> It surprises most people that even your stockbroker, who is supposed to hold "your" shares for you, does not do so. Depends on contract with stockbroker. For

> It surprises most people that even your stockbroker, who is supposed to hold "your" shares for you, does not do so. Depends on contract with stockbroker. For example stockbroker i use cannot lend my shares unless i allow it in an amendment to contract, such amendment is required for things like margin trading, but not for basic investing. > If you combine all the gold people think they own, you end up with an amount of gold that is 100x greater than all gold in existence. This is true only if you ignore people who 'own' negative amount of gold/shares. If you count all people, you end with true amount.