Scholastic Math (Feb. 11th 2002)

Stefani’s Stocks

You'll have no doubt about reading a stock price chart after hearing from No Doubt's Gwen Stefani!

You don't have to be a famous rock star like Gwen Stefani to make lots of money. In fact, we think No Doubt's lead singer would do just fine financially even without million-selling CDs such as Rock Steady. Why? "I am a stockholder," Gwen told MATH.

We hear about the stock market all the time, but what exactly are stocks? A stock represents a fraction, or share, of a company. So when you purchase a stock, you own a part of the company. That means you "share" in the company's gains and losses.

Gwen owns her own stock, but wasn't embarrassed to admit to us, "My dad helps me with my financial stuff." With Gwen's busy schedule, she doesn't have a lot of time to spend on her stock investments. "You're lucky if you can get me to sit down for 15 minutes to hear about how much money I lost!" she joked. (You don't always make money in the stock marked)

Stock prices can be found in your newspaper's business section. Can you learn to read stock prices? No doubt about it!