Wall Street

I'm not exactly sure who Dow Jones is. I've never seen a picture of him. I do, however, hear his name a lot in regards to the stock market.

If you want to know how things got this bad you have to pay attention to the stock market. Our bankers not only took advantage of us, they took advantage of people in foreign countries. Our problems went global.

The G20 Summit was a good idea. Having a G20 is a good idea. Someone has to negotiate the protection of our form of government. Not everybody likes us.

The stock market, as I see it, is legalized gambling at its' finest. You start with a company. That company decides to expand, but doesn't have the money. They need investors who are willing to give them money. Now this company has been in business for several years. They provide a service that has a lot of potential for growth. They make a good profit. If they had the money to expand they could make an even bigger profit and share it with their stock holders. So the company decides to go public. They go through the process to get listed on The New York Stock Exchange, a.k.a. The Dow Jones.

Selling stock in their company is how the company raises the money they need to do whatever it is they want to do. People who buy the stock become shareholders in the company. If and when the company continues to grow and make a profit the stock will go up in value. A shareholder can sell his stock at any time the value of the stock goes up or down. The length of the investment and the amount of profit or loss you make determines what kind of investor you are.

I have to say, that for people like me, who knew relatively little about the stock market before it collapsed, the best place to learn about the stock market and whether or not you'd make a good investor is wallstreetsurvivor.com.

Before I put any of my own money into the stock market I want to know if I really need someone else to tell me which stocks to buy. Some stocks are relatively cheap these days, like General Motors for instance. A person can buy as little as $10 worth of stock at a time online and invest in their future, which is also the future of our country. We are all connected by citizenship.

While it is true that some people lost a lot of money on bad investments in the stock market that is only because they put a lot of money into it. Rule #1 in gambling, is never bet more than you can afford to lose.

President Obama has encouraged people who can afford it to begin investing in the stock market again. Maybe when I have $10 I can afford to lose I'll take him up on it. The stock market is more expensive than a lottery ticket, but less expensive than a trip to Vegas. Unless you're a day trader, however, the stock market isn't a place you're going to get a whole lot of instant gratification. Wise investors only put money in the stock market that they can afford to leave there for a minimum of five years.

Copyright © 2009 Annette Fortunato

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