Shares

When you purchase shares, you become part owner of a company. As an owner, you are usually entitled to voting rights and to a share of the company's profits, a portion of which are distributed in the form of cash dividends. Dividends are not guaranteed. They may be increased if the company performs well, but they may also be reduced or eliminated if the company performs poorly.

Objective
Shares can fulfil a variety of investment objectives, including current income, growth of capital or a combination of both.

Suitability
Shares are well-suited for long-term investors who recognise that they assume greater risk in return for potentially greater rewards.

Features

• Growth of capital: Shares can offer capital growth over the long term, depending on the success of the company concerned.
• Potentially higher returns: Although past performance is no guarantee of future results, over long periods of time, shares have generally outperformed other financial investments and provided returns well above the rate of inflation.
• Risk: You must be willing to take the risk associated with shares. If a company does not perform well, the level of its earnings could fall, potentially leading to reduced dividends and a fall in the value of the investment. It is therefore essential to take a long-term view with shares.
• Liquidity: Shares can be traded on any business day at their current market value, which may be more than, equal to or less than the amount initially invested.

Important Information: Equity investments rise and fall in value, and shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. With volatile shares the loss in value may equal the amount of the original investment. Past performance of shares may not be repeated and is not a guide to future performance.

To determine if shares are suitable for your portfolio, please contact your Edward Jones financial adviser.

Edward Jones has research coverage on selected companies. Research reports are available to customers in printed form from their financial adviser. For prospective customers, please contact your nearest Edward Jones branch. Research is not available to the general public. Research reports and revisions to reports are made simultaneously available to all Edward Jones Financial Advisers through the firm's intranet, where they can be printed for distribution to customers and interested parties.