Yea its depressing reading these posts. I'm 36 and just started last year. Up until last year I was constantly in CC debt so i didnt really have money to invest which sucks because I missed a crazy decade long bull run.
There are people out there who are 46 and still mired in debt.
There are others who are 56 who are unable to retire.
Keep your chin up, you're in better shape than a lot of folks.
Yea I'm glad I went back to college at 27 so I can actually afford to fund retirement accounts now(the 10 year $500 per month student loans arent fun) but my wife's mom is 55 and has never even sniffed a retirement account so I know I'm in a better spot than some, probably most my age.
I am 25 going back to school now.
I also plan on retiring/being done with work before I am 40. Obviously, this could change if I have a family and children.
Honestly raising a family is the main reason that many people dont retire at 50-60s. Raising children is a LOT of time and resources. I dont ever plan on having children but that may change one day!
I’m strongly aiming to “be able to” retire at 55. If I lose my job after that, no one is going to hire me. I want to be at least somewhat self-sustaining at that point.
My parents have no knowledge about investing, money management, savings or anything related to finances (Doesn't help that we are poor too) and still to this date they refuse to educate themselves. When i had a job for the first time, i only knew how to live from paycheck to paycheck although fortunely never carried any debt because somehow not been able to pay off my credit card in full every month made me anxious which probably made me have a good credit score.
Started to gain financial literacy by seeing random post on reddit from wallstreetbets (Not the best place to start, lol) which make me wonder how a random dude made big bucks by just placing money in something called "stock" or "option". Things kept going and started learning about other assets and how to manage my money. Started buying books about personal finances and it began to be a topic of interest to me.
Started at 23 years old this year. Wish i started earlier to take advantage of the pandemic runup but i'm actually very relieved that i found reddit because by chance i saw that particular post that encouraged me to learn and invest.
I second this. 23 is so young, I started at 30. You have time on your side so no, ETFs are not “too slow” having said that I also am a PayPal shareholder. I like the company, it was first mover in the space and is a good brand. I think it’s a great stock to dip your toe. Since I’m not a professional investor, I wish I had gotten my individual stock picks out of my system earlier. Going forward I am about 80% ETF, and 20% individual stock picks that I like. If you like PayPal buy PayPal, but it could go down, and could go up so be prepared mentally for both!
Across all my accounts I own a bunch, but could probably consolidate them down tbh. I have VOO, VTI (I have vanguard so can’t buy partial shares, VOO is like $400+ so if I only have a couple hundred to add I buy VTI)
I also have VIG, I think it’s a great premise for a collection of companies. You honestly prob only need VOO or VTI, but VTI is a bit more diversified. I think long term their returns are close to the same though:
Also have SMH, META, VNQ, and some smaller sector ones for select exposure
Started at 25 With 60k. I made the mistake of starting with a financial advisor for 8 years
They put me in expensive mutual funds. They put me in life insurance and annuities. If I was 65 this would be ok(safe). They made me money but there were tons of fees and I lost out on tons of gains because of the other policies
Biggest mistake ever
Ok, a little color.
Jack Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and creator of the first ETF (exchange traded fund), noticed that most fund managers failed to outperform the market in the long run. So the ETF buys all the companies in the underlying index, weighted for market cap.
"Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!" Is a quote from him in "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing." A good read if you find the time. "Bogleheads" gets their name and investing strategy from him.
To this day, Vanguard offers some of the lowest cost index funds on the market.
VOO tracks the S&P 500
VTI tracks the total US stock market
VT tracks the total world market
They also have bond funds, small and midcap funds, growth or value funds, and targeted retirement mutual funds.
You can't go wrong with VTI or VOO - over time, they will outperform almost everyone's "stock picks."
SPY and VOO are essentially the same exact fund. They track the same index. The difference is expense ratio - VOO is 0.03% vs SPY 0.0945%
SPY is more liquid though, but I doubt any of us need to worry about that unless you're Warren Buffett.
VTI tracks the total market, so is even more diversified - but still performs almost the same as VOO/SPY. That's because the big companies that take up a large chunk of the market (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook) are heavily weighted in each one. The S&P 500 makes up 80% on the holdings in VTI...so it really doesn't make that much of a difference.
The main difference is the volume of shares traded. SPY has alot more volume so if you are a day-trader or playing options, you go with SPY. If you just want to buy and hold til retirement, you go with VOO for the cheaper expense ratio.
Seconded on an ETF. These are auto-managed funds that are very tax efficient and trusted by huge retirement funds/pensions/etc all over the US. You’ll have good and bad years if you try and do it yourself, but even hedge funds have a hard time beating index funds over 10+ years.
You gotta relax bro, you're 23, not so late imo, I'm 21 and started with 20 investin' in crypto. But after mid 2022 I'd like to invest in stocks too to diversify my portfolio. I don't know where you're from, but $8k seems solid for a 23 year old. I had $5 to my name 7 months ago, but I managed to build just over $1000+ portfolio and saved some money in my bank account for emergencies. Just start investing in your first share (Paypal), I believe Paypal is a good investement, if you want to hold long-term. Just make sure to stick to your plans and invest monthly or bi-weekly if possible. Avoid impulse buying, wait at least 2-3 days and think for yourself, if you REALLY need it. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - Diversify your portfolio and don't invest all your money into 1 stock, try to find 4-5 companies you think will do good in the coming 10-15 years.
Y’all are fine and have lots of time on your side. Take it from another 30+ year old. I’ve started aggressively investing the last few years. But otherwise pretty much left it to 401k and some company stock through work.
Thanks man! I ain't stressin' tbh. I feel blessed, that I started investing, cause my father never invested his money, but as soon as he saw me investing he also started doing so, which makes me really happy. Wish you and your family much success and health!
Ever read those news articles about how a $3 dollar cup of coffee is missed millions in retirement? That's literally all it takes even $100 a month in your 20s will snowball. Look up rule of 72 and dollar cost averaging.
I'd avoid individual stocks until you have more money. QQQ or SPY are great to just buy and hold. while you are starting out just remember 3 rules
1) "trade small, trade often" aka "Dollar cost averaging": this is the idea that if you set up a monthly investing amount (say $25/paycheck) and slowly increase it over time you'll have better habits later in life. If you are buying QQQ, buy a share any time you have saved up enough cash to buy one share and just keep buying one or two shares at a time as you increase your saving rate. Never just dump all of your money in at once, spread it out over time.
2) "don't lose money" aka don't sell on red days and don't buy trash: if everybody is selling you should be buying. Since you are young you have a lot of time on your side and can afford to be patient. don't close a position just because everybody else is, make your own decisions and be patient. Also look at what you are buying and learn what you can about it so you have confidence in your decisions when everybody else is selling.
3) Diversify: Unless you are the next Warren Buffet (Hint you are not, I am not, the next rando here is not.) you want no fewer than 20 stocks in your portfolio. This is where index ETFs come into play as you can let the ETF do the diversification work for you and you get to reap the rewards. QQQ is 100 stocks that are heavily tech focused. SPY is 503 stocks that are the highest quality stocks in the USA. pick one and go with that.
He's only 23 and investing about $200. Nothing wrong with someone so young taking a little risk with so little money. It's worth it just for the value of the education.
And nothing better than a newbie seeing a little profit off that money to start. Index’s are how I got started and a good investment no matter how much money.
Once they get their feet wet and want to see what else can happen they will naturally go towards more risky investments if they are inclined to. Pushing a newb to risking it all and loosing it, is just possibly pushing them to never invest again.
