Small Business Loans

In parts one through three of my primer course on stocks, I said that the stock of the business was the original amount of money that went into founding it. I let you know that companies divide stocks into shares, which can be bought or sold to shareholders, who are people or companies that own one or more shares of stock and therefore “share ownership” of the company. I spoke about stock brokers who are people that will charge you to arrange the purchasing or selling of stock. Now a bit buying and selling stock.

As far as financing a purchase of stock, there are two ways to do it: purchase stock with money that is currently in the buyer’s ownership, or by buying stock on margin. When you purchase stock on margin you are buying stock with money that is borrowed against the stocks in the same account. In other words, you use the stock you already own as collateral to guarantee that you can repay your loan. Otherwise, the stockbroker can sell the collateral to repay the money.

Selling stock is pretty much the same idea as buying stock. Typically, the investor is going to want to buy low and sell high. After a broker takes out his fee for arranging the transfer of stock from a seller to a buyer, the seller is entitled to all of the money.

The price of a stock will fluctuate with the theory of supply and demand, supply being the number of shares that are offered for sale at any one moment, demand being the number of shares investors want to buy at that exact same time. When buyers who want to purchase stock outnumber sellers, the price will grow. Eventually, sellers will see how high the stock is being sold for and start to sell their stock, or buyers will leave and equilibrium will be achieved between sellers and buyers. When sellers outnumber buyers, the price falls. Eventually buyers come back in or sellers leave, and equilibrium is again achieved. Therefore, the value of a share of a business at any given moment is determined by all investors voting with their money.

Obviously, all of this doesn’t explain how people decide the maximum price at which they are willing to buy or the minimum price at which they are willing to sell, people’s selling and buying habits, or which stock will be more valuable when. People spend lifetimes trying to figure this information out, it’s still up for debate, and if I knew, I wouldn’t be here typing about stock, I’d be in my fabulous mansion! But it is my hope that my primer course on stock was at least a little enlightening.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on commercial collection agencies. Unique version for reprint here: Understanding Stocks For Beginners Part Four.

In the middle of a recession, consumers seem to be racking up more and more debt and getting ahead of themselves financially. There are numerous reasons why credit cards could hurt you financially, but a debit card could be what is putting you over the limit.

A sound routine is to go to the bank, take out enough money to last you a week and then attempt to live on those funds. It is believed that relying on paper money in the wallet instead of plastic will increase budget discipline and reduce impulse purchases. By relying only on ten, twenty or even fifty dollar bills, you tend to buy only what is necessary as opposed to what you think you want or need.

Debit cards can be beneficial. They can prevent you from going overboard with a large purchase like you can with a credit card. It also keeps track of where and how you spend the money, but a small book for a dollar at the local pharmacy could become your new budget book.

What it comes down to, is that anything that makes it easier to spend money means that whoever has it will in fact spend more money. Evidence shows that consumers spend more when utilizing debit cards in place of cash. While they may not go overboard with large purchases, they do go overboard with minute purchases. Additionally, debit card users are more likely to overdraw their bank accounts. A story in the New York Times revealed that banks earn billions in overdraft fees that were sparked by small debit card purchases.

Debit card processing fees are very expensive for retailers. However card issuers allege that the higher sales from customers make the expense worth it. Many retailers, mom and pop stores in particular, are starting to protest debit card processing fees and asking customers to pay in cash.

Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection agency. She also writes stories on business, finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service