Last Updated: Mar 21, 2024 Value Broking 11 Mins 2.7K

Shares are parts of a company’s capital. Each share represents a unit of ownership. When an organization wants to generate cash, it sells its shares. An Initial Public Offering (IPO) occurs when a corporation makes a part of its stock available for purchase by traders or investors. Companies gain from this activity since they obtain funding for various uses. You may be wondering now why do people buy shares? Here is detailed information about why to invest in shares. 

Why People Invest in Shares?

Here are some of the reasons why people invest in shares:

  • Creating Wealth
  • Possibilities for future ownership
  • Portfolio diversification
  • Reducing loss
  • Easy access to funds
  • Risk management
  • The additional benefit of dividends

Creating Wealth

Investing in stocks is fundamentally about building and growing wealth. The most fundamental suggestion for traders on investing money in the stock market is ‘buy cheap, sell high.’ Building wealth is one of the main reasons why people buy shares.
rnAnother fundamental of the stock market for wealth growth is long-term investing. Since businesses have a lifetime, investors must allow their shares adequate time to create value. It is only achievable if people remain invested in a specific stock for an extended length of time.

Possibilities for Future Ownership

Purchasing stock in a firm indicates that the shareholder holds a portion of the company, allowing him to benefit from the company’s profits. The percentage of the firm he owns equals the percentage of shares he has acquired. The company will keep him up to speed on company news and developments as a partial owner.

Portfolio Diversification

Investing in stocks diversifies an investor’s portfolio. Apart from his primary source of income, the portfolio may now provide investors with many streams of income, including real estate, equities, and interest generated on bank accounts.

Reducing Loss

The Indian stock market comprises a variety of firms, allowing investors to spread their holdings rather than investing all of their resources in one. If one company’s losses cause part of its shares to depreciate, the other’s achievements will assist level out its losses.

Easy Access to Funds

Money invested in certain forms of investments, like fixed deposits, cannot be obtained until the funds mature. Easy access to funds online is one of the main reasons why people invest in shares. 

On the other hand, buying shares permits investors to trade them at any time and without restriction. The completion of the transaction happens right after that. 

Risk Management

When it comes to investing in the stock market, the most common concern is sudden losses. To avoid this, you can use a stop loss, a tool that allows investors to instruct their brokers on a specific price limit. If the price of their shares goes below this threshold, they will be immediately sold, protecting them from significant losses.

The Additional Benefit of Dividends

A dividend is a payment made to investors based on a company’s total earnings. The investor can get the sum in cash or additional shares. Because giving returns to shareholders is not required, it is critical to invest prudently and find a trustworthy firm. Most multinational organizations and established enterprises, on the other hand, pay dividends to broaden their shareholder base.

Stock Market for Beginners

Investing in the stock market is a long process that may enable you to manage your money. Investing in stocks can be intimidating, especially if you are just getting started because it may look tough. Thus, you have to know why people invest in shares. 

The chance of more significant returns on your investment and the development of financial discipline are two of the top reasons to make investments. Investing in equities, for example, has resulted in a greater rate of return over the previous decade compared to actual saving products such as fixed deposits. Periodic investments are still a habit of financial discipline, motivating you to save and invest wisely.

On the stock exchange, you cannot purchase or sell immediately. You must go through brokers licensed to trade on the marketplace or stock brokerage firms that enable you to trade on their platform. The procedure is straightforward:

  • You must first create a trading account with a stockbroker or any stock brokerage platform to start investing. 
  • The stockbroker opens a Demat account for you by the stockbroker, or the stock trading platform opens a Demat account for you. 
  • After that, you can connect these two accounts to your bank account.
  • To create a trading and Demat account, you must present Know Your Customer (KYC) paperwork, including verification via government-issued identity documents such as your PAN card or Aadhaar card.
  • Most brokers and trading platforms now feature an online KYC procedure that allows you to register an account in a matter of days by digitally providing your verification information.
  • Once your account is open, you may trade with any stockbroker or brokerage firm online using a portal or over the phone.

How the Stock Market Works

Now, you know why people buy shares and may be wondering how the stock market works? Well, here is the answer. The stock market operates through exchanges, such as the Bombay Stock  Exchange (BSE) and the India International Exchange (INX). You can see the list of a company’s stock on an exchange through a process known as Initial Public Offering, or IPO. Investors buy those shares, allowing the company to raise funds to expand its marketing. Investors can then purchase and sell these stocks among themselves while the exchange monitors each listed stock’s supply and demand. 

This supply and demand help control each security’s price or the levels at which stock market investors and traders are ready to purchase and sell. 

Purchasers offer a “bid,” or the most they’re willing to pay, which is usually less than the amount sellers “ask” for in exchange. The bid-ask spread is the bid amount and asks amount difference. A trade can only occur if a buyer raises his price or a seller lowers his. 

All of this may appear complicated, but computer algorithms handle the majority of calculations related to price-setting. If you purchase a stock, all the three parts, i.e., bid, ask, and the bid-ask spread, will be available on the broker’s website, but in many cases, the difference will be very little, which will be of almost no concern to both novice and long term investors. 

