Here are some terms to help you build an investment vocabulary. Securities refer to investments like stocks and bonds. The term originally described the pieces of paper, like stock certificates, that represented ownership. Publicly held describes a company whose stock is owned by outside investors. A private company goes public by issuing stock to such investors.
Secondary market refers to securities that are bought and sold following their original issue.
A stock exchange is a secondary market. Using a Broker To buy or sell stocks and bonds, you open an account with a brokerage house , or investment firm. Stockbrokers working for those firms take orders and either relay them to the floor of an exchange, enter them in an exchange's computerized matching system, or trade them on an electronic stock market. Some brokerage houses, known as full service brokers , offer their clients a range of services, including advice about their portfolios, recommendations about trades, in-house research departments, and sometimes full scale financial planning. Discount brokers , by contrast, simply buy and sell stock at your instruction, without offering advice.