Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background.

Why do people build a stock portfolio if one could get a higher return from bank interest than dividend per annum?
Stock prices aren't constant; they rise and fall.   The overall return on a share is the combination of the dividends paid plus the change in value of the share.  Some companies pay no dividend at all yet investors still buy their shares because they believe the share price will rise. People invest in stocks because they believe that the overall return will exceed what they can get from cash in the bank.   As to options they do offer higher potential profits but they also offer higher potential losses.  Different investors have different appetites for risk.  Many are comfortable with the risk of mainstream stock investing but not with that of options trading.