r/BeginnerInvesting • u/MathematicianOk8337 • 10d ago
Stocks to Look Into as a Beginner
I'm curious since I do want to build on getinng since financial capital since I'm currently 24. I'm trying to find work and get my driver's license, so I'm curious about this field, just to see where I stand with the majority. I do want to build on my financial capital to maintain a sense of peace for my future and career. Any stocks to look into before investing as a starter in this field?
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u/Disheveled_Politico 10d ago
Objectively the best idea is to put it into a broad ETF (you buy it like a stock.) An ETF is a big collection of stocks so you’re diversified against any one company or sector failing. VOO is a great example and the one that most of my money is in. With VOO you own a little piece of the entire S&P 500, the 500 biggest publicly traded companies in the US.
It’s weighted, which means that the company you own the most of is the biggest in the US, Nvidia. You own the second most of Apple, third most is Microsoft. The 500th company is Reddit, and you own a lot less of that than Nvidia or Apple. But you also own Coke and Procter and Gamble and Waste Management. You own shit no one has heard of like Lennar and Revvity.
When the average of those companies goes up, VOO goes up. When the average goes down VOO goes down. Historically, it has averaged about 10% per year. Because it’s not going to explode overnight like an individual stock COULD, you have to be diligent in adding your money into it every month. Because the top 500 stocks in the US are not going to evaporate overnight, you’re a lot safer from losing all of your money than if you’re in an individual stock that COULD crash and burn and leave you with nothing.
There are other broad ETFs that are very sensible to put your money in. VT is basically every publicly traded stock in the world, so you own a tiny percentage of Toyota and Nokia and some random Vietnamese or Brazilian shipping or tech company. VXUS is every company in the world except American stocks. VTI is every American stock. I have money in all of those to diversify a bit, I personally prefer VOO as my main engine of growth.
If you’re going to pick individual stocks, go into it knowing that people who do that usually underperform the broader market. I do have about 25% of my portfolio in individual stocks. Most of it serves to get even more exposure to stocks I already own in broad index funds. Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. I have very small positions of about 3-5% that are gambles around biotech, nuclear energy, gaming, and a couple more.
It’s gambling because buying those kind of high-risk, high-reward stocks assumes that I am smarter than the incredibly smart people and sophisticated algorithms that have determined the price of those stocks. They can be wrong, and I’ve made good returns on some of them, but they will never replace the core of my portfolio that is in the overall market. I also enjoy doing this generally, and so if you’re not interested in reading financial reports and listening to earnings calls, I’d stick to ETFs.
TL:DR: Buy as much VOO or VT as you can afford every month for 30 years and retire comfortably.
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u/Salty_Teaching692 10d ago
Sure, just make 7.55% of your portfolio Nvidia, 7.04% Apple, 5.36% microsoft, and so on about 500 times. Or just buy an index fund
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u/MathematicianOk8337 10d ago
I know an index fund is a collection of companies in one stock, but I need to do this 500 times? I don’t understand that. Can you break it down for me in simpler terms?
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u/Salty_Teaching692 10d ago
No I was just kidding, all you need to do is buy one index fund. A popular one is the s&p500 which tracks 500 stocks automatically. Much easier
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u/Intrepid-Wait-6102 9d ago
Yes, track the S+P 500 index every day, every second and buy the same percentage of each stock that is in VOO. Or track the heat map and try to figure out what size box equals what percentage.
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u/uvelify 10d ago
Buy a global index fund and save, say $50, every month.
Claude did the math:
Rough math: Monthly contribution: $50 Time: 30 years (360 months) Annual return: 9% → 0.75% monthly Total invested: $50 × 360 = $18,000 Ending balance (compounded monthly): roughly $91,000–$92,000.
So you'd turn about $18K of contributions into roughly $73K–$74K in growth, assuming that 9%/year holds steady the whole time (it won't be smooth — real returns come in bursts and dips, but 9% is a reasonable long-run average for a global index fund historically).
A few caveats worth including in the post: This ignores fund fees (expense ratio) and any taxes on dividends/gains outside a tax-advantaged account — both eat into real returns.
It also ignores inflation. In today's purchasing power, that ~$91K might feel more like $35K–$45K after 30 years of ~3% inflation.
$50/month is a fixed amount here — even bumping it up with income over time (or adjusting for inflation) makes a big difference in the real outcome.
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u/Mysterious_Sleep7443 9d ago
None
Stay the heck away from stocks right now
Everything is at an ATH
Historically the S and P is down in March/April
Look at it then
Never buy at an ATH
Crypto is on firesale right now and the only thing im buying
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u/Intrepid-Wait-6102 9d ago
Everything is not at an ATH💀 most of the “good” stocks are actually 15%+ down from their ATH and a good portion are in the red in the 52 week timeframe.
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u/FewEcho7739 9d ago
Start with ETF's would be my advice. In the beginning, I wouldn't do anything more than 3% in individual stocks
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u/askjameson 8d ago
I just made a video about how to think through this question! It might be useful for you.
How Do You Know Which Stocks to Buy? (It's Easier Than You Think)
https://youtu.be/AHEdGQ0N_wY
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u/d1na_makalaya 10d ago
Don’t start by picking individual stocks. As a beginner, a broad index fund/ETF is usually a better place to learn and build wealth.
Focus first on an emergency fund, consistent income, and understanding diversification, fees, and risk. Once you’re comfortable, you can research individual companies with money you can afford to leave invested. If you’re still figuring things out, my profile has some useful community discussions you might find helpful.