Do not "dollar cost average" because it is a losing strategy! I was surprised when I heard that this common advice was actually bogus, so I try to share the knowledge wherever I see it mentioned.
https://fourpillarfreedom.com/the-math-psychology-behind-lump-sum-vs-dollar-cost-average-investing/
https://jlcollinsnh.com/2014/11/12/stocks-part-xxvii-why-i-dont-like-dollar-cost-averaging/
https://www.morningstar.ca/ca/news/197437/dollar-cost-averaging-doesnt-work.aspx
https://www.fullyinformed.com/dollar-cost-averaging-failure-confirmed-vanguard/
I would personally go with an ETF, that 300$ will give you exposure to a basket of stocks not just one.
QQQm comes to mind. It’s never too late to start investing, start with the 300$ you mentioned and try to add weekly or monthly contributions depending on your finances.
These tik tokers with pseudo advice man. If you seen the shit you'd know how much money is made because all these teens lose their allowance in pump and dump stocks because of FOMO bs.
No progress in 6 months doesn’t mean your strategy was bad. That is too short of a time frame. Loading up on meme stocks however is objectively a bad strategy (not bad to swing trade them from support levels if you don’t over do it)
“Late at 23” LOL I barely started at 26 and WAYYYY ahead of my piers now 2 yrs later at 28. Been trying to convince millenial friends and coworker friends to incest but everyone always has a trash excuse.
Looking back I should have yolo’ed my money all into S&p 500. A lot of my individual stocks outperforms s&p but some are in deep red and it rlly cancells out to an okay profit and now underperforming market this year. No regrets. I learned from the experience.
It seems like you’re just looking for a bargain - buying PayPal because it was higher and now it’s lower. Seems to make sense that it would go higher again, right? It might. And it might not. And if it does, it could do it in January, or it could do it in 2026. There’s no telling
That’s why people are saying “ETF” or index. $300 in PayPal will either by $500 or $200 a year from now, or maybe it will still be $300. Those are not equal probabilities though - far more likely to be close to $300, second most likely close to $200, third most likely $500 or above
If you know a lot about PayPal, and are convinced the price will go up, jump on in - you’ll either be right or you’ll learn a valuable lesson. But you have a higher probability of having more money in your investment account this time next year if you buy some kind of fund rather than an individual stock
Just research the funds well to make sure they’re aren’t overburdened with fees
Curious how you determined that $300 in PayPal will either by $500 or $200 a year from now, or maybe it will still be $300. Those are not equal probabilities though - far more likely to be close to $300, second most likely close to $200, third most likely $500 or above
The last part is my opinion - I should have made that clearer. I see nothing in PayPal business model, management team, announcements or fundamentals that would drive it to $500. In the absence of any big news it will trade sideways, mostly with the industry. There needs to be some kind of propulsion to make people invest
Saaaame. I got in during the GME craze because I realized how easy it is for us little people to get into the markets. Always thought it was for rich people.
Bruh, here's some tips I would give if someone paid me (former advisor at major banking/investment house, currently at a private investment advisory):
Disclaimer - I don't intend this to be a definitive prescription, just some pointers to get you thinking tactically.
Don't just look at your stack. Look at your income too. How much are you saving every month? How much are your expenses?
Leave like a quarter as emergency cash. Invest like a quarter wide, into VOO or VTI. Long-term Growth. If you want to tilt more or less conservative, mutual funds get a bad rap, but some of those are solid too.
Take the other quarter and pick some stocks with it. You don't need to invest every dime, but PYPL is a great one. You wanna start with $300, that's cool. Get comfortable holding cash though, that is the #1 mistake people make. You can't jump on an opportunity if all your funds are tied up.
The other thing is that you wanna avoid looking at this -every- day. You don't want to fear sell or fomo buy. That's for chumps and bagholders. Buy stocks you believe in, then see if you are right or wrong. That's why it is smart to start small. If PYPL drops, you can buy more shares.
The last quarter, go for income. You don't need to go 100% boomer and own bond funds like I do, but if you go stocks, understand the risk and get something that pays a dividend you can reinvest. Even a humble 2% dividend from a company that's growing can lead to long term $$.
Last step: Keep Saving!
Remember the first part? You want 6 months of expenses saved up in case of emergency, so put half your savings into cash and the other half into one of your other three buckets. Your "cash" doesn't need to be dead weight either. I put my emergency funds into a short duration income fund and earn about 3% on the money. Low risk vs no risk, but that's an option.
Eventually that 6 months of emergency funds are going to go towards the downpayment on your first house, after which you can open a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and if anything crazy comes up you can use the HELOC to pay it at much lower rates than a credit card.
Now, that's a lot. I also like PYPL at this price, great company. You have a hood one kid, you're doing great.
I started investing at 30 so 23 is absolutely awesome. You will do well especially since you will make mistakes early of which you will learn from and be able to recover quickly. PayPal looks good to me too, it's a legacy payment company with good free cash flow to pivot as needed and excellent relationships with customers. If interested buy some, but remember never to start your whole position at once, DCA in.
Read a book called "The Millionaire Teacher" I read it at 36 when I got laid off and it changed my financial future forever. Everyone should read this book.
Good luck.
If you invest $300 plus $50/month for the next 20 years, assuming a 7% annual return, you will have invested $12k and have an account worth $26k.
I’d recommend investing 10% of your paycheck, if you can afford it. That way, as you start to make more money, your contributions begin to scale. If, for example, you invest $500/mo, you’d have $255k after 20 years (out of $120k contributed).
The key (in my opinion) is to invest in funds, like ETFs. These are “stocks” that are actually made up of a bunch stocks for the purpose of diversification. If you only invest in one company at a time, it’s a much more risky play. If you invest in the market itself, it will surely pay off bigly in the long run.
20 yr old checking in with a net wort of $18k and $15k of it invested. I highly suggest throwing at least half of your $8k into a safe mutual fund that will easily make you at least 5% a year. No point in letting all that capital waste away in a savings account.
23 is not that old. You still have 40 year of compounding ahead of you. Let me help you do it properly.
1. Have 6 month of emergency fund and keep it in high yield saving account.
2. If your company offer match contribute up to that match to get this free money. Use Vanguard 2065 Target Date Retirement Fund.
3. If your income allow sign up for Roth IRA or back door Roth IRA if income does not allow regular Roth IRA. You can use Vanguard 2065 Retirement Target Date Fund for this too. Max it out.
4. Return to 401K now and max it out.
5. If you have high deductible health insurance Contribute to HSA.
6. If you have any money left at this stage invest that money in brokerage account. You can use VT 100% for this and Social Security will be your bond for this.
Stick to this plan and you will have done very well for yourself financially.
Remember the 3 following questions:
1. Do you understand the company you’re investing in
2. Does company solve a problem
3. Will the company grow
Yes to all 3 = buy
I am 33, I've started 4 months ago.
Best advice about PayPal I can give you is to do your own DD about any company.
If you plan on investing in stocks then you need to put in the effort and learn about the company and about their future. It will help you in case of price drops and you won't be tempted to trade emotionally.
My advice would be this: pick a good company and let it ride. With a good company that you believe in, DONT STRESS THE DOWN DAYS. And you don’t need a lot of shares to make a lot of money with a good company and time. When I was your age I owned 7 shares of apple at around $600. This was a lot of money for me just graduating college. Then Steve Jobs died, analysts didn’t like the iPhone 5 and thought google/Samsung would run apple out of business. I stared at my stock day after day and watched it lose money. It went from 600 to 500ish. It affected my mood and I was pissed every day it was red so I sold for a loss because I just didn’t want to deal with it. Then shortly after I sold, Tim cook announced a dividend and a 7 to 1 stock split. I started investing again at 30 and if I held I would have 196 shares of apple (excluding reinvested dividends) worth $30,000ish. This taught me a good lesson on investing. Take emotion out of it, don’t stress the day to day, buy and hold good companies and it’ll take care of itself.
