Still, many new investors don’t understand the actual mechanics behind making money from stocks, where the wealth actually comes from, or how the entire process works. More from Entrepreneur. But following the herd mentality of the market can be a dangerous mistake, according to experts. Risk and Returns. The company can send you a cash dividend for some portion or the entirety of your profit. The basic idea behind a growth stock is that you want to buy it when it’s not worth much and then sell it when it’s worth a lot «buy low, sell high». As we mentioned earlier, ETFs and mutual funds are a good way to get started because they both involve investing in an already diversified portfolio that other people do the tedious research on.