STOCK DEFINITION

This might be a little different from what your definition of stock is. Stock definition is really plane and simple, stock is a share in the ownership of a company; It represents a claim on the company assets and earnings. As you acquire more stocks, your ownership stake in the company becomes greater. People all over have different name for stock, some call it equity while others call it share and people just like me and you call it stock. This is all the same thing.

HOW YOU BECOME AN OWNER

Once you buy a company's stock, it authomatically makes you one of the owners (shareholders) of that company and as such you have a claim (which is usually small/big depending on your input) to all that the company owns. Yes, this technically means that you own a piece of the company's furniture, every trademark and every contract of the company. as an owner, you are entitled to your share of the company's earnings as well as any voting rights attached to the stock. You are part of the decision makers.

ADVANTAGE OF SHARE CERTIFICATE

A stock represented by a share certificate. This is a fancy piece of a paper that is proof of your ownership. In today's computer age, you won't actually get to see this document because your broker keeps these records electronically, which is also known as holding share "in street name". This is done to make the shares easier to trade. In the past, when a person wanted to sell his or her shares, that person physically took the certificates down to the broker. Now trading with a click of the mouse or a phone call makes life easier for everybody.

Being a shareholder of a public company does not mean you have a say in the day-to-day running of the business. Instead one vote per share to elect the board of directors at annual meeting is the extent of which you have a say in the company. For instance, being a unilever shareholder doesn't mean you can call up to the MD and tell him how you think the company shoud be run in the same line of thinking, being a shareholder of a company doesn't mean you can walk into the factory and grab a free case of their product.