I have $1000 dollars. What should I invest in?

davethecanuck wrote:

Yep, Vanguard ETFs are the way to go. Excellent broad market exposure and the lowest fees in the industry. VTI (USA stocks), VEU (Ex-USA stocks), and BND ( Mix of bond indexes) make a pretty good starting point, and you can balance bond/equity and domestic/international to suit your age and risk tolerance. I have an IRA+401(k) with Vanguard and a taxable brokerage account with Wells Fargo and pay no fees on any of my accounts/investments beyond the low MER of the ETFs themselves (~0.1x%).

Index ETF investing is not sexy, but it's the smartest way for most of us. I've managed to earn 7 figures on my ETF investments (increase in value over total amount invested) over the last 2 decades dating to before the dot-com bust. No drama so long as I ignore daily market fluctuations.

Don't invest a high percentage of your net worth in single stocks (too much risk in one company that could go belly up), and buying Bit/Doge/whatever-coin is not investing - it's gambling/speculating. If you have a $1m portfolio, then sure, go spend $1K on digital currency or the horse track or whatever floats your boat. Stocks and ETFs give you ownership of something that actually earns profits (distributed to you as dividends), but currencies NEVER earn profits; they just float up and down relative to each other. Hence, buying a currency (digital or otherwise) is just betting on its future relative movements (i.e. gambling). Don't gamble with your savings - gamble with your "play money".

Lastly, if you don't have any other savings, ignore the above for now, and use the $1000 to:

1. Pay down high interest debt

2. Stick in online savings account (~1.5%) and keep saving until you have 3-6 months living expenses saved in cash.

3. Only after the above do you want to start tieing up your money in investments

Cheers!

old news wrote:

*bone emoji*zone wrote:

The $1000 is spending money that I would be completely fine losing worst-case scenario. I made the purchases at 8:30ish this morning currently have like a 20 dollar profit!

I’m not going to diversify $1000, especially if it’s spending money. I would diversify retirement accounts where you are putting significant amounts that you’re counting on. The extra I would put in one or two stocks. I might wait on Tesla until after battery day and see if there’s a dip. If you don’t mind being risky, nikola might give you some profits. Its came back down after shorts were causing panic and now is back down to where it was before the news with gm. Of course, the company could just be a fraud and just sell an idea that can never be practical and you could lose it, or it could be similar to Tesla and explode in a few years. Carnival is getting near lows and when cruises start happening that will double or triple your money. That’s probably what I would do with it.

davethecanuck wrote:

Yep, Vanguard ETFs are the way to go. Excellent broad market exposure and the lowest fees in the industry. VTI (USA stocks), VEU (Ex-USA stocks), and BND ( Mix of bond indexes) make a pretty good starting point, and you can balance bond/equity and domestic/international to suit your age and risk tolerance. I have an IRA+401(k) with Vanguard and a taxable brokerage account with Wells Fargo and pay no fees on any of my accounts/investments beyond the low MER of the ETFs themselves (~0.1x%).

Index ETF investing is not sexy, but it's the smartest way for most of us. I've managed to earn 7 figures on my ETF investments (increase in value over total amount invested) over the last 2 decades dating to before the dot-com bust. No drama so long as I ignore daily market fluctuations.

Don't invest a high percentage of your net worth in single stocks (too much risk in one company that could go belly up), and buying Bit/Doge/whatever-coin is not investing - it's gambling/speculating. If you have a $1m portfolio, then sure, go spend $1K on digital currency or the horse track or whatever floats your boat. Stocks and ETFs give you ownership of something that actually earns profits (distributed to you as dividends), but currencies NEVER earn profits; they just float up and down relative to each other. Hence, buying a currency (digital or otherwise) is just betting on its future relative movements (i.e. gambling). Don't gamble with your savings - gamble with your "play money".

Lastly, if you don't have any other savings, ignore the above for now, and use the $1000 to:

1. Pay down high interest debt

2. Stick in online savings account (~1.5%) and keep saving until you have 3-6 months living expenses saved in cash.

3. Only after the above do you want to start tieing up your money in investments

Cheers!