Financial institutions in the U.S. economy Suppose Nick would like to invest $3,000 of his savings. One way of investing is to purchase stock or bonds from a private company. Suppose TouchTech, a hand-held computing firm, is selling stocks to raise money for a new lab—a practice known as finance. Buying a share of TouchTech stock would give Nick the firm. In the event that TouchTech runs into financial difficulty, will be paid first. Suppose Nick decides to buy 100 shares of TouchTech stock.