Do you want big returns but can never achieve them? A lot of people dream of making a profit in the stock market, but few really understand how it works. Read through this article and understand its contents to have a good understanding of how to make a profit through investing.

If you’d like the maximum cash amount from investing, create an investment plan. It is important to understand what your goals are and to have reasonable expectations. Understand that the stock market is largely unpredictable in the short term. Holding stocks for the long-term is a sound approach and generally more profitable than trying to make a quick buck.

Before investing in the stock market, learn how to invest. Jumping into the stock market without first understanding the volatility and day-to-day movement can be a risky and stressful move. A recommended time period to observe it would be for three years. This will give you a good idea of how the market is working and increase your chances of making wise investments.

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is a phrase that can definitely be applied when you are making stock market investments. Simplify your investment actions. Whether it is in examining past performance for prediction, or doing the actual trade, avoid over-complication of the process.

Voting Rights

Use your voting rights if you own some common stocks. Depending upon a given company’s charter, you may have voting rights when it comes to electing directors or proposals for major changes, such as mergers. The voting typically happens at the annual shareholders’ meeting, but you can also vote by mail.

A good goal for your stocks to achieve is a minimum of a 10 percent return on an annual basis, because any lower, you might as well just invest in an index fund for the same results. 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. For a yield of 2 percent and with 12 percent earnings growth, you are likely to have a 14 percent return.

Before investing in the stock market, learn how to invest. Especially before making that first investment, you should get in as much pre-trading study time of the market as you can. Ideally, you’d like to have watched the market for at least three years. If you wait long enough, you will know how the market functions and you will be making the right decisions.

Having read this article, you’re now ready to invest in the stock market. Change your strategy accordingly and build yourself a portfolio that you can be so proud of that you’ll want to show it to family and friends. Make the most of your talents and abilities, not to mention your earnings potential!