Yes. Historically, shares have delivered excellent returns for investors over the long term. There are two main ways of making money from shares. The first way is through increases in stock prices. If you buy a share and its price rises, you can sell it for a profit. For example, if you buy one Amazon share for $3,000 and Amazon’s share price rises to $3,500, you can sell it for a $500 profit (less trading commissions). This is known as generating a capital gain. The second way you can make money from shares is through dividends. Dividends are cash payments that companies pay to their shareholders out of their profits. Not all companies pay dividends to investors but many well-established companies such as Unilever, Diageo, and GlaxoSmithKline do. Dividends can be a good way to generate passive income. One of the easiest ways, however, is to simply invest in great companies for the long term. This is the approach that many top investors such as Warren Buffett and Terry Smith take.