How do you start investing?

[eternal dog mongler]

If you want to play with single stocks or crypto, limit it to 5% of your net worth. But if you've never invested before, don't because that's just gambling.

That's boring though. I think OP should find a tiny biotech company with a cool sounding name and go all-in.

This is the closest thing to betting your entire bankroll on a single number in roulette that exists. If they develop something that interests a larger company their stock will shoot up like 1000%. Otherwise they'll go bankrupt. Odds are about the same too!

 

[Treasure Champs]

Investing is shit right now. If you find something that is not going to immediately haemorrhage, let me know. The DXY (value of the dollar) is high and might go higher (largely because stuff like the Euro and the Yen are dogshit), which means the major markets like the S&P500 and the NASDAQ are down and will probably continue to go lower. The usual major bets, amazon, netflix, and so forth, have all reported disappointing Q1 returns because no-one has any spare cash to spend, and Q2 will probably be the same or worse.

BTC is usually a good bet but it has a very good chance of crashing from 40k to 29k in the next month or so. If it DOES crash to between 29-35k, it's a good buy. Put it in blockfi or something and get interest from it.

This is the problem of the markets right now: EVERYONE is looking for an inflation hedge, but no-one knows what it is, or if it exists at all. Maybe we're just all fucked.

 

[Kheapathic]

This is the problem of the markets right now: EVERYONE is looking for an inflation hedge, but no-one knows what it is, or if it exists at all. Maybe we're just all fucked.

Yeah, I don't know if there is a hedge against this shit; as everyone is gonna be out of money and unable or unwilling to facilitate trade. Even with a job, all I could say is cut back as much as possible and grow your own food. You can use any excess to trade with, that or skilled work for goods. Everyone else is gonna be starving or robbing.

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

Last time I tried that the dude just bought a lot of stuff from 'evil dragon' or some shit. I have just financially recovered from that experience and don't plan to repeat it.

That's the first step in investing, get rid of your credit card debt. Second step have an emergency plan (savings account, money management account, cash under the bed, whatever.), Third get a job that has vertical growth for your career and your salary. Start funding a 401k bonus if you can also get an HSA. Fund the max contributions on your HSA and 401k if company matches. Once your HSA is maxed contribution, start funding an IRA. Once that is maxed, you can add to your emergency funds or go on vacation knowing you're more solid than 98% of the population.

 

[Retink]

Investing is a very individual experience and there's really no one right way to do it. The reason for this is that you need to feel comfortable with your investment or you'll end up hating it any time there's any kind of issue with it. Sure, there might be an optimal way to invest in order to maximize profits, but if that way just doesn't work for your mentality you'll probably lose money, whereas with a sub optimal way that you feel comfortable with would actually earn you money. So go out there, and try different things, see which things excite you and you can enjoy investing in, and don't think you have to go into any one thing completely, you can hold stocks, bonds, real estate, crypto, and even collectables and be right for doing so.

Once you understand how to use debt as a tool as well you can really start getting ahead.

 

[Picklechu]

1. If your employer offers a 401(k), 457(b), etc, and they have a contribution match, contribute the minimum to get the full match, since it's basically free money.

2. Pay off debts of over 6% or so APR, which will primarily be credit card debt. Long-term, the market generally exceeds 6%, so debts with APR below this amount aren't quite as much of an issue.

3. Open an IRA or Roth IRA, and work towards maxing it out (the current contribution limit is $6K/year).

4. If your employer offers a 401(k), 457(b), etc, work towards maxing it out (the current contribution limit is $20.5K)

5. Open a regular brokerage account and begin to purchase low-cost index funds. There are several different combinations you could do, but the most common ones are total U.S. stock market funds, S&P 500 funds, total international stock market funds, and bond funds

At some point after step three, start working on other debts. This is a bit more subjective, since debt can be a useful tool, but as long as the APRs don't exceed about 6%, you should come out ahead in the long term.

Also, during the entire process, start building up an emergency fund. Generally, three months is recommended, but you could do more or less depending on your situation. Pick a savings or money market account that gets a good APY, not one of the shitty ones that many banks and credit unions with physical branches offer.

Individual stocks are basically gambling, so you probably shouldn't put any big boy money into them. Same thing with crypto, private equity, etc. I personally limit these to about 15% of what I put aside for investing, but I've done pretty well financially over the past 4-ish years and am less risk-averse than most people.

