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> Stocks: you buy them because they increase earnings and eventually produce dividends at a very high yield to your initial investment. No, you buy them becaus

> Stocks: you buy them because they increase earnings and eventually produce dividends at a very high yield to your initial investment. No, you buy them because you want to support good, non-nefarious companies with sound business models. (I know that’s idealistic, but focusing purely on speculative uses of stocks is another extreme and paints a very incomplete picture.)

faustlast 6y ago
> No, you buy them because you want to support good, non-nefarious companies with sound business models. No, you really are buying the company stock because of current and future profit prospects. None of this supporting thing... a shareholder is just the owner of the share, nothing more.
- goblin89 6y ago
  Feel free to speak for yourself, but don't make it seem like everyone is the same. There are shareholders buying parts of companies purely for personal gain. They may not care if the business is shady, as long as the stock technically performs well they will join in and try to get out in time so that a less lucky investor is left holding the bag. There are also shareholders who approach investment with other goals in mind. They buy parts of companies that they believe in, maybe because they find the idea valuable and the implementation viable, and/or find the people running the company trustworthy. Under ideal conditions, those objectives align and a well-intentioned and well-managed initiative should succeed. In practice, of course, things don't always work like that. Some companies successfully abuse the system and inflate valuations riding on hype and speculative investments without a fundamentally good business model to back it, while others may fail despite being honest due to factors outside of their control. Investors of the latter kind don't need to be rosy-eyed and buy into companies with noble intentions that they believe will never succeed, but they would be wary of investing into something they know is profitable but ethically questionable.
jstanley 6y ago
If that's what you want to do, there's no need to buy shares. You can just donate.
- strogonoff 6y ago
  Why the dichotomy? I want to support good businesses. I also like me some return on investment, if possible. The mechanism of owning shares is great precisely because it addresses both wants (at least in theory).
webinvest 6y ago
Most of the time, you’re supporting your fellow investors rather than the company. In many cases, after an IPO, the company doesn’t care about the price of it’s non-voting shares anymore — only the other investor that you bought them from.

faustlast 6y ago

> No, you buy them because you want to support good, non-nefarious companies with sound business models. No, you really are buying the company stock because of current and future profit prospects. None of this supporting thing... a shareholder is just the owner of the share, nothing more.

goblin89 6y ago
Feel free to speak for yourself, but don't make it seem like everyone is the same. There are shareholders buying parts of companies purely for personal gain. They may not care if the business is shady, as long as the stock technically performs well they will join in and try to get out in time so that a less lucky investor is left holding the bag. There are also shareholders who approach investment with other goals in mind. They buy parts of companies that they believe in, maybe because they find the idea valuable and the implementation viable, and/or find the people running the company trustworthy. Under ideal conditions, those objectives align and a well-intentioned and well-managed initiative should succeed. In practice, of course, things don't always work like that. Some companies successfully abuse the system and inflate valuations riding on hype and speculative investments without a fundamentally good business model to back it, while others may fail despite being honest due to factors outside of their control. Investors of the latter kind don't need to be rosy-eyed and buy into companies with noble intentions that they believe will never succeed, but they would be wary of investing into something they know is profitable but ethically questionable.

jstanley 6y ago

If that's what you want to do, there's no need to buy shares. You can just donate.

strogonoff 6y ago
Why the dichotomy? I want to support good businesses. I also like me some return on investment, if possible. The mechanism of owning shares is great precisely because it addresses both wants (at least in theory).

webinvest 6y ago

Most of the time, you’re supporting your fellow investors rather than the company. In many cases, after an IPO, the company doesn’t care about the price of it’s non-voting shares anymore — only the other investor that you bought them from.