For many, the stock market is a mystery. But investing can be a great way to build wealth, and you need to know how to get started. The more you learn about stocks, the more you understand how the market works, and it won’t seem intimidating.

Some 39 percent of adults say they have no money invested in the stock market, according to a survey from Bankrate that polled more than 2,500 people. Fifty-six percent said lack of resources had stopped them from investing; 32 percent said it was a lack of knowledge. 

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“People who aren’t investing predominantly say it’s because they don’t have the money available to invest, or they don’t understand stocks,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate, told Grow, a money management website from Acorns investment app.

Blacks Investors on the Rise

More Black Americans became first-time investors in 2020 than any other year, the Ariel Investments-Schwab Black Investor Survey found. Last year, there were 15 percent new Black investors compared to only 4 percent new white investors.

The interest in the stock market among younger Blacks may help to close the wealth gap. There’s a nearly equal number of younger Black investors against their white counterparts under 40 years old, according to personal finance expert and president of Charles Schwab Foundation Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, as she told Yahoo Finance Live.

“Black Americans are talking more today about all aspects of money — debt, paying for college, and the stock market. And that’s the beginning of financial security because it demystifies some of the language around money,” she says.

Investing Basics

Shares: First off, a share of stock is a piece of the ownership of a company. When you purchase a share of stock, you’re entitled to a small fraction of the assets and earnings of that company, as outlined by How Things Work.

To learn more about investment basics and the resources needed, read more here on Finurah.com.