I have asked this headline question to many – What is the Stock Market?

What is your answer?

The most common answer: It’s a place to buy and sell stocks.

When looked at it this way, the fixation is often on stock prices.

Here is another way (shall I say a wiser way) to look at the stock market.

The stock market is not a place to buy and sell stocks.

It’s a place to become an owner. It’s a place to become an owner of big businesses, real big businesses from different industries.

The best is anyone can become an owner of these businesses, without the hassles of being an owner. And you need not take the risk of investing in just one business. You have the luxury of owning a diversified portfolio of businesses.

In fact, you can become an industrialist. Anyone can. The stock market is the place that provides you that opportunity.

But to be successful here, you must learn how to become a great owner.

The best ones do not panic or abandon ship when their stock prices go down. They are patient. They don’t trade. They are long-term investors in their business and most often take a multi-generational view of their businesses.

What about you?

Do you think like an owner? Do you behave like one when it comes to investing?