Why stocks were created

 

About growth-stocks

If you're going to invest in equities, understand the basics:  When the American stock market was invented in the late 18th century, it had one purpose:  profit sharing.  That's it. A company needed capital, you gave them some and they paid you dividends. Simple.  The only reason why share prices rose was that shares in any company were limited in number -- just like today. If you coveted shares in a company but couldn't find them, you'd have to offer a shareholder a premium over what he paid and voilå: you owned those shares. Hence the notion of "growth stocks." 

But equity shares were never meant to be traded as a means of investment, because trading shares isn't investment -- it's speculation with odds even less reliable than those in Las Vegas.  You're essentially praying for a growth stock's share value to go up.  In the meantime, the growth stock pays you nothing while you're a-wishing and a-hoping.

The beauty of dividends is that they're real value, not promises; they're cold, hard cash. Once you receive your dividends, nobody can take them from you.  They can't go down in value. They're the only tangible, solid profit you can honestly say you own.  Which is why if you're over fifty years of age, those are the only kinds of issues you want. Leave all the fly-by-night, media-hyped growth stocks to people either too young or too stupid to understand they're investing in air with no safety net or tangible benefit.