24/09/2024
Wednesdays SHARE MUSING, a hopefully weekly post on this wonderous site, if it is welcome
Why do people invest in the stock market?
About a fifth of Americans, owned shares 70 years ago, so its hardly a new concept, the percentage of owners is very country specific, however.
23% of British people as of 2024 own shares.
Over half of Australians, nearly 10 million, own shares.
The concept is that you own a small part of a company, you have a "share" of the company. The company must be public, I would love to own shares in Aldi, but it is a private company, so I can't.
Over time the stockmarket is the biggest wealth winner in investing, even a passive investor, someone, who buys a bundle of 15 companies & forgets they bought them should see 10% returns over 50 years. The compounding effect of long term investing are staggering & a great way of protecting yourself against inflation.
Real house prices in the UK (real means adjusted for inflation), have gone from 100K in 1975 to 261K this year, shockingly low to many Australians.
The stockmarket has gone from the playground of the rich to accessible to teenagers on mobile phones, even $1,000 is enough to get you started, there is no stamp duty, or land tax associated with share ownership & OZ is one of only 3 countries in the world to offer "franking credits' (probably worthy of it's own post).
The most important thing is to get started, try & get up to 30% of your after tax income into the stockmarket, even if you're not a stock picker at the start, there's &
Thats what I'll be telling my kids when they hit 18.
