Read the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It's pretty beefy, but you'll learn far more from that than you can here. After reading that book you'll know enough to figure out how to Intelligently invest your money for the long term.
Sorry for answering something you didn’t ask, but never forget that budgeting and saving well is one of the most important things you can do. A lot of people who focus on chasing returns on investments could wind up with higher net worth years down the line simply by being smart about managing costs (even without sacrificing lifestyle in ways that you care about; you don’t have to go as spartan as many in the FIRE set do). It’s another one of the boring things that works.
Look at the major holdings of a few funds you would be interested in and then go buy those stocks. Trades are free and you don’t have to pay the fund fees. It is like paying interest on a car you paid cash for in full.
Index funds - DIA, QQQ, SPY - are simple, low cost, and tend to have better performance over the long term than actively managed mutual funds.
One huge downside of index and/or mutual funds, even small amounts of individual stocks, is that the little guy never votes as a shareholder. He could, but he doesn't. This means that only the biggest players control the voting, and ultimately the board, C-suite hiring, and company direction. This is how ESG has spread like a cancer through corporate America. Large pension funds, California's in particular, and big money managers with agendas beyond shareholder return, get to push their harmful ideologies with reduced opposition.
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Don't buy bitcoin. It is not suitable for retirement, first and foremost. And it uses so much energy to mine, it is an a big waste with global impacts.
Don’t pick a handful of individual stocks unless you know what you’re doing and have time to follow them every single day. They can and do go to zero. You’re better off with mutual funds for the long term.
For high risk bets, do some studying and try to pick who will win the renewable energy race. There are lots of publicly traded renewable energy firms out there that are a bargain and have the potential for explosive growth and either ending up the ExxonMobil of renewables or getting bought by ExxonMobil at a big premium. There are retail/commercial solar companies, utility grade solar producers, battery companies, EV manufacturers, renewable energy transmission and wholesale power sellers, and wind generators. Very volatile industry. Lots of risk, but huge upside potential for whoever comes out on top.
For low risk stocks, do what Charlie Munger did. Buy boring stuff that you know will be around 30 years from now no matter what happens. Tech, energy, Big Ag, Big Auto, big banks etc. are all pretty safe places to put money and will grow over the next 30 years.
Your best option is to do mutual funds/ETFs with Vanguard and/or Fidelity. How much will your broker charge on your Nike purchase?
To the OP - This is the only thing Sally and I see eye to eye on...and even there he's not 100% right. I'd not deal with ETFs...stock mutual funds are the way to go. Vanguard and/or Fidelity is correct.
For high risk bets, do some studying and try to pick who will win the renewable energy race. There are lots of publicly traded renewable energy firms out there that are a bargain and have the potential for explosive growth and either ending up the ExxonMobil of renewables or getting bought by ExxonMobil at a big premium. There are retail/commercial solar companies, utility grade solar producers, battery companies, EV manufacturers, renewable energy transmission and wholesale power sellers, and wind generators. Very volatile industry. Lots of risk, but huge upside potential for whoever comes out on top.
For low risk stocks, do what Charlie Munger did. Buy boring stuff that you know will be around 30 years from now no matter what happens. Tech, energy, Big Ag, Big Auto, big banks etc. are all pretty safe places to put money and will grow over the next 30 years.
You mention Big Auto - why would anyone invest in Ford Motor or GM? Ford was at 32 25 years ago and is now trading at 10. GM was trading at 33 10 years ago and is now trading at 32. Both of those stocks have done exceptionally poor. Big Energy? Exxon was trading at 93 20 years ago and is now at 100. Of course they did out pay dividends but why would you recommend something like "Big Auto" or "Energy" when those have paled in comparison to what the S & P or Nasdaq have done in last decade in a half?
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX) Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX) Vanguard Total Bond Market Fund (VBTLX)
I'd ditch the Bond Market Fund...even in retirement. Just make sure to retire debt free with a paid for house, having put 15% into STOCK mutual funds while working, and then also have at least 3 YEARS of expenses saved liquid so you can pay bills if the market tanks for a while. 3 YEARS of expenses isn't actually even that much if you retire with ZERO debt as you should...you might even find it easy enough to do 5 years or even more.
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