Benefits and Risks of Investing in Stocks

Investing in stocks has multiple risks:

The Danger of Capital Loss

When a firm performs poorly or the market perceives the company negatively, the share value may decrease below the amount you paid for the shares or even to zero. If a corporation falls bankrupt, its shares become effectively worthless, and it is likely to be delisted. When an administrator is appointed, he places the shareholders last on the list of other stakeholders to receive any cash.

Risk of Volatility

Share prices may be quite volatile, and investors should be cautious that their shares’ prices might move dramatically in a short period. It applies to individual stocks, sectors, or the market as a whole.

Market Danger

It is possible that the whole market may fall, influencing the prices and values of assets. Outside variables such as fluctuations in interest rates, in turn, impact market risk.

Following are a few advantages of investing in stocks:

Capital Increase

Capital Gain occurs when you sell a share for much more than you bought it. It happens when an individual sees a significant increase in share prices, and it is one of the long-term goals of investing in stocks.

Dividends

A dividend is a cash payment paid to investors as part of the company’s earnings after each fiscal year. The higher the unit size of one’s shareholdings, the more wealth one obtains.

Liquidity

By definition, listed shares are relatively liquid assets that can be purchased and traded swiftly on an exchange platform. There is no need to involve a broker or transferee, and the fee is generally modest compared to certain other investment products. Trading on a marketplace also allows you to sell a portion of your share parcels rather than the entire lot.

Shareholder Advantages

Some publicly traded corporations in various industry areas, such as entertainment, retail, hospitality, and financial services, provide extravagant discounts to investors when purchasing products or services from the firms or their associates. However, in most cases, one has to own many shares to be eligible for such advantages.

Difference Between Private Company Shares Versus a Public Company?

Your assets or security reflecting your equity in a private corporation are private equity. Their financial information on stocks and shares is not available to the general public. A person with knowledge of assets or belonging to the business sector may only speculate on their asset value.

Your assets or securities reflecting your shareholding in a public firm are public equity. Government agencies closely regulate this industry and report financial information on its stocks and assets. Everything, including their finances and income, is open to the public.

Private equity refers to your stock ownership or stocks in a private corporation. Stocks in a public firm that indicate your ownership are public equity. Private shareholders don’t publish financial records about their stocks, but public equity investors must make their stocks and banking information available.

Because of public pressure, private equity investors can focus on long-term prospects, whereas public shareholders must focus on short-term opportunities. Private equity aims at high-net-worth individuals, whereas public equity aims at the entire public, who can purchase, sell, or exchange these shares.

Private equity is less controlled by organizations since it does not have to account for public shareholders. Still, government organizations hold the public to share more because they must disclose information.

Private Shareholders can trade among themselves or with the general public, but only with the founder’s permission, whereas public shareholders can exchange these assets with the general public.

According to an SBI research, retail involvement in Indian stock markets is increasing, with 44.7 lakh retail investor accounts established during the first two months of this fiscal year. According to the study, the total number of individual investors in the share market grew by 142 lakh in FY21, with 122.5 lakh new accounts created at CDSL and 19.7 lakh at NSDL. According to NSE statistics, individual investors now account for 45 percent of overall stock market turnover, up from 39 percent in March of this year.

The stock market is a critical component of a free-market economic system. It helps businesses to raise capital and allows ordinary investors to share in the financial successes of the firms, profit from capital gains, and receive money through dividends—though losses are also conceivable. While big investors and expert investment managers have certain advantages due to their considerable capital, more expertise, and more vital risk-taking ability, the stock market strives to provide a fair playing field for ordinary people.

How Can You Profit when Share Price Increases?

To profit from direct shares, one must first understand the share price’s elements. The share price of a corporation does not change on its own. A combination of internal and environmental influences causes this. When a company’s stock looks to increase quicker, more people desire to buy it. It increases market demand for the stock, resulting in higher pricing. Furthermore, acquisition intentions, repurchase offers, incentive announcements, and share splits directly influence pricing.

Furthermore, macroeconomic factors like GDP, inflation, and interest rates influence performance and stock values. If the economy is performing well, demand for products and services will increase, resulting in more significant business profits. Furthermore, an increase in the money supply means higher prices, which means customers will purchase fewer products and services, reducing solid sales and earnings.

Conclusion

Several novice and experienced investors have made significant profits by planning and trading in equities over the years. However, individuals whose success recipe did not work caused everyone to think twice about joining the share market and investing in stocks.

When traders make the appropriate judgments, they have a better probability of profiting from those investments. After all, the stock market is definitely a volatile entity. However, stock trading offers numerous significant advantages over other types of investments.

Engaging with a broker to buy and sell equities on a stock exchange is necessary. Stockbrokers are pretty well in stock markets and closely monitor stock performance.

However, when making financial selections, an investor must use caution. Understanding the fundamentals and completing adequate research analysis can assist them in lowering their risk and gaining positive returns.