What is the History of Investing in the Stock Market?

The Dark Ages Before Most Understood Investing in the Stock Market

During what I call the dark ages, everything was done individually and manually. Most families owned and operated businesses. The family farm, the family general store, the family mill. There were many more.

The information that I give you in this article is a rough, rough estimate of timelines, they did not necessarily happen in this order but gives you an idea.

The farms were tilled with handheld tillers, and seeds were separated manually. Clothes were made by family tailors or dressmakers and the mill for grinding wheat and other grain was done by rudimentary manual machines.

General stores which held everything a person in town would need were usually run by a family and carried many handmade goods. Investing in the stock market was a mystery for most Americans.

The farms and plantations were owned and operated by families. The plantations were the large commercial farms of the day that were run by only a few families in town, those were the 1% of the day.

Usually, only a few families held all the wealth in town through the large commercial farms, not in the stock market.

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Later the Large Machinery Was Developed

When the large engines were developed, trains and automobiles came about. These engines made it easier and more efficient to transport goods.

The steamboats could bring goods and people from further places than the cars of the time.

Wealthy family barons owned railways and got rich off the running of that industry.

When the combines and cotton gins were introduced, farming became much more efficient and for those who could afford them, brought wealth.

Why invest in stocks and who does?

Later started the large corporations

Later started the large corporations on a large scale when the stock market or stock exchanges, were used more often by the common folk.

Some corporations were owned by an individual, some by families, and some by groups of investors. These were used to create large department stores and large businesses from tech to oil.

The stock market was created to pull money together from groups of investors to create, maintain or improve a product or service.

Hence, a stock is when you have part company ownership, by buying shares, in a product or service that is produced by that company.  This is the start of the stock market. It has been running successfully for a few centuries now.

Is the stock market right for you?

The stock market was started in the United States in New York around 1792, with the buttonwood agreement. But, much later used by the common folk.

In 1929 there was the big stock market crash, when the economy crashed, so did the stock market in 1929. At that time our country did not have financial safeguards in place such as unemployment insurance, and federal and state disability insurance paid through the payroll tax.

So, when the economy crashed people were not getting checks, that is where the soup lines came in. That is not the case anymore, but some Americans depend on food stamps when they get the double whammy of both husband and wife losing their jobs at the same time, along with their home.

Now, of course, the stock market is in the realm of science fiction since 1792. Millions of individuals are enjoying generational wealth since its inception. According to Warren Buffet, the all-time stock-picking expert, he started studying stocks when he was 10, and bought his first share when he was 11. Now Mr. Buffet is a billionaire after years of studying stocks and investing in the stock market.

There are several stock indices or stock exchanges to choose from as well as millions of individual stocks.

Investing in the stock market is commonplace for many Americans now, and many have been made billionaires because of the stock market. Go here to learn more about the stock market from me.