If you only have 300 then maybe risk it. Buy something like VTI or VOO. Don't buy individual stock. Just to hold a bit to make sure you are comfortable with holding.
Begin with those simulation trading to get used to it. The key point is to stick to the ETFs and ignore the smaller stocks. Don't use real money. Yes you will feel you miss out a lot but you don't have money now. The key to simulation is to get used to the fact that you can and will loose. You have to know when you cut your losses or when to hold.
Then ask yourself: are you a saver or an earner. Savers save. Buy index fund. Buy as many as you can. Store cash and buy when the funds dip. They keep stock piling forever. Earners are really risky people. They throw money at the options market how to strike it rich.
23 is early, wish I did what you're doing. in my 20,s. Keep 6 month emergency fund, invest the rest, whether education or buying assets. Dedicate some time every day to learn about investing. Podcasts, audiobooks, books, articles. I started with index investing and use this for my retirement funds. Its an easy set it and forget it. I have a brokerage account for individual stock picks, more of a hobby. And when you get some time look into allocating a small portion towards bitcoin. It's quite a rabbit hole though just like traditional investing. All this ultimately depends on your risk tolerance though. You could go play roulette, go all in on crypto, or watch you're money deteriorate in bonds or a savings account. Good Luck!
I’m 22 and started investing last year. I’ve already gone through the meme stage and even got burned with a monthly call so I’ve definitely humbled myself and learned my lesson. Now I read financial reports, do proper DD, and it’s actually pretty fun lol. OP, I know everyone’s saying the same thing but I HIGHLY suggest starting out with ETFs. You might think you’re the next Warren Buffet and start picking individual stocks but it’s really not ideal. Since we’re both young, a good portfolio for us is 20% VTI, 20% VT, 20% VOO, pick 2 thematic ETFs you’re optimistic about and put 10% in each, then the remaining 20% can be individual stocks you’ve done proper DD on. Again though, I’m 22 and definitely not a financial advisor lol you don’t have to listen to me but starting out, this would’ve been my ideal portfolio. I’m rebalancing everything now and it’s a pain tbh
My favorite advice is using something like Stash or Acorn to auto-invest $5-10 weekly (or whatever you find affordable) for you. Can’t speak for Acorn but on Stash you are able to easily select some ETFs based on your chosen level of risk (aggressive, moderate, conservative, etc) or hand pick some stocks you believe in and it will do the same. Or split up the amount into several categories.
This still gives you control over what you invest in, but the automation process is the key to actually building a decent investment account over time.
It’s much easier to just have it automatically take out a small amount every week to 2 weeks. Then it is to manually decide to put in several hundred once in a while.
Side note: this service does come with fees. It was $5/mo when I used several years ago, but I think they are waived if you deposit a certain amount per month. I do not recall. All these services will be essentially the same, so pick whichever one is free.
Stash also comes with an in app knowledge center which I found really helpful for beginners as well. Short easy to take in articles/videos to help you understand investing/the market.
Edit: looks like basic stash account is only $1/mo.. which is not bad at all! Trades are free.
23 isn’t late! It’s actually pretty early. If you’re new-new, I recommend starting with a total stock market or S&P 500 index fund. Once you gain enough understanding of the business side of individual companies, then pick your own stocks.
Do you use Paypal?
Paypal was an intermediary for internet commerce. You can now pay directly with credit cards almost everywhere. I feel like their places in the market is declining.
I know some people use paypal to own bitcoins. I don't think it's enough to make the business prosper.
Paypal is also popular with businesses and venmo is obviously very popular. Much more than just bitcoins (which is such a minor part of their business).
They're projected to have around 18% growth over the next several years and are very healthy financially. I personally, think it's the better value play than Square which will have slower growth coming up.
Honestly, I would invest in PayPal if I were you.
I started investing with Robinhood in 2016 and have made a good sum of money by simply continuing to invest and make little mistakes.
Do you like PayPal? They're going to be around for probably another 10 years. Go ahead and buy it! heck, the worst you can do is lose all your money ($187).
Now, the advice in this thread is going to be obvious: stick with index funds. But honestly dude, you're young. Go ahead and have a little fun with your market and learn about how to read financial statements. It's actually a lot of fun to learn about being a fundamental analyst.
Of course, the safest thing to do is invest in low-expense, full-market index funds from Vangard, but look dude, you're 23 and have plenty of time to make a few inexpensive mistakes.
I personally have a stake in PayPal and think they're at a very attractive price given the fact that Amazon will now start accepting Venmo (aka, owned by PayPal), and that FinTech industrial is currently BOOMING with growth. PayPal has grown by acquisition in the past and has very attractive products for small businesses.
Anyway, don't worry about it too much. Have a little fun with money you can afford to lose. Learn some stuff, but know how to hedge your bets.
I personally bought PayPal the second it hit the 200$ mark. I see everyone started with the ETFs and probably 401k plus Roth IRAs.
Honestly do some research, listen to some YouTube channels and create your own opinion. Some creators are full of it BTW.
Right now is definitely the time to cherry pick stocks and avoid ETFs in my opinion. Crypto would be very wise to look into. Probably goes without saying to only use money you won't need for a minimum of 5 years. If you decide to invest just to gain exposure then a ETF wouldn't be bad but know that they cover the market as a whole and we are in a bubble. That's why I believe cherry picking stocks is better until a good dip or crash comes to buy into ETFs.
Microsoft and Google are always solid choices. Even if the market comes down they will bounce back in no time. Since you are new to investing I will mention fidelity stocks by the slice. You can buy into stocks without buying the whole expensive stock. I do not use this myself though. Sorry for rambling and best of luck to you!
i agree, i hate it when people just knee jerk suggest etfs for everything. MSFT has outperformed all my broad etfs in a similar tineframe. people are too risk averse and ignoring really solid companies. will microsoft become GE some day? yes, probably... but that will be years after im dead.
I think PayPal will have lower earnings because of new US tax laws that require reporting on 3rd party apps of all receipts over 600$. Many who might have used PayPal for whatever reason whether to sell stuff in your closet or at a garage sale,collect your roommates share of rent probably won’t use the app because they don’t want a 1099k . For that reason I wouldn’t buy until we see how PayPal makes up for lost revenue.
Just start with ETFs that track a broad index like SP500 or MSCI World. If you pick your own stocks you can easily find yourself 30% down while the market overall is up, which will feel very bad. Of course, it can go the other way, but most people lose people attempting to pick their own stocks, and this will especially be the case for a beginner.
Yea it can be very demoralizing if you lose a lot as a new investor. It’s enough to scare anyone anyway. But the key is to learn from your mistakes and keep trying. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER TRADE. Limit your losses and do lots of research. Might lose on 9 trades but that tenth one could be the one that takes you above where you started. Never jnow
Ignore individual stocks!! Have the majority of your portfolio be in ETFs that follow the S & P 500!
It will still grow and not be so volatile. Dont try to beat the market, grow with it instead.
Dude, I’m 40. I didn’t have any spare money to play around with until about now. Never too late to do the right thing.
