Buying and selling shares in the stock market isn’t the same thing as buying or selling at a physical market, say like a food shop or market stall.

The Aussie sharemarket doesn’t have a physical trading location, such as a trading floor, like you see in films about Wall Street. You instead buy and sell shares using a computerised trading system which links stockbroking firms around the country.

Of course, before we start to invest, we need to know how to buy shares.

First, you need a stockbroker to do so for you, and there are more than 90 stockbroking firms across Australia – some offer financial advice, and are called full service brokers. To set up an account with a broker, you’ll need a minimum amount of money to put into your account, pay a brokerage fee, be over 18 years of age and of course fill out all the paperwork. When you buy or sell shares, your orders are entered into the computerised system at your stockbroking firm. The system finds a seller in the market that is willing to trade shares for the price you want to buy them. This is how we buy and sell shares – by finding other buyers and sellers waiting to ‘match’ your order.

Now that you know how to buy and sell shares, you then need to know how to pay for them! Payment is made within three days of the broker executing your order, and if you have sold shares you need to provide access to the shares so they can be given to the new owner. The money will come out of an account with your broker or through a linked bank account.

When you buy shares in a company, you are both financially and personally invested in that company for as long as you stay in the trade.

After you sell your shares, you’ll still be affected by your former stake – by being either poorer or (ideally) richer.

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