What is a Stock?
A stock is representation of your part ownership in a company. When you buy a stock you are actually buying a "share" of a company. People who own stocks in a company are "shareholders" for the company.
How Does Buying Stock Work?
Previously, if you wanted to buy stock you would have to do it through a broker. You would contact your broker, let them know how much of a stock you wanted to buy, and then they would do the transaction for you and charge you a commission fee. Now there are commission-free trading apps that allow anyone to trade on the market. If you don't feel comfortable managing your own stocks or finances you could hire a financial manager to choose which stocks to buy and sell for you.