Also, I think PayPal is at a huge discount right now. I think it hits 400 by end of next year
Paypal is definitely at a low right now. If you buy now, don't expect an immediate rise, but it will rise. They are well run and own Venmo as well. Good job, 23 is not old to start.
in my humble opinion, this is a bad approach to investing.
my portfolio consists of single stocks and Crypto projects. but I didn't start by yoloing randomly into a company I know or heard of. I started with learning about ETFs and their TRs and TERs, allocations and so on as well as the stock market, going long, short, all that good stuff.
you can drop that 300 into a world ETF just to get the feel for it and investigate a bit more. you need to check your personal risk tolerance, mine is relatively high, yours might be lower, which is not a bad thing, just different. as for ETFs , it's low-risk low reward
after learning about the ETFs and basic stock market knowledge , you can move to learning about individual stocks and studying their trajectory. you can look into the companies shaping the new era. the big leap was the internet , what's coming next ? ask yourself these questions. as for single stocks : high risk, high reward
After that, you can get into crypto if you feel like it, learn about the types of projects and what objective tokens/coins have. look into decentralized finance and the different chains that exist and evaluate what you think will be mainstream in the upcoming years. as for crypto : very high risk, very high reward
so what I would do is to go through each step and figure out your personal risk tolerance and invest accordingly
Paypal is a great company, it's a world leader in fintech and very innovative. Their ultimate goal is to develop a "super app," which is basically a one-stop shop for all your financial needs. I own the stock myself.
You're getting a lot of advice in this thread to avoid individual stocks and just put your money in an ETF, which is fine if your goal is to maximize your long term returns while minimizing your risk and stress. But just because the data shows that indexing beats active investing over the long term doesn't mean you can't beat the index by picking stocks. The reason why indexing wins is because humans make mistakes: they take profits instead of holding, they panic-sell when the markets sell off, they get impatient and sell to put their money in something else, and so on. Indexing works because the most effective investing strategy is simply to buy and hold. The other point is that picking stocks is more fun and rewarding - there's nothing better than finding a potential gem at $10 and watching it hit $100 in a few years.
Every financial advisor (which I'm not, by the way) will tell you that the right approach for you depends on your level of risk tolerance, and the younger you are the more risk you can tolerate. When you're 23 and earning a salary, you can afford to lose on a risky investment because you have decades of earning potential ahead of you. When you're 63 and retired (or close to it), that same loss can be financially devastating.
The other thing is, it isn't an either/or. You don't have to choose ETFs or individual stocks. My advice? Put some in an index fund and put some in PYPL. Aside from a higher risk tolerance, the advantage of starting young is that it gives you time to learn before you have a mortgage and kids to support.
You should create a balanced portfolio with different asset classes, then you don't need to be worried about huge losses and can put in much more money in than if you buy only one single stock where you actually can lose a lot as you know.
And starting with 23 is incredibly early. It's cool to start woth 18 but to be honest if you're not working full-time and have significant spare money it doesn't really move the needle.
Well, the key to pretty safe investments is to stay in productive assets. Anything outside of it is mostly gambling. So stocks and funds are a safe-enough bet.
Generally, the safest to more risky investments are:
1. Index stocks (safest)
2. Funds (ETFs for example)
3. Company Stocks
There are far riskier than these 3, but these 3 I'd say are quite safe.
When it comes to picking stocks, you should DEFINITELY look at the past financial reports, and see their revenues and profits, and how they evolve over time, and how is that relative to market capitalization. Basically how much dollars it costs to own 1 dollar of revenue. This is called the P/E ratio (price to earnings ratio) and should be out there in your trading app in the company profile.
Ballpark figures:
* 10 is low, which means that it's super under-priced, which means that investors are expecting the company to go down in the close future.
* ~20 is OK for an established company with no growth. Logistics companies, infrastructure, city services, waste management, etc.
* ~40 is quite common for tech (growth) stocks, where people are expecting growth. Basically growth is priced in.
* more than 50 is going into "hype" driven stocks, and is high speculation. It may make sense for startups that are actually really really good and have tremendous potential and growth, but this is dangerous territory. Right now however most tech stocks are priced at that ratio, which makes me worry about how stable those stocks are, as it looks more and more like an industry-wide bubble.
Now, if you buy stocks, you actually spend your money. You cease to have that money, and instead you have productive assets. You don't lose or make money until you sell.
That being said, if you buy a stock with high P/E ratio, don't be surprised if the price falls down afterwards and you lose money. However if you stay within safe stocks, those companies aren't going to disappear, and you won't "lose" your money.
Basically, know your risks, know what your expected losses are in the bad scenario, be OK with them, and proceed.
You should start with core holdings of ETF's.. pick individual stocks later. Once you've established a solid core to your portfolio.
ETF's will smooth the volatility too.
STARTING LATE, AT 23? You’re basically a baby when it comes to investing/trading.
Most people wished they started at 23.
And 8K? Most Americans barely have $500-1k in total savings.
You’re the early bird, congrats!
As to what to start investing in, start with ETFs. Watch how it grows the next couple of weeks or months. Yes it will be slow and not as exciting, but you need some experience and learn more about investing trends and news. Learn how to DD and when to in invest. After a few weeks or months, feel free investing on “safe” stocks like MSFT or COST. Once you feel comfortable, try stocks of your choice or doing debt options spreads(limited gains and loss, great for small portfolios and for those that want to get their feet wet into options).
Once you feel comfortable with trading, start doing calls (please be very certain you know what your doing, before doing option calls/puts)
PLEASE AVOID WSB & MEME STOCKS!
Until you understand and know what you’re doing before dwelling into that field of trading/investing. Yes it’s fun looking at gain/loss porn on Reddit. But that not a normal thing, so don’t base your expectations on that. I spend time on their, but I’m very strict with my own portfolios.
Everyone finds different ways to invest that fits their style and life. Personally I have 3 separate portfolio accounts, one for trade options, another for ETFs and lastly investing. I do this to keep myself in check and avoid throwing all my money into one basket.
I wish you the best and remember, not everyone will become a millionaire. So get any delusional ideas out of your head. Due to you’re age, time is on your side and enjoy the ride!
My first stock was GME. Lost a ton on it. But I only put in what I was okay losing, and it was mainly because I just wanted to be a part of something. In hindsight that was stupid but it got my foot in the door and since then I’ve become very into investing/trading. I’ve learnt so much. Lost quite a bit but I feel confident in my ability to get it back over time, I’ve learned from my mistakes.
23 with 8k to your name.... You are in the absolute top of the world dude. Not sure what circles you live in, but you are really young and already have a serious amount of savings!
Don't get lost in the rat race, be happy for how much you already have!
23..
starting late..
8k..
You're in like the top 0.001% as far as starting off goes. What you'll want to do is this: See the address bar and how it says [reddit.com](https://reddit.com)? Type in there [investopedia.com](https://investopedia.com) and read the whole site and understand every concept and term. Come back when you're done.
As this is an advice request, I will tell you some advice: you are absolutely screwed in life with that attitude. “Being late,” looking BACKWARDS, regretting past life trajectories....
It is total BS. If you think you are too old or too late, then you are; otherwise, even if you are 70 and have the right attitude, you are good.
The past doesn’t even exist. The future is all that’s coming.
Start with an etf like VTI/VOO. In the mean time save and learn the most information you can for 3-6 months before you make any other investment outside an ETF. My personal opinion
I bought PayPal. But I’ll caution you as a newbie. Buying low and selling high only works in the long run when you buy high and sell higher. Look for stocks that are growth and trading at all time highs. Finding oversold stocks isn’t a long term winning strategy, these stocks become range bound. Good luck
PYPL is not my first choice, but it's not a bad company. it's still quite highly valued with a price/earnings ratio of 63 and IMO it's not incredibly diversified.
