Getting involved in the stock market is an exciting opportunity. Depending on how much you are willing to risk and what your investment goals are, there are countless ways to invest. However you invest, you should have a thorough knowledge of exactly how the market operates. Here you can indulge yourself in learning what it takes to become successful with investing.

If you are the owner of any common stocks, exercise your shareholder voting rights. Depending on the company charter, you might get voting ability when it comes down to electing board members or directors. Voting can happen during a business’s yearly shareholders’ meeting or by mail via proxy.

Be sure that you have a number of different investments. You don’t want all of your money riding on one stock alone, you want to have options. If you only invest in one company and it loses value or goes bankrupt, you stand a chance of losing everything.

If you are holding some common stock, you need to exercise your right to vote as a shareholder in the company. Dependent on the company’s charter, you might have the right to vote on certain proposals or to elect directors. Voting occurs during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting or through the mail by proxy voting.

Try and earn at least 10% a year since you can get close to that with an exchange traded fund. In order to calculate your possible return from a stock, you want to add together the dividend yield and the projected growth rate. So for example, with a stock that has a 12% earnings growth and that yields 2% could give you 14% return in the process.

A broker who works with both in-person and online purchases is a good choice if you want to have the advice of a full-service broker, but would also like to do your own purchasing decisions. This way, you can allocate a portion of funds to be managed by a pro and do the rest yourself. This strategy gives you both control and professional assistance in your investing.

Don’t over allocate your wealth in your own company’s stock. It’s ok to add support to your company by investing in their stock, but sometimes this can backfire. If your portfolio consists mainly of the company you work for, like it was with many employees at the doomed energy giant Enron, you could possibly face financial calamity. A safe stock portfolio should be a mix of different stocks.

Try to choose stocks capable of bringing in profits above those generally achieved by the market as a whole, because an index fund would be able to give you at least that much of a return. To figure out the return that a particular stock is likely to deliver, all you need to do is add the dividend yield to the projected rate of earnings growth. So for example, with a stock that has a 12% earnings growth and that yields 2% could give you 14% return in the process.

Investing in the stock market can be a fun and exciting opportunity no matter what you decide to do. Regardless of whether you choose stocks, options or mutual funds, use the advice in this piece in order to generate the kind of profits you truly desire.