Which investment gives you partial ownership of a publicly traded company?

• A. Bond
• B. Stock
• C. Mutual Fund
• D. ETF

Answer: (B)

Partial ownership comes from owning stock. When you buy shares, you become a shareholder and hold a slice of the company’s equity, which can come with voting rights and potential dividends as the company earns profits.

A bond is different: it’s a loan to the issuer, so you’re a creditor who earns interest and gets your principal back, but you don’t own part of the company.

Mutual funds pool investors’ money to buy a diversified set of securities. By owning a mutual fund, you own a share of the fund itself, not directly and proportionally ownership of each company inside the fund.

Exchange-traded funds operate similarly to mutual funds, but they trade on an exchange. You own shares of the fund, which represent a stake in the fund’s overall portfolio, not direct ownership of any single company.

So the investment that gives you partial ownership of a publicly traded company is stock.