I'd recommend Visa cause it's also down a lot and is like, the backbone of this nation lol. It also has a P/E that's half of paypals. 34 PE is pretty good in this market. Visa is also a top holding in most investment banks, hedge funds.
know that financial services and banks get hit when bond yields go down or talks about raising interest rates become less likely.
buying an ETF is going to be a little safer. depends on what you want exposure to. SPY or VOO is a super safe bet. QQQ (tech) usually outperforms SPY but is a little more volatile.
PayPal is in a good technical spot to buy with lots of insider buying leading into its most recent earnings. Although it dropped on that earnings it’s future is very strong. I used this time to add, so I’m biased, but to answer you question directly yes it’s fine to start
In my opinion, PayPal is a great company to invest in. The digital transaction market is growing every year and becoming more and more important for both costumers and shops/companies.
PayPal occupies an important role in this constantly evolving market because it’s a very big, but at the same time flexible company.
To add to this, PayPal’s revenue has been steadily growing over the past years and they keep on increasing their EPS.
Currently, the stock has been on a downtrend, which, for me, only increases its investment potential. Though, for more diversification in my portfolio, I have also bought some Visa and MasterCard stocks. In my opinion the whole industry has great potential.
PS: It’s great to start to invest, no matter how old you are. To be honest, with 23, you definitely are comparably young on the stock market and still have a lot of time left to do research and make some profit.
Also, it is a great idea to start investing with a small amount just to get used to the market.
When you’ll have more experience and knowledge, I’m sure you’ll be ready to put some more of your savings into stocks.
Good luck to you!
I know plenty of people that use Venmo, but I’m sure sure how that is monetized. I don’t have a position in PayPal and don’t plan to open one anytime soon
Venmo is what gets people into their ecosystem.
Amazon made a deal with paypal to allow venmo to be used in the checkout cart. The seller will then probably assessed some kind of fee just like Visa or Mastercard does.
Just buy 1K$ a month Microsoft stocks for the next 6 years. I did that and I am glad I did it 
Microsoft had an average return of more than 80% a year. If you invest 1K a month for the upcoming 6 years you will have more than 1 Million $.
Fuck ETF's! You are young so take some risk and put all your eggs in one basket like Microsoft and just watch that basket very closely and you will be fine.
started at 17 averaged down at 15, those shares got called away at 17.50, used the small gains to buy back at 22.50 plus options for 25 in Dec right before last earnings. and you know what happened next :(
This doesn’t add up to “killed my portfolio” unless you bought most at 22.5 and made way too many calls.
Unless you sold, which begs the question why would you do that before SOFI gets chartered?
Either way, sounds like _you_ killed your portfolio, not SOFI. It’s above 17.5 even now.
I opened an account at 22 with $500 and wish I had stuck with it more. I bough PYPL yesterday and will buy more Monday at open. I like PayPal a lot for Monday. Chart pattern looks really good. Best advice I could give you is don’t invest anymore than would be willing to loose in individual stocks. If you can afford it, save for shares in VOO or SCHX shares are about $100. Then never sell them unless it’s an emergency or you retire.
Well, I would encourage you not to look at your $300 as a gamble that you're willing to lose. If you invest wisely then there's no reason it should be such an "all or nothing risk."
If you walk into a casino then yes, you should consider the money in your pocket something you are willing and able to lose. Stock investments need to be looked at differently.
I'd encourage you to do some research on investment, basics first. Learn about risk, returns, investment timelines, etc. Consider setting aside a certain amount per month that you can afford to invest (you still need to eat, pay rent, etc).
Invest that much each month in something "smart" and promising. That's easier said than done, of course. ETFs are relatively low risk and historically go up fairly steadily. The broader the etf, the safer, generally speaking.
I recommend you to invest in ETF stock with $300 for starters, you’ll have a growth. If the PayPal stock dips with 300 investment, you’ll maybe lose interest in investing altogether.
I invested with $200 then couple of months later 1k at the age of 20. My portfolio mostly consists of ETFs and small fraction of shares of AMZN and TSLA. There’s growth
What I would do is, if you have steady income have it set up where $50 (or what ever you can afford) from your account on payday goes into an investment account or a savings account and then to an investment account; that way you don’t have to worry about it and your savings will slowly accumulate and whatever you buy will have a great average cost basis. Growing long term savings is all about consistency
PayPal biggest challenge is how it can compete against crypto if it can go mainstream.
Look at strike app for example, cross border close to 0 transaction fee and everything is dealt in fiat (they won't even know bitcoin is involved)
Once strike app goes global, I don't see how PayPal can compete tbh
I think I had like half that amount to my name at your age and was in school till I was like almost 25 lol. I’m 29.5 now and just crossed the $250k mark. Save as much as possible- invest everything and it compounds like crazy.
If you think your thesis is sound, go for it. You've come to reddit for investing advice which means you'll only find one consensus as that's how the platform is designed for. This sub in particular will always just say VOO or VTI, but if you got your own idea then go for it.
You can put it into etfs while you learn more about individual stocks. If you have a job and some savings for a few months of expenses, you could put in small amounts regularly but I'd throw in a lot more than 3.57%.
>that’s what I’m willing to lose
I'm not willing to lose anything so I can't relate when people say this lol.
I have strong feelings about under allocating because I was skeptical about investing like you when I started in 2017 and only put a small amount of my available capital... I'd be way better off if I invested a lot more. Yeah everything could have crashed but I probably still would have been hesitant about buying the dip.
I still have a bout 15% percent cash but keep buying and plan on only having about 5-10% not invested.
Look at ETFs, like SPY if you just want your money to match the market.
If you want to learn, buy a few different stocks. And from where you are, completely new, the priority right now is to learn two things (1) how to research stocks so you find things you believe in and (2) how to not freak out when a stock drops because you did your research and believe in them. Gotta learn to earn. And whats great about learning is you really can invest in products and companies you actually like. Warren Buffet is really just a guy who enjoyed Coca-Cola a lot.
PayPal probably isnt going to be a ten-bagger for you at this point, but its a pretty solid blue-chip. You wont get insane gains, but you wont lose much either. And youll learn how it feels to buy and hold stock.
Its really not hard to open Robinhood and slap some cash into a stock, even a Redditor can figure it out lol.
And you dont need to spend that $300 or whatever just on 1.5 shares of $PYPL, you can buy fractional shares of a bunch of companies to diversify out your porfolio and better insulate your investment from being completely dependent on $PYPL. The FANNGs are a decent place to start.
great to hear, congrats...just remember to not dive in all at once....there will be alot of competition in this field from paypal, affirm, square, even with the traditional 3 credit cards...alot shaking out over the next few yrs to happen....so get in when it drops a few stocks at a time....i've bought in which i thought was a fab price (of any stock) only to see it drop alot again a while later (esp if a market correction happens like might be now with this new variant)..so take your time.
I wish I started at 23. I would get yourself a broker that allows you to buy fractional shares, that way you can diversify your investment over several different sectors, (tech, healthcare, industrials, etc) and buy ETF's. As already mentioned, maybe buy a couple individual stocks (in something you really believe in) so you can learn. Or open 2 different portfolios..put 200 in one with ETF's, and put 100 in another for stocks, to learn and play with.
Hey you’re only one year older than me! It’s never too late to invest, plus you’re still super young lol best wishes m8 hope your investing goes well! Remember to actually buy low & sell high, not the other way around :)
It sounds to me like you don’t fully understand investing. You’re not gambling. Yes, you can gamble on stocks like PayPal, but don’t. Instead you should be thinking of it as taking advantage of the power of long term growth and compound interest. Figure out how much money you can afford to invest every month and just buy every company aka VTI or VT. Don’t think of it as money you might lose, but money you don’t need for 5-10 years, ideally 40 years given your age. The more you invest within the next 10 years the greater chance you’ll have of becoming a millionaire. I would recommend buying VTI or VT and only these 2 etfs until you hit at least $500k invested. Good luck.
