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T. asked in Business & FinanceInvesting · 1 decade ago

what is the difference between stocks and bonds? which one is better investment?

whats their differnce? i have no idea about both.but well, since the banks do not give enough interest these days i thought maybe bonds or stocks are better.so what are they? how do they work? how is interest calculated? which one is less riskier? any advice?

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Go to your library or bookstore and get a book called

    Investing for Dummies or The Idiot's Guide to Investing.

    These books are very good.

    They explain everything clearly.

    Please get that book before you start investing.

    One note: Stay away from bond mutula funds...

  • 1 decade ago

    The question you need to answer is WHY you are investing. Different people have different goals. Is it for more income? For retirement? For someone's education? Plus how old are you and how long do you want to invest? How much risk are you willing to assume?

    These are all very critical questions and they will determine what kind of investments are right for you. Don't believe anyone who has a "one size fits all" kind of investment. For stocks typically you are talking about at least a 5 year investment period. If less, consider getting into bonds or a bond fund instead. And actually a bond fund is an excellent choice -- there are both more conservative as well as more aggressive funds to suit your purposes. CDs are in contrast a terrible way to save money. With inflation you are losing money on what you put in.

    If you want to get into the market but don't know what stock to pick, I would choose an index fund. Instead of throwing all your eggs into one basket (one company), index funds can expose you to dozens, hundreds, or thousands of companies all at once and so there is less risk. This protects you if any one company or industry runs into trouble. For bonds, the returns are less, but more solid.

    If you are thinking of retirement, consider a Roth IRA. Your money grows tax free, and when you retire you can withdraw it tax free as well.

    For more information, try looking at

    https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/vanguard/al...

    and play with it, showing funds with more or less risk.

    Do some reading online such as

    http://www.vanguard.com/us/insights

    and books like Investing for Dummies for a good intro.

  • 1 decade ago

    its very difficult to figure out in which country you are located. If you are in India or speaking from India perspective only then my answers apply.

    If you buy stocks it means you are a share holder partner in the company. If you buy bonds it means you are a lender and the company has borrowed money from you. Bonds are less riskier but there is a lock in period. you cant trade bonds day in and day out like stocks.

    Both are good in their own way, you should diversify and subscribe both, or rather in a broader set of investment instruments.

    Interest is applicable to bonds not to stocks there is no interest on stocks, on stocks you may get dividends and price appreciation/depreciation.

    for intraday trading tips you could visit my group.

    http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Intraday_Sto...

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    The inverse relationship between bonds and commodities replaced into studied. in this financial ruin, yet another necessary link will be further to the intermarket chain as a way to study the pricey relationship between bonds and difficulty-free stocks and a thanks to make money with none job search for. The inventory marketplace is inspired by ability of many aspects. 2 of the biggest are the course of inflation and expenses of interest. As a commonplace rule of thumb, increasing expenses of interest are bearish for stocks; falling expenses of interest are bullish. placed yet differently, a increasing bond marketplace is mostly bullish for stocks. Conversely, a falling bond marketplace is mostly bearish for stocks. it may also be shown that bonds oftentimes act as a range of one indicator of stocks. the purpose of this financial ruin is for instance the reliable effective linkage between bonds and stocks and to advise that a technical diagnosis of stocks is incomplete and not using a corresponding diagnosis of the bond marketplace. Treasury bond futures, that are turning out to be the most actively traded futures settlement contained in the international, were released on the Chicago Board of commerce in 1977. in conserving with the regularly happening concentration on the futures markets, our interest in this financial ruin will be targeted on the era considering the fact that then, with particular emphasis on the activities of the Nineteen Eighties. in course of the end of the e book, a glance backward somewhat further will show a larger historic attitude.

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