Even experienced investors find the stock market tricky at times. You can be extremely successful, or you could end up losing money. This article will give you some great advice that will help you pick the right investments and earn you a solid return.

Maintain diversity in your investment choices. You don’t want to have all of your eggs in a single basket. If you decided to put all of your money into one specific investment and the company fails, then you have just lost your entire investment and your loss is total.

Dividend Yield

Set your sights on stocks that produce more than the historical 10% average, which an index fund can just as easily supply. To get an idea of what the return on an individual stock might be, find the dividend yield, as well as the stock’s projected earnings rate of growth and then add them together. A stock which yields two percent but has twelve percent earnings growth is significantly better than the dividend yield suggests.

Don’t buy into any talk of market timing. Over the course of history, it has been shown that steady investments over time yield the greatest returns. Figure out how much of your monthly income you are comfortable investing. Make sure you continue to invest on a regular basis.

Short Selling

Consider short selling. Short selling is when you take advantage of loaning shares. The borrower hopes that the price of the shares drops before the date they have to be returned, making a profit on the difference. After this, the shares can be purchased again after the stock drops.

Know your areas of competence and stay within them. If you do have a financial adviser to help you, invest in the the companies you are familiar with. Invest in companies you understand over companies you know nothing about. If you want to invest in an industry you are not familiar with, seek the assistance of an adviser.

It is not wise to invest large amounts of money in the company you work for. Although buying stocks in your employer’s company may seem loyal, it does carry a significant risk. Should something go wrong with the company, you are looking at losing both your portfolio and your paycheck at the same time. However, if employees can buy company shares at a nice discount, it can be worth investing some of your money in the company.

Keep it simple and small when you are first starting out. A big mistake beginners make is trying to apply everything they have heard of at once. You will eventually see that you are saving a lot of money this way.

As you can see by now, there are many things that can be done to ensure your money remains safe while you take advantage of the stock market. Instead of needlessly risking your hard earned money, make sure that you take heed of the advice presented above, as doing so will ensure that you don’t make any bad investments.