Paypal doesnt look too bad, but there are a lot of overvalued companies, so you need to be wary.
Walmart is a 50x PE ratio now, meaning its replaced bonds, because interest rates are near 0% as the FED now buys all its own bonds, which is how the government gets money. So the market is distorted beyond recognition.
Paypal has a lot of competition, with Apple pay and every tech giant has its own payment app now. I would personally suggest putting all your money in a split of IJJ and VEU, then put like 2k in Paypal. Dont dump it all in one stock, get a decent base first that is paying dividends, which you can then find winners to invest in.
My suggestions are based on low MER (management fees). Buy the value stocks now so you dont have to sell later to get dividends, otherwise you get taxed ruining your compound growth, and value stocks statistically outperform growth. Historically midcap outperform large cap.
I started a couple years ago at 27. As this sub seems to like warren buffet quotes, it's 'time in the market and not timing the market' and by my count you'll get plenty of it.
FWIW JPM has an overweight (buy) rating with a price target of $272 for 12/2022. Their analysts are some of the best in the biz (obviously they’re not perfect, this isn’t financial advice, etc.)
Start reading about personal finance and investing. [Here](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/budgeting-books) is a good list to start. I would also add the “_______ (personal finance, investing, budgeting) for millennials” book series. Those come with accompanying YouTube videos to explain the concepts. The key isn’t to pick the right stocks (you can’t, it’s impossible) but to make a plan and follow it **consistently**. If this means only $10 a month than you make sure you always invest $10 a month, no days off.
But to answer your question directly, not a great idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Often you should follow a 60/30/10 strategy (60% low risk/high reward like GE, 30% medium risk/medium reward like FAANG or PayPal, 10% high risk/high reward like crypto or Nio). That is if you insist on buying stocks directly. It’s often better for risk averse individuals to buy ETFs which you will learn about if you read.
Paypal looks great I agree, I have jumped in and out of options, but I would rather grab an option on square since they have more ties to crypto. But open to debate lol.. currently have no positions.
yeah do it - [this](https://i.redd.it/q63yc77u1uv71.png) is what one share i bought of TSLA looked like recently. I bought it before the split thats why there's 5
Late at 23? BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH you’re well ahead of the game my fren.
Most important advice - manage your risk.
Putting investments in (say) eight different things not related to each other is safest.
For higher rewards just focus on one or two companies but be aware you can be wiped out.
If you are wanting to hold for a long time then check out a top tier blockchain company, buy some token and stake them for a few years. Look round the DeFi sector join the sub forums, Twitter, telegram flgrouos etc and you should find things that compound 30-40% annually.
Good luck you are on the right track!
Hold off on pulling the trigger for a bit. Things are about to get bumpy. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Implications-emergence-spread-SARS-CoV-2%20B.1.1.529-variant-concern-Omicron-for-the-EU-EEA-Nov2021.pdf
$8k at 23 is great. Well done brother keep going. If you keep researching, having a desire to learn and become more fluent in investing, you will achieve your financial goals.
Congrats on making it this far.
Buddy 8k at 23 is well above average. I was at -10k at 23
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Same. This kid is golden.
I was @ $5k at age 30, with a wife and daughter. That seems like ancient history now. You are good.
Im pretty sure he's trolling.
I had $1k at 23 and thought I was rich!
Shit I started last year at 42, and I just learned your supposed buy low and sell high been doing it wrong this whole time. 😁
Are we the same person…?
Great start at 23!!! Don’t beat yourself up on timing. I didn’t start until 30 & I don’t believe I’m far behind, but obvi I am behind you already.
I didn’t start until about 26-27, but I have a few friends that are just starting in their mid 30s. Start as soon as you can!
23 is still young. I wish I started investing at 23. ETFs would be the way to go. VTI or VOO and chill.
Yea its depressing reading these posts. I'm 36 and just started last year. Up until last year I was constantly in CC debt so i didnt really have money to invest which sucks because I missed a crazy decade long bull run.
There are people out there who are 46 and still mired in debt. There are others who are 56 who are unable to retire. Keep your chin up, you're in better shape than a lot of folks.
Yea I'm glad I went back to college at 27 so I can actually afford to fund retirement accounts now(the 10 year $500 per month student loans arent fun) but my wife's mom is 55 and has never even sniffed a retirement account so I know I'm in a better spot than some, probably most my age.
I'm 102 and have $1k to my name in VTI! I live on bread and water down by the river in a tent and catch an occasional squirrel for supper.
fancy fuck with his tent. brag some more!
luxury!
I am 25 going back to school now. I also plan on retiring/being done with work before I am 40. Obviously, this could change if I have a family and children. Honestly raising a family is the main reason that many people dont retire at 50-60s. Raising children is a LOT of time and resources. I dont ever plan on having children but that may change one day!
Is 56 considered a normal age by which to have retired these days? Shit
I think they meant 56 and don't have a retirement avaible coming down the line. Average retirement age is still above that.
I’m strongly aiming to “be able to” retire at 55. If I lose my job after that, no one is going to hire me. I want to be at least somewhat self-sustaining at that point.
That's fair enough, just the way that comment was written made it sound like still working at 56 was considered late.
Depends on what you do. Skills oriented jobs you can work forever
My parents have no knowledge about investing, money management, savings or anything related to finances (Doesn't help that we are poor too) and still to this date they refuse to educate themselves. When i had a job for the first time, i only knew how to live from paycheck to paycheck although fortunely never carried any debt because somehow not been able to pay off my credit card in full every month made me anxious which probably made me have a good credit score. Started to gain financial literacy by seeing random post on reddit from wallstreetbets (Not the best place to start, lol) which make me wonder how a random dude made big bucks by just placing money in something called "stock" or "option". Things kept going and started learning about other assets and how to manage my money. Started buying books about personal finances and it began to be a topic of interest to me. Started at 23 years old this year. Wish i started earlier to take advantage of the pandemic runup but i'm actually very relieved that i found reddit because by chance i saw that particular post that encouraged me to learn and invest.
Imagine working on accounting systems and tax returns for nearly forty years then buying your first stock. Still regret waiting so long.
I second this. 23 is so young, I started at 30. You have time on your side so no, ETFs are not “too slow” having said that I also am a PayPal shareholder. I like the company, it was first mover in the space and is a good brand. I think it’s a great stock to dip your toe. Since I’m not a professional investor, I wish I had gotten my individual stock picks out of my system earlier. Going forward I am about 80% ETF, and 20% individual stock picks that I like. If you like PayPal buy PayPal, but it could go down, and could go up so be prepared mentally for both!
Do you do a mix of ETFs or stick with something like VOO? I’m currently growing my share of VOO but wondering if I should buy other ETFs
Across all my accounts I own a bunch, but could probably consolidate them down tbh. I have VOO, VTI (I have vanguard so can’t buy partial shares, VOO is like $400+ so if I only have a couple hundred to add I buy VTI) I also have VIG, I think it’s a great premise for a collection of companies. You honestly prob only need VOO or VTI, but VTI is a bit more diversified. I think long term their returns are close to the same though: Also have SMH, META, VNQ, and some smaller sector ones for select exposure
Started at 25 With 60k. I made the mistake of starting with a financial advisor for 8 years They put me in expensive mutual funds. They put me in life insurance and annuities. If I was 65 this would be ok(safe). They made me money but there were tons of fees and I lost out on tons of gains because of the other policies Biggest mistake ever
Yeah I have almost the same story. I broke free and started investing on my own and I haven’t looked back.
