A company must pay back any funds that accrue to a bondholder. However, the shareholder (owner of stock), does not have to be paid anything. The shareholder is taking a risk that the company will do well and even in bad times, he will continue holding the stock in the hope that things will get better. The bondholder on the other hand does not care about the bad or good times in a company; he only wants his investment paid back plus the interest. When deciding whether to invest in shares in a company or bonds, you should note that bond returns are fixed while the returns on shares can fluctuate and are not guaranteed. You should also note that in case a company winds down or is bankrupt, the bondholders are paid first and the shareholders last.
A good investment portfolio contains both stocks and bonds. Investor like do investment stock for their business. If you are investor only interested in short term returns, then you should have more bonds than stocks in your investment portfolio. Bonds will provide you with a consistent income and in cases of market fluctuations, they offer a great cushion. Stock to buy now is available in stock market. In there, the people can buy the stock freely, but still there is a requirement. However, if you are planning on investing your funds for longer than 10 years, then your investment portfolio should have more stocks as companies will tend to increase in value in the long term.