 

[Dude Snakes]

Why bother, the system is rigged.

 

[TheRedChair]

Reading this is a good start and will helpfully skip you over most reddit-tier advice and other posters here advising you to time the market.

If you want to play with single stocks or crypto, limit it to 5% of your net worth. But if you've never invested before, don't because that's just gambling.

But this is what I have been saying for the past 2 years here. And as stated before I learned this over 50+years ago and this knowledge is well over 120 years ago because my grand parents who taught me how to live within my means as well as to save was taught by "their" parents.

Also even the author has little faith in Generation FAIL by the first 3 words on the title page.

"IF YOU CAN".... Now that is pure honesty.

Why bother, the system is rigged.

Yes the system is rigged BUT if you learn how to play the game and play it well, you can be free like me laughing at all of the wage slaves in Silicon Valley Land while watching them get stuck in traffic.

Yea I got it good because I gamed the system. I took the time to learn on how to play the game and I played it well.

You can too if you try.

 

[Dude Snakes]

But this is what I have been saying for the past 2 years here. And as stated before I learned this over 50+years ago and this knowledge is well over 120 years ago because my grand parents who taught me how to live within my means as well as to save was taught by "their" parents.

Also even the author has little faith in Generation FAIL by the first 3 words on the title page.

"IF YOU CAN".... Now that is pure honesty.


Yes the system is rigged BUT if you learn how to play the game and play it well, you can be free like me laughing at all of the wage slaves in Silicon Valley Land while watching them get stuck in traffic.

Yea I got it good because I gamed the system. I took the time to learn on how to play the game and I played it well.

You can too if you try.

Good luck to you, I hope you have precious metals/Bitcoin, the Fiat system is failing.

 

[MadStan]

by bitcoin. everyone says it will be worth at LEAST 100k by the end of 2021. Oh wait, um, well it will be more at LEAST a million by 2030!

 

[Mr. Pestilence]

The time to buy in will be when the market crashes and the media dubs the day “Black/Bloody (Day of the Week)” Maybe it will go lower from that point for awhile but I think in the long term it will pay off. Depends on how bad Joe destroys everything.

 

[MowwNr5]

Unless you truly believe the world is going to end in the next couple of years, dont go with gold, because the gains are just not there.
If you invested 1$ into gold in 1900, you would have 3.50$ now.
If you invested 1$ in a diversified stock portfolio in 1900 you would have upwards of 350 million today.
Stocks give an average yearly return between 4-7%, even accounting for all the recessions and wars that happened.
Just look up mutual funds of ETFs, where you can park your money and forget about it for a couple of years. To avoid the impossible task of timing the market, dont put in everything at once, but break it down and put it in over a year or so.(and ideally keep making monthly payments to build up a nice retirement fund).
Or, you know, you could just YOLO everything into SHIBA and hope for another dog coin season.

 

[tehpope]

Reading this is a good start and will helpfully skip you over most reddit-tier advice and other posters here advising you to time the market.

If you want to play with single stocks or crypto, limit it to 5% of your net worth. But if you've never invested before, don't because that's just gambling.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios#Three_fund_lazy_portfolios

>"If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly" reading list
Thomas J - Stanley; William D. Danko - The Millionaire Next Door
John "Jack" Bogle - Common Sense on Mutual Funds
Edward Chncellor - Devil Take the Hindmost
Benjamin Roth - The Great Depression: A Diary
Jaason Zweig - Your Money and Your Brain
Allan Roth - How a Second Grader Beats Wall St
Rick Ferri - All About Asset Allocation

Or you can just try The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing. All of these books can be found "online" . Devil Take the Hindmost is still physically only. There are digital copies out there, but the epub version isn't formated that great.

 

[Blobby's Murder Knife]

The best inflation proof thing you can invest in is yourself. Never stop learning things, keep a good library, secure your housing/food/a second possible stream of income.

As for investing in the stonk market, I am lazy and just do index funds. I have made some money from crypto, but that's more gambling and luck than anything else.

 

[the fall of man]

Don't be afraid of the market.

Don't try to make money off the market (it can preserve wealth pretty well; it's terrible at making money unless you have really good predictions).

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Do read a lot.

Do be contrarian.

Do understand what level of risk you are comfortable with.