The two are different concepts: stock is a stock issued by a joint stock limited company to investors when raising capital. Stock represents the ownership of its holder (that is, shareholder) to a joint-stock company. This kind of ownership is a comprehensive right, such as attending the shareholders' meeting, voting, and participating in major decisions of the company. Receive dividends or share dividends, etc. Every stock in the same category represents the equal ownership of the company. The share of ownership of the company owned by each shareholder depends on the proportion of shares held by each shareholder to the total share capital of the company. Generally, stocks can be traded and transferred with compensation, and shareholders can recover their investment through stock transfer, but they cannot ask the company to return their investment. The relationship between shareholders and the company is not a creditor-debtor relationship. Shareholders are the owners of the company, and are limited by their capital contribution, taking risks and sharing profits. Stock has the following basic characteristics: (1) non-repayment. Stock is a kind of negotiable securities with free repayment period. After investors subscribe for shares, they can no longer ask for withdrawal, but can only sell them to third parties in the secondary market. Share transfer only means the change of the company's shareholders, and does not reduce the company's capital. As far as the term is concerned, as long as the company exists, the stock it issues exists, and the term of the stock is equal to the duration of the company. (2) participation. Shareholders have the right to attend the shareholders' meeting, elect the board of directors of the company and participate in major decisions of the company. Shareholders' willingness to invest and economic benefits are usually realized by exercising shareholders' right to participate. The right of shareholders to participate in the company's decision-making depends on the number of shares they hold. In practice, as long as the number of shares held by shareholders reaches the actual majority needed to influence the decision-making results, the company can grasp the decision-making control power. (3) profitability. Shareholders have the right to receive dividends or bonuses from the company by virtue of the shares they hold, and to obtain investment income. Dividends or bonuses mainly depend on the company's profit level and the company's profit distribution policy. The profitability of stocks is also manifested in the fact that stock investors can obtain the price difference or realize the preservation and appreciation of assets. By buying people at a low price and selling stocks at a high price, investors can profit from the difference. (4) liquidity. The liquidity of stock refers to the tradeability of stock among different investors. Liquidity is usually measured by the number of shares that can be circulated, the trading volume of shares and the sensitivity of stock prices to trading volume. The more tradable shares, the greater the trading volume, the less sensitive the price is to the trading volume (the price will not change with the trading volume), and the better the liquidity of the stock, and vice versa. The circulation of stocks enables investors to sell stocks in the market and get cash. Through the circulation of stocks and the changes of stock prices, we can see people's judgments on the development prospects and profit potential of related industries and listed companies. Those industries and companies that attract a large number of investors in the circulation market and keep their share prices rising can continuously absorb a large amount of capital into production and business activities by issuing additional shares, thus achieving the effect of optimizing resource allocation. (5) Price fluctuation and risk. As the trading object in the trading market, stocks, like commodities, have their own market quotations and prices. Because the stock price is influenced by many factors, such as the company's operating conditions, the relationship between supply and demand, bank interest rates, public psychology and so on, its fluctuation has great uncertainty. It is this uncertainty that may make stock investors suffer losses. The greater the uncertainty of price fluctuation, the greater the investment risk. Therefore, stock is a high-risk financial product. The funds we are talking about now usually refer to securities investment funds. Securities investment fund is an indirect way of securities investment. By issuing fund shares, fund management companies concentrate investors' funds, which are managed by fund custodians (that is, qualified banks) and managed and used by fund managers to invest in financial instruments such as stocks and bonds, and then * * * bear the investment risks and share the benefits. According to different standards, securities investment funds can be divided into different types: according to whether the fund share can be increased or redeemed, it can be divided into open-end funds and closed-end funds. Open-end funds are not listed and traded, but are generally purchased and redeemed by banks, and the fund scale is not fixed; Closed-end funds have a fixed duration, and the fund size is fixed during the duration. Generally listed on the stock exchange, investors buy and sell fund shares through the secondary market. Novices can buy, sell or invest in funds by bringing their ID cards to securities companies to open Shanghai and Shenzhen trading accounts or opening accounts in banks. There are many kinds of funds bought with securities accounts, including almost all kinds of funds, which can be bought and sold on the market or purchased and redeemed off-site. For example, Harvest 300 is a variety that can be bought and sold on the market or off-market, with the lowest trading fee, only 0.3%. Compared with the bank 1.5% subscription fee and 0.5% redemption fee, the saved cost of 1.4% also becomes your profit. Buying on time every month is the same as investing. At present, there are three main channels for buying and selling open-end funds, and the cheapest is floor trading: open-end funds, index funds, closed-end funds and LOF funds of securities companies. Bank subscription: it is the worst way to buy and sell funds: front-end fee 1.5%, redemption fee 0.5%, and back-end fee about 2%. However, if it is held for less than half a year, the redemption fee is charged year by year. Generally, there is no redemption fee for holding for more than three years. Each bank can probably buy 100 kinds of funds, and the money will arrive in 4-7 days, which takes a long time. Maybe the market has changed and you want to reapply, but the money hasn't arrived yet. This is the worst way to buy and sell funds. Two. Go directly to the fund company to purchase from the Internet: 1.5% of the subscription fee can be discounted by 60%, and the redemption fee is 0.5%. Each fund company can buy its own fund and register several fund companies online. When opening an online bank, it takes 4-7 days for the money to arrive at the account when it is redeemed, which takes a long time. Maybe the market has changed and you want to reapply, but the money hasn't arrived yet. It is troublesome to open online banking and register a number of fund companies online, which is a poor way to buy and sell funds. Three. Open a securities account and apply online at home without going to the bank. Buying a fund in a securities company: the subscription fee is 0.3% and the redemption fee is 0.3%. Open-end funds, such as South China's active allocation and South China's high-growth small-cap funds, can also buy index funds, that is, eight ETF funds, such as E Fund 100 ETF Huaxia SSE 50 and AIA Dividend ETF. The advantage is that the cost is low, and the handling fee for buying and selling funds in securities companies is 0.3%, and stamp duty is not charged.