/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>55726580
>What I am having a hard time understanding is what exactly is a stock doing once you have purchased it?
A stock represents a small portion of a company. The value goes up or down depending on how valuable people think the company is.

>I guess what I am confused about is how do people become "wealthy" off stocks given that some stocks have such low dividends and require that you have many of them to even equal what you might make in a regular job in a week?
People who get rich with stocks started investing early, regularly put large amounts of their money into a diverse portfolio, and left it there. Years later, they can sell the stock and end up with a lot more money than what they started with.
The majority of investors make most of their money by working a job. Realistically, you need several million dollars worth of investments to get an average income from just the dividends or returns.

Just save as much money as you reasonably can now and put it into a fund that tracks the market as a whole like VOO, VOOG, SPY, etc.

>>55726630
>My friend explained it to me that money in the bank is doing nothing while money on the market is at least growing even though its volatile.
Your friend is right.
>Is the typical person buying stock when its low, the stock climbs and then they sell it?
The typical investor is a monkey with a robinhood account. 90% of investors underperform the market by trying to make money off short-term trades. Don't worry about this until you have more experience in the market.

>>55726668
$1500 in stock ISN'T the same as $1500 in the bank. The money in the bank loses value over time, but the money in the stock market increases its value over time. It costs you in the short-term, but pays big in the long-term. That's the point of investing.