Defining Stocks and Shares – The Subtle Differences Between Them

What are Stocks and Shares

People can get easily confused in the financial market with all terms and data that bombard each individual on a daily basis. Stocks and Shares are two of the terms that are causing confusion in the financial market, because of the blurred distinction between the two.

These two words are used interchangeably to refer to the pieces of paper that signifies ownership in a particular company, called stock certificates called a stock certificate but there is a tiny difference in the context.

The minor difference between stocks and shares has more to do with syntax rather than financial or legal factors, which is why most people ignore these slight differences. Stocks and shares are units of ownership in a corporation, company, or financial asset. These are documents that provide proof that a person holds an equal share in the company. However the differences in these terms are very subtle.

The Definition

Stock and shares, in general is used to describe the ownership of an individual in the gains that a company mar experiences through the course of time. A Stock is the ownership of any company, while shares refer to the ownership certificates of a particular company. These are the subtle differences between stocks and share. This is why if someone says they own shares the follow up question would always be in which company?

The bottom line is that stocks and shares are the same thing. There is little or no difference between Stock and shares, if there are differences it is too small to make a significant.