Obligatory stock market questions:

Obligatory stock market questions:

I have $11,000 in savings, regular weekly income, interested in utilizing it instead of having it lay static.

I've tried to learn a little bit about the market, etfs, funds, etc.

If I want to invest $2,000 of it in index funds and etfs, where do I start? How do I identify a stock that could be worth it? Could anybody steer me into the right direction for learning more about how the market works and perhaps things to look for? Opinions on pennystocks?

Currently using Tradingview for charts and the Robinhood app to trade.

Bump for interest. I'm in a similar situation and I have $15K

Forget robinhood and stock picking,

Put it all in TIPS or money market while you research about tax differed accounts (401k, IRA, etc).

Figure out what type of accounts(s) you wanna use and what allocation, then put it in index funds and fixed income. I suggest betterment or vanguard.

Looks promising actually and when you say allocation, do you mean the funds I invest within a betterment or vanguard IRA itself?

A.
>If I want to invest $2,000 of it in index funds and etfs, where do I start?
B.
>How do I identify a stock that could be worth it? >Opinions on pennystocks?

The first thing you need to learn is that A. has NOTHING to do with B. If you're smart enough to get into indexes and ETFs, then you're smart enough to know that picking individual stocks and penny stocks is the definition of stupid. These things are not discussed in the same sentence.

It's like saying, "I want to learn how to safely ride a motorcycle," and then immediately asking, "How do I pop wheelies and do burnouts?"

So B. is risky and A. is ideal for a novice with barely any play money.

Yes, or anywhere else for that matter.

X% Stocks, Y% Bonds.

Convention wisdom says more bonds as you get closer to retirement.

One more thing, which is more practical for someone in my position, betterment or vanguard?

Great analogy.

A. Is a smart way for anyone to invest.

B. Is gambling to anyone but insider traders and real experts.

A is ideal for anyone who wants to make their money grow and is planning on being alive for 10 years or more.

IMO, Betterment. It holds your hand through the whole process and as long as you have a monthly auto deposit you will avoid most of the fees.

BTW, the Betterment portfolio hold a lot of Vanguard funds.

Throwing money into an index fund isn't smart.

I'll look into it. I use 401k through my company with a small weekly deposit and annual stock match, but that's it.
An IRA seems more beneficial for the money I already have, doing nothing in my bank.

Well there are tons of Index funds. But OP would presumably be investing in something like VTSAX.

I don't see how you could argue

A taxable account is always an option.

>Throwing money into an index fund isn't smart.
Throwing money into *anything *isn't smart.

But most people don't "throw" their money into an index or ETF. They choose it as a prudent investment consistent with their long-term goals and prospects, bolstered by the confidence that decades of financial research prove its a sound, winning strategy.

People who put their money in an index fund in ~2000 took over 7 years to make their money back, and then again for over 6 more years, just to make their original sum back from 2000. You don't know what you're talking about, at all. You read a subreddit FAQ written by people with $50,000 net worths and pretend to be an expert, because you're a stupid sheep.

Anyone that talks about index funds is automatically a twat to myself and anyone successful I know.

WOW, where do I begin with this one.

First of all, I'm not convinced you even know what an index fund is.

You do know there are hundreds of indexes and corresponding funds, right? Many of them negatively correlated or uncorrelated with the market.

Your argument assumes the index investor allocated his entire portfolio to something like $SPY, which is just not realistic. No one does that. You also forgot to factor in dividends.

A good portfolio is diversified across many asset classes. That's investing 101.

Had your hypothetical year 2000 investor done that and rebalanced periodically he would have done very well.

BTW, my info comes from Shiller, Markowitz, Sharpe, Bernstien, and Bogle. Not a subreddit you dumb fuck.

>and "Bogle"

look into assisted suicide

>People who put their money in an index fund in ~2000
Wtf, I hate index funds now. Good thing no one but you puts all their money into the market at one single cherry-picked date in their entire lifetime with an arbitrary seven year investment horizon.

>Anyone that talks about index funds is automatically a twat to myself and anyone successful I know.
Also, this is hilarious. The only successful people you know are your mates who graduated from the fry machine to the drive-up window.

I trade penny stocks on Robinhood and even I know you're full of shit.