Education on Stocks

What is a stock?
A stock (also known as equity) is a security that represents the ownership of a fraction of a corporation. This entitles the owner of the stock to a proportion of the corporation's assets and profits equal to how much stock they own. Units of stock are called "shares." Companies issue stock shares to raise money in order to finance operational needs and to fuel growth, and investors buy those stock shares for the opportunity to generate a return on their investment

How do stocks earn you money?
Dividend payments are a distribution of a company's profits per share that many stocks pay out. They're a bonus for shareholders that's normally paid in cash but sometimes in additional shares of stock. They're usually issued every quarter.