Thank you.
Thank you too.
This link to a shortish PDF explains how to diversify your portfolio. I.e. What are the sectors of the market/industry to buy stock in, and how each sector behaves in an economy: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://spotlightstockmarket.com/media/6145/morningstar.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiXt__l5ozpAhUDGDQIHQ_GBr8QFjABegQIChAM&usg=AOvVaw05E1nadVq5T89q4DZ_6-dt
I’m learning just like you and I found this very helpful.
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What really worries me are funds which give you a synthetic exposure to the index return - i.e. you don’t actually own the underlying stocks. Reminds me very much of what went wrong in 2008, where what you think you own turns out to be very different to what you actually own.
The same applies to index funds which have zero costs - they make up those costs elsewhere, such as by stock lending. This is all well and good until you have lent out stock and face massive redemptions.
You’ll be fine with these picks long term. Just don’t follow your account balances day to day because it could get ugly for big tech in the short term.
Market set to explode today, especially my poor Coronavirus stocks 
BA up 6% premarket. Not sure how I feel about that. Was hoping for a big tank to scoop more up.
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And I really hate it for all those sitting on the sidelines. Great opportunities to be had, just open your eyes and stop listening to the media.
I don’t mind funneling the Fed’s dollars into my brokerage account and neither should you!
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I thought about posting that exact video in the same response
I think a lot of people probably don’t know how to even begin. (Myself included.) I read through this thread just because I find it interesting but I don’t know how to start, let alone even know what most of the abbreviations you guys use stand for 
Mostly ticker symbols, you need them to put in orders with brokers
Better to start small and young than when you’ve got a lot of money to lose - wish I started sooner tho I started somewhat young
“I don’t have enough money to make a big difference” was probably in the back of my head
“I don’t know enough to put these few thousands to good use” was definitely in my head at some time - and I said ok, I’ma learn then. But it would have gone much better if I had started sooner
Edit: oh HOW to begin… haha I dunno. Just start, it’s a great time not necessarily because of prices or where we are at with trends - it’s just better to start sooner
I started by opening an etrade account. It’s free, and all stock trades are free. You link a bank account the same as paypal and just transfer money into your etrade account. I started with $1000 to use as “learning money”. Once I felt comfortable, I added more and went ahead and started strategically buying stock to create a diversified portfolio of stocks. I need to learn more about bonds before I feel ok dumping money into them, so until then, the vast majority of my money sits in a high yield savings account with my credit union.
This is what I’ve heard and what I plan on doing. I’ve seen all those graphs showing someone investing a “small” amount from like ages 30-40 ends up better off then the person investing a larger amount from ages 40-70. That kind of thing, you know? Sooner I start, the better.
My friend was telling me about this. He opened his on Monday, and is encouraging me to as well. I’ve just seen commercials and really don’t even know how it works - do you just simply put in the cash and they take care of the investing part of it?
No, you pick the stocks. I suggest starting with a “learning sum of money” to kind of learn the process of buying/selling. Buy/sell a few of your favorite companies, pay attention to the news at the bottom of your etrade page to understand how news affects stocks. Watch YouTube videos, read through seekingalpha.com, etc to learn terminology, companies/funds to possibly invest in, etc. Realize picking stocks is a guess, you are just shooting to make educated guesses. Everyone started totally green at one point. I’m still super green. Google helps answer a lot of your stupid questions haha. My rule is to not invest in anything I don’t at least have an elementary understanding of- that way if I lose money I at least can understand WHY I lost money.
Another thing to keep in mind is that etrade charges fees to withdraw money from the etrade account. Transferring money in is free though.
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Download an app called ‘compound’, if you have an iPhone. I’m sure android has one too.
Here’s how my kids will get college paid for.
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Oh I didn’t mean literally
It’s like saying to start exercising with bicep curls and jogging vs learning more advanced stuff in the beginning
Really just stressing that starting is important is what I was going for
Once that’s established then perspective is probably next, which a lot of people have disagreements on. Think big picture and far out at least at first
Fidelity account. It’s free. You can buy Mutual Funds and ETF’s if you don’t want to think too much. These are going to be indexed and involve stocks or bonds that make up an index, like the DJIA (Dow Jones) or S&P 500. They balance things for you, you just pick a couple and slowly add money over time. No minimums. You can also buy stocks, and take your time using the site to research stuff.
Totally, I was just trying to build on what you were saying.
The hardest part with most anything is starting.
I ordered the book this afternoon .
Gonna buy shares of Facebook and AZN this morning if they drop a bit from premarket trading prices. They fit with my goal of diversifying my stock holdings, have good financials, and I think have big upside through the end of 2020.
Facebook I think will make up ad money during the presidential race.
Full disclosure I also have a lot (for me) of Gilead. I think GILD and AZN have the best shot at mass producing the CV vaccine and the massive profits that go along with it. But, I also like them as companies (their braintrust) outside of the possible CV vaccines.
A couple points. First, it’s probably not smart to pile into FB, GOOGL, MSFT, AMZN, TSLA, NFLX, etc. near their bubble peaks while staring down the barrel of a recession. This thing is just getting started. The economic data are terrible, but perhaps the scariest thing is that we’re in a deflationary environment despite the Fed’s aggressive monetary police. The demand just isn’t there. At some point, the stock market is going to have to reconcile with the economic realities. I think this recent rally was a second chance for folks to reduce exposure to risk assets. Second, If you’re new to investing, you could probably find a better place to learn the basics than t-nation. I wouldn’t go a personal finance forum to learn about strength programming.
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One more thing to add. Take a look at the bond markets for an indication of where things are going. Yields on the 10- year are 0.64%. Boeing had to pay 5.15% on its recent 10-year bond issue. That’s a huge spread for “investment grade” debt. I think the bond market gets it. The stock market is taking a little longer to catch up.