by JA Harned

Created on: May 19, 2008   Last Updated: September 11, 2008

A lot of people have heard the saying you buy low and sell high, you can do this with your business, stock, buy in bulk and resell the item, but it mostly applies to Stocks. Some investors don't do their due diligence and do the research that is needed to buy stock.
Some people do the research and still don't understand some of they are doing, unless they actually are a stock broker.

First thing to do when you decide to buy stock would be research, if you don't want a broker to manage your money, research would be in play here. So in order for you to do the research lets go over a few terms that is used, so you can better understand what your looking at.

Brokerage: Where you can get advice and have them manage your account for you.

Direct Investment Plan: (DIPS) Direct Investment by an individual company for minimal cost that allows the shareholder to purchase directly from the company. Ex. Employees buy stock in the company that they work for.

Discount Broker: You could manage your own account still get some advice, a little less personal attention and is cheaper.

Dividend Reinvestment Plans: (DRIPS) Invest small amount of money at regular intervals or reinvesting the profit back into the stock. This reminds me of IRA's you invest weekly or monthly into the plan a set amount of money.

Investor: Someone who invests long term.

Limit Order: Order to buy and sell at a given price.

Marker Order: Order to Buy or Sell Stock.

Net Change: The difference between the opening and ending trade of the day is net change or net chg.

Price/Earnings: P/E Displays what the companies past stock price was and earnings over the past 4 quarters.

Share Trader: Someone who trades on a regular basis or daily.

Share Holders are people who own stock in the company. (you buy stock and hold it you will get a notice of board meetings and voting for board members.)

Ticker Symbol: Company Abbreviation. (F - Ford Motor Company, GM - General Motors, C - Citigroup)

Volume 100's: Refers to the volume of shares traded on the previous day. (Vol 100's)

Yield Percentage: YLD What the company pays as a percentage of the current price as a dividend.

Trading Stocks can be done in various ways, the two main type is Physical or on the trade floor, and virtual on computers electronically.

If you want to trade stock you can do your research and find some stock trading software that is available to help with your research.

References: www.sogotrade.com
www.investopedia.com

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