It's important for every individual to have a plan for how they will save money for the future. Whether you are a grocery store clerk or a high powered executive, it's important that you don't just let your hard earned money sit around doing nothing when it could be out there in the market, earning dividends that will make it easier for you to live the life you've always wanted. Many people are so intimidated by the stock market that they'll completely ignore it in favor of "safer" options like savings accounts and certificates of deposit. If you're going to become a savvy investor, you have to learn about stock market strategy, and the way that it can be used to help you exploit the market for your own gain.

When exploring the world of stock market strategy, it's most important that you reject anyone who tells you that they have created a failure proof plan for picking and trading stocks. No matter whom you are or what you know, you can never predict the future price movements of a stock with absolute certainty. There are definitely things you can do to increase the chances that will choose a stock with great potential of increasing in value, rather than decreasing, but there are outside factors that can exert pressure on the market when you least expect it.

Value investing, is one of the most popular versions of stock market strategy, was created in the 1930s by two Columbia University professors, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. This trading strategy is based on a very simple concept and the most beginner investors will have no trouble understanding how it is intended to work: investors look for companies that are currently trading beneath their actual worth and make it a point to purchase them. The premise for this strategy is that the market will move to correct this under-valuation, and the stock owners will be able to make a profit.

A stock market strategy that tends to move a little faster is income investing. This strategy is very straight forward and designed to allow investors to pick companies that will provide them with a steady stream of income, right from the start. Commonly, income investors focus on older, more established companies, which have reached a certain size and ceased to grow in a vertical direction. These companies no longer looking for large amounts of capital, and are more likely to pay out attractive dividends.