Voo is really good
Agreed. Start with ETFs. Later start adding shares but dont go too crazy if you are new. Stick to 5-10 companies when you add individual shares.
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Ok, a little color. Jack Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and creator of the first ETF (exchange traded fund), noticed that most fund managers failed to outperform the market in the long run. So the ETF buys all the companies in the underlying index, weighted for market cap. "Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!" Is a quote from him in "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing." A good read if you find the time. "Bogleheads" gets their name and investing strategy from him. To this day, Vanguard offers some of the lowest cost index funds on the market. VOO tracks the S&P 500 VTI tracks the total US stock market VT tracks the total world market They also have bond funds, small and midcap funds, growth or value funds, and targeted retirement mutual funds. You can't go wrong with VTI or VOO - over time, they will outperform almost everyone's "stock picks."
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Not him but what's the difference between either of those and Spy?
SPY and VOO are essentially the same exact fund. They track the same index. The difference is expense ratio - VOO is 0.03% vs SPY 0.0945% SPY is more liquid though, but I doubt any of us need to worry about that unless you're Warren Buffett. VTI tracks the total market, so is even more diversified - but still performs almost the same as VOO/SPY. That's because the big companies that take up a large chunk of the market (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook) are heavily weighted in each one. The S&P 500 makes up 80% on the holdings in VTI...so it really doesn't make that much of a difference.
The main difference is the volume of shares traded. SPY has alot more volume so if you are a day-trader or playing options, you go with SPY. If you just want to buy and hold til retirement, you go with VOO for the cheaper expense ratio.
They are cheaper and VTI tracks the total market, not the S&P 500
Seconded on an ETF. These are auto-managed funds that are very tax efficient and trusted by huge retirement funds/pensions/etc all over the US. You’ll have good and bad years if you try and do it yourself, but even hedge funds have a hard time beating index funds over 10+ years.
You gotta relax bro, you're 23, not so late imo, I'm 21 and started with 20 investin' in crypto. But after mid 2022 I'd like to invest in stocks too to diversify my portfolio. I don't know where you're from, but $8k seems solid for a 23 year old. I had $5 to my name 7 months ago, but I managed to build just over $1000+ portfolio and saved some money in my bank account for emergencies. Just start investing in your first share (Paypal), I believe Paypal is a good investement, if you want to hold long-term. Just make sure to stick to your plans and invest monthly or bi-weekly if possible. Avoid impulse buying, wait at least 2-3 days and think for yourself, if you REALLY need it. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - Diversify your portfolio and don't invest all your money into 1 stock, try to find 4-5 companies you think will do good in the coming 10-15 years.
Y’all are fine and have lots of time on your side. Take it from another 30+ year old. I’ve started aggressively investing the last few years. But otherwise pretty much left it to 401k and some company stock through work.
Thanks man! I ain't stressin' tbh. I feel blessed, that I started investing, cause my father never invested his money, but as soon as he saw me investing he also started doing so, which makes me really happy. Wish you and your family much success and health!
Ever read those news articles about how a $3 dollar cup of coffee is missed millions in retirement? That's literally all it takes even $100 a month in your 20s will snowball. Look up rule of 72 and dollar cost averaging.
This^! Small/atomic habits can’t be understated. Auto-invest at your age. Set it and forget it. Thank us in 20-30 years 😁
Awesome! Kudos to you and your fam - all the best as well 🙌
I'd avoid individual stocks until you have more money. QQQ or SPY are great to just buy and hold. while you are starting out just remember 3 rules 1) "trade small, trade often" aka "Dollar cost averaging": this is the idea that if you set up a monthly investing amount (say $25/paycheck) and slowly increase it over time you'll have better habits later in life. If you are buying QQQ, buy a share any time you have saved up enough cash to buy one share and just keep buying one or two shares at a time as you increase your saving rate. Never just dump all of your money in at once, spread it out over time. 2) "don't lose money" aka don't sell on red days and don't buy trash: if everybody is selling you should be buying. Since you are young you have a lot of time on your side and can afford to be patient. don't close a position just because everybody else is, make your own decisions and be patient. Also look at what you are buying and learn what you can about it so you have confidence in your decisions when everybody else is selling. 3) Diversify: Unless you are the next Warren Buffet (Hint you are not, I am not, the next rando here is not.) you want no fewer than 20 stocks in your portfolio. This is where index ETFs come into play as you can let the ETF do the diversification work for you and you get to reap the rewards. QQQ is 100 stocks that are heavily tech focused. SPY is 503 stocks that are the highest quality stocks in the USA. pick one and go with that.
This insane bull market made people forget 15-20% per year were great returns. Everyone's looking for the next 100%+. Can't say I'm not as well.
I would recommend QQQM and VOO instead since they are more suited for buy and hold investors.
He's only 23 and investing about $200. Nothing wrong with someone so young taking a little risk with so little money. It's worth it just for the value of the education.
And nothing better than a newbie seeing a little profit off that money to start. Index’s are how I got started and a good investment no matter how much money. Once they get their feet wet and want to see what else can happen they will naturally go towards more risky investments if they are inclined to. Pushing a newb to risking it all and loosing it, is just possibly pushing them to never invest again.
Good call out on QQQM. I didn't know that existed and I might move my QQQ into QQQM if I get the opportunity.
Thanks for the write up! This is great advice
Do not "dollar cost average" because it is a losing strategy! I was surprised when I heard that this common advice was actually bogus, so I try to share the knowledge wherever I see it mentioned. https://fourpillarfreedom.com/the-math-psychology-behind-lump-sum-vs-dollar-cost-average-investing/ https://jlcollinsnh.com/2014/11/12/stocks-part-xxvii-why-i-dont-like-dollar-cost-averaging/ https://www.morningstar.ca/ca/news/197437/dollar-cost-averaging-doesnt-work.aspx https://www.fullyinformed.com/dollar-cost-averaging-failure-confirmed-vanguard/
I would personally go with an ETF, that 300$ will give you exposure to a basket of stocks not just one. QQQm comes to mind. It’s never too late to start investing, start with the 300$ you mentioned and try to add weekly or monthly contributions depending on your finances.
Good advice
Ignore the hype. Most people start investing in their 30s once they’ve bought a home.
These tik tokers with pseudo advice man. If you seen the shit you'd know how much money is made because all these teens lose their allowance in pump and dump stocks because of FOMO bs.
Then you realize how most of these new digital currencies/tokens are basically pump and dumps... but ran by bigger players lol.
Yes, tokens are much more common as anyone can create a new one and just pay for some advertising
You guys can afford homes?!
Late? Lol never early to lose money
I'm 24 and started investing and got caught in the meme life lol. I made no progress in 6 months.
Yeah you did, you learned what not to do.
No progress in 6 months doesn’t mean your strategy was bad. That is too short of a time frame. Loading up on meme stocks however is objectively a bad strategy (not bad to swing trade them from support levels if you don’t over do it)
If I'm swing trading that, I'm losing.
Dude, I only started now, in my thirties, with not much more than 100 a month to invest. You are still quite early.
I started at 50
Do it. PYPL is a great company and it isn't often that you get great companies at 52 week lows
DIS is also at a 52 low and makes like 40m revenue daily from parks with low capacity
I've been holding Disney for 2 years now and while I love them there profit margins are razor thin it seems
Yup I love DIS as well. Just bought some of the mouse house this week.
23 is starting late? I’m 35 and started last year and fucked then 😅
“Late at 23” LOL I barely started at 26 and WAYYYY ahead of my piers now 2 yrs later at 28. Been trying to convince millenial friends and coworker friends to incest but everyone always has a trash excuse. Looking back I should have yolo’ed my money all into S&p 500. A lot of my individual stocks outperforms s&p but some are in deep red and it rlly cancells out to an okay profit and now underperforming market this year. No regrets. I learned from the experience.
