When you start investing in stocks, there is a lot you probably won’t initially be aware of. While the process of investing has a life long learning curve associated with it, there are a few things you should know from the very beginning.
Unfortunately, not everyone takes the time to learn these basics before they plunge in headlong. Often they spend a lot of time wondering why they fail. Hopefully this list will help to minimize your failures and maximize your successes.
Dividends are Your Friend
A lot of people who buy stocks never really think about the dividends some companies pay out. While you might be primarily interested in investing for capital gains, you might also want to buttress those gains with the payouts of a steady dividend or two. Oddly enough, stocks that pay dividends tend to do better from a price appreciation standpoint than their non-paying counterparts. If you reinvest your dividends, you can do even better. [Read more…]