on the stock market. Since it is most profitable to buy a stock when it is low-priced, and sell it when it is at a higher price, people naturally want to dissect it’s minute by minute through year by year performance to try to calculate how it will do in the future, so they know when it’s best to sell.

The good news:
World-class investment banks have the tools to monitor all kinds of stocks and buy them when they are starting to do well and instantly sell them when they start to do poorly, even if no one is watching, which they will be. There is no faster way to grow your money at all than to properly invest it in the stock market.

The bad news:
Although they historically are the best growers, stocks are the least stable form of asset in the short-term. Even a rumor that the company is going to do badly could cause many stockholders to sell their stock and then each share would each be worth less. There is no absolute, guaranteed way for anyone to know if a stock is going to do great or poorly in the short term, but with the tools and experience of the world's best investment banks, you can get very, very close, even in the short term!

Onward to What is a Bond?