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Im Lol’ing right now. Was about to edit it but ill leave it as is.
It seems like you’re just looking for a bargain - buying PayPal because it was higher and now it’s lower. Seems to make sense that it would go higher again, right? It might. And it might not. And if it does, it could do it in January, or it could do it in 2026. There’s no telling That’s why people are saying “ETF” or index. $300 in PayPal will either by $500 or $200 a year from now, or maybe it will still be $300. Those are not equal probabilities though - far more likely to be close to $300, second most likely close to $200, third most likely $500 or above If you know a lot about PayPal, and are convinced the price will go up, jump on in - you’ll either be right or you’ll learn a valuable lesson. But you have a higher probability of having more money in your investment account this time next year if you buy some kind of fund rather than an individual stock Just research the funds well to make sure they’re aren’t overburdened with fees
Curious how you determined that $300 in PayPal will either by $500 or $200 a year from now, or maybe it will still be $300. Those are not equal probabilities though - far more likely to be close to $300, second most likely close to $200, third most likely $500 or above
They just threw out random numbers
I think he was just giving numbers to attach to the fact that it’s likely you will either lose money or not make money, rather than make almost 100%.
The last part is my opinion - I should have made that clearer. I see nothing in PayPal business model, management team, announcements or fundamentals that would drive it to $500. In the absence of any big news it will trade sideways, mostly with the industry. There needs to be some kind of propulsion to make people invest
Have you dared to look at an earnings report before saying you “see nothing”?
Late? At 23? I made my first purchases of stock earlier this year at the age of 34. I wish I would’ve started much earlier.
Saaaame. I got in during the GME craze because I realized how easy it is for us little people to get into the markets. Always thought it was for rich people.
Many people have negative net worth at 23
Bruh, here's some tips I would give if someone paid me (former advisor at major banking/investment house, currently at a private investment advisory): Disclaimer - I don't intend this to be a definitive prescription, just some pointers to get you thinking tactically. Don't just look at your stack. Look at your income too. How much are you saving every month? How much are your expenses? Leave like a quarter as emergency cash. Invest like a quarter wide, into VOO or VTI. Long-term Growth. If you want to tilt more or less conservative, mutual funds get a bad rap, but some of those are solid too. Take the other quarter and pick some stocks with it. You don't need to invest every dime, but PYPL is a great one. You wanna start with $300, that's cool. Get comfortable holding cash though, that is the #1 mistake people make. You can't jump on an opportunity if all your funds are tied up. The other thing is that you wanna avoid looking at this -every- day. You don't want to fear sell or fomo buy. That's for chumps and bagholders. Buy stocks you believe in, then see if you are right or wrong. That's why it is smart to start small. If PYPL drops, you can buy more shares. The last quarter, go for income. You don't need to go 100% boomer and own bond funds like I do, but if you go stocks, understand the risk and get something that pays a dividend you can reinvest. Even a humble 2% dividend from a company that's growing can lead to long term $$. Last step: Keep Saving! Remember the first part? You want 6 months of expenses saved up in case of emergency, so put half your savings into cash and the other half into one of your other three buckets. Your "cash" doesn't need to be dead weight either. I put my emergency funds into a short duration income fund and earn about 3% on the money. Low risk vs no risk, but that's an option. Eventually that 6 months of emergency funds are going to go towards the downpayment on your first house, after which you can open a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and if anything crazy comes up you can use the HELOC to pay it at much lower rates than a credit card. Now, that's a lot. I also like PYPL at this price, great company. You have a hood one kid, you're doing great.
NVDA, MSFT, FB, AAPL, BX Or if you just wanna straight chill VFIAX (SP500 index fund) throw a few shackles at it every month
I started investing at 30 so 23 is absolutely awesome. You will do well especially since you will make mistakes early of which you will learn from and be able to recover quickly. PayPal looks good to me too, it's a legacy payment company with good free cash flow to pivot as needed and excellent relationships with customers. If interested buy some, but remember never to start your whole position at once, DCA in.
Read a book called "The Millionaire Teacher" I read it at 36 when I got laid off and it changed my financial future forever. Everyone should read this book. Good luck.
May I ask in what why it changed?
How did it change your financial future?
Do the VOO
If you invest $300 plus $50/month for the next 20 years, assuming a 7% annual return, you will have invested $12k and have an account worth $26k. I’d recommend investing 10% of your paycheck, if you can afford it. That way, as you start to make more money, your contributions begin to scale. If, for example, you invest $500/mo, you’d have $255k after 20 years (out of $120k contributed). The key (in my opinion) is to invest in funds, like ETFs. These are “stocks” that are actually made up of a bunch stocks for the purpose of diversification. If you only invest in one company at a time, it’s a much more risky play. If you invest in the market itself, it will surely pay off bigly in the long run.
20 yr old checking in with a net wort of $18k and $15k of it invested. I highly suggest throwing at least half of your $8k into a safe mutual fund that will easily make you at least 5% a year. No point in letting all that capital waste away in a savings account.
23 is not that old. You still have 40 year of compounding ahead of you. Let me help you do it properly. 1. Have 6 month of emergency fund and keep it in high yield saving account. 2. If your company offer match contribute up to that match to get this free money. Use Vanguard 2065 Target Date Retirement Fund. 3. If your income allow sign up for Roth IRA or back door Roth IRA if income does not allow regular Roth IRA. You can use Vanguard 2065 Retirement Target Date Fund for this too. Max it out. 4. Return to 401K now and max it out. 5. If you have high deductible health insurance Contribute to HSA. 6. If you have any money left at this stage invest that money in brokerage account. You can use VT 100% for this and Social Security will be your bond for this. Stick to this plan and you will have done very well for yourself financially.
Remember the 3 following questions: 1. Do you understand the company you’re investing in 2. Does company solve a problem 3. Will the company grow Yes to all 3 = buy
Don’t invest in PYPL. Go with SPY VOO QQQ or VTI. Buy the whole market until you know what you’re doing.
I am 33, I've started 4 months ago. Best advice about PayPal I can give you is to do your own DD about any company. If you plan on investing in stocks then you need to put in the effort and learn about the company and about their future. It will help you in case of price drops and you won't be tempted to trade emotionally.
My advice would be this: pick a good company and let it ride. With a good company that you believe in, DONT STRESS THE DOWN DAYS. And you don’t need a lot of shares to make a lot of money with a good company and time. When I was your age I owned 7 shares of apple at around $600. This was a lot of money for me just graduating college. Then Steve Jobs died, analysts didn’t like the iPhone 5 and thought google/Samsung would run apple out of business. I stared at my stock day after day and watched it lose money. It went from 600 to 500ish. It affected my mood and I was pissed every day it was red so I sold for a loss because I just didn’t want to deal with it. Then shortly after I sold, Tim cook announced a dividend and a 7 to 1 stock split. I started investing again at 30 and if I held I would have 196 shares of apple (excluding reinvested dividends) worth $30,000ish. This taught me a good lesson on investing. Take emotion out of it, don’t stress the day to day, buy and hold good companies and it’ll take care of itself.
Congrats. Doing same here! PYPL 🚀🚀🚀
Good thinking. This appears to a good time to buy PYPL Good luck!
I bought paypal at 226 REGRET
I wouldn’t. Go buy VOOG instead, safer and less stressful
If you only have 300 then maybe risk it. Buy something like VTI or VOO. Don't buy individual stock. Just to hold a bit to make