How to Calculate Stock Gain

Compute the cost basis for the stock trade. Cost basis consists of the original (purchase) price of the stock plus all fees and commissions paid for the purchase and sale of the stock. For example, if you bought 100 shares of a stock at $10/share ($1,000) and paid fees of $10 when you bought the stock and $12 to sell it, your cost basis is $1,000 plus $10 plus $12 for a total of $1,022.
Calculate the total proceeds. Your total proceeds include the money received from selling the stock plus the cash value of dividends received while you owned the shares. For instance, if you sold the 100 shares from Step 1 for $15/share ($1,500) and received a total of $50 in dividend income during the time you held the shares, your total proceeds are $1,500 plus $50, or $1,550.
Calculate stock gain or loss. Subtract the cost basis from total proceeds. If your cost basis is $1,022 (Step 1) and total proceeds are $1,550 (Step 2) your stock gain is $1,550 minus $1,022, which equals $528. If you get a negative number (meaning the cost basis is greater than total proceeds) you had a loss rather than a gain.
Figure your percentage gain or loss. It’s usually most useful to compare percentage gain or loss to see how well different investments have done. To convert stock gain into percentage stock gain, divide the stock gain by the cost basis and multiply by 100. In the example above, you would divide $528 (stock gain) by $1,022 (cost basis) and multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage stock gain of 51.7 percent.

How to Invest in the Danish Stock Market (7 Steps)

Research American brokerages that are members of the Copenhagen Exchange. Several dozen brokerages in the United States have been long-term members of the Danish stock market. These brokers have presence on the stock market floor, allowing you to move your investments quickly.
Attach conditions when you invest money in the Danish stock market. The Copenhagen Exchange allows you to establish a maximum price for purchasing shares, a minimum share for selling shares and a preordained time for transactions. These conditions are ideal on the SAXESS trading system because of delays for overseas investors.
Post collateral with your broker or bank when you are trading futures and options on the Copenhagen Exchange. The rules of the Exchange require investors to provide stocks, money or property to protect the bank from speculative ventures like derivatives.
Read through the customer agreement that your broker provides to you for Danish stock trades. While the market in Copenhagen follows international trade rules, foreign investors must follow specific banking and commerce rules in Denmark.
Magnify the power of your Danish portfolio by using the Nordic Exchange through OMX. This exchange connects investors through Copenhagen to markets in Scandinavian and Baltic countries in an instant.
Increase the security of your overseas portfolio by purchasing Danish government bonds. These bonds guarantee a return from the issuing bodies, which include Danish cities, the federal government and major corporations looking for financial backing.
Take advantage of the burgeoning Northern European technology market through the KVX index in Copenhagen. This index includes dozens of medical technology, software and other high-tech ventures that have demonstrated strong growth over the last few years. Utilize the KVX and other indexes only after you have developed an understanding of the Copenhagen Exchange.

How to Find a Stock Broker

Determine your investment objectives. If you're only using a small fraction of your assets to invest every now and then, you should make cost control your main priority. Use financial publications such as Kiplinger's and Barron's to compare one brokerage against the other, and see who offers the lowest commissions and fee structures. If you're investing larger sums that constitute the majority of your assets, you might want to choose your broker based on capabilities rather than price. Be aware that price and capability are not mutually exclusive, however, since some of the lowest-cost brokerages such as TradeStation and Interactive Brokers have consistently received the highest customer satisfaction rankings.
Decide whether you want to trade or invest. Trading involves frequent buying and selling of stocks in hopes of making small, recurrent profits. Investing, on the other hand, involves deploying your capital in one or more companies for at least a year. Typically, larger full-service stock brokers are better equipped to assist longer-term investors looking for help with analyzing the financial statements and business prospects of the companies they want to invest in, while discount brokers are essential for people who are self-directed, actively trade and seek to keep the cost of their commissions down.
Figure out how much active help and advice you want from your broker. If you're relatively new to investing or trading, you might want the assistance of a full-service broker, who can give you some advice on investing methods and procedures, such as how to buy a stock with a stop-limit order or how to set a trailing stop loss. If you're more independent-minded and already checked out the basics of investing and trading, you should set up an account with a discount broker. Be aware that even if you use a full-service broker, the advice you get will not necessarily improve your stock market returns.
Determine which types of stocks you want to invest in or trade. Some brokerages are only equipped to buy and sell shares of mainstream American companies that have minimum market capitalizations of tens of millions of dollars. If you intend to purchase shares in low-market capitalization companies, illiquid penny stocks, foreign entities, or other irregular securities, be sure that your broker can accommodate.
Make sure that the broker you're considering opening an account with is registered with the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which insures your account for up to $250,000. If you have a larger account, consider looking for brokers that carry extra insurance from private providers such as Lloyd's of London.

How to Buy Stock Online in Canada

Determine whether you wish to buy stocks through a stand-alone investment account or through your current financial institution. Some of the larger Canadian banks, such as the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), allow customers to invest a portion of their savings account in stocks. On the other hand, stand-alone investment accounts typically offer more features for investors and allow individuals to customize their investing strategy using a variety of investment-specific tools. Thus, stand-alone investment accounts are generally a better choice for investors.
Research the Canadian options for an online stockbroker or investment manager. Trading stocks online offers significant savings over a traditional stockbroker by offering individual investors lower fees for buying and selling. Canada has fewer options when it comes to online stockbrokers. For example, some of the biggest U.S. online stockbrokers (such as ShareBuilder) are not available in Canada. Three of the larger online stockbrokers available to Canadians include the Royal Bank of Canada's Direct Investing service (rbcdirectinvesting.com), ING Canada (ingcanada.com) and Questrade (questrade.com).
Evaluate each online stockbroker. Request detailed information on their pricing plans to find which broker charges the least amount for your investment lifestyle. Not all brokers are alike. Don't choose a broker just because it has what looks like a cheaper plan compared to its competitors. Some of the cheapest plans may require you to invest a certain amount of money each month, thus costing more than a more expensive plan that does not force you to buy a certain amount of stocks.
Register with the online stockbroker of your choice. You will need to provide personal financial information, such as your Social Insurance Number (SIN). You will also need to connect your investment account with a payment option, such as a credit card or a bank account.
Consult another stockbroker before buying stocks, and read books that deal with buying stocks for the first time. The stock market offers great potential to make money, but individuals can also lose money if they don't know what they're doing and invest in a poorly performing stock. Do as much research as you can before buying stocks for the first time. Many online stockbrokers provide guides and can help you select the right stocks for the level of risk you are willing to take. Typically, the higher the risk level, the more money you can lose (and earn).
Keep track of your stock market earnings from buying and selling stocks. Each year, you will have to pay taxes to the federal government of Canada on any capital gains you have made in your investments. Read the Canada Revenue Agency's guide to capital gains (see Resources).

How to Sell Metlife Stock

Call your brokerage firm. If you signed up with a online brokerage firm, log on. Make sure you have your certificate of ownership when selling MetLife stock at a brokerage firm. When you are online, it should already indicate that you own MetLife Stock.
Indicate how many shares of MetLife stock you want to sell.
Sell your MetLife stock online, after indicating the amount, or sell the shares using your broker at the brokerage firm.

How to Calculate the Expected Rate of Return for Preferred Stock

Determine the dividend on the preferred stock. Preferred stock generally pays a fixed dividend, so you will know how much the stock is going to pay the stock owner each year. For example, assume the dividend of the preferred stock is $12 per share annually. If the dividend is paid quarterly, you will need to multiply it by 4 to get the annual dividend.
Determine the selling price of the preferred stock. Businesses will have to deal with flotation costs in calculating a stock price, but an individual investor can simply look at the price that the stock is being offered for. For example, assume preferred stock in company ABC is being offered at $200 a share.
Divide the expected dividend per share by the price per share of the preferred stock. With our example, this would be $12/$200 or .06. Multiply this answer by 100 to get the percentage rate of return on your investment. In our example, .06 x 100 = 6 so the rate of return for the preferred stock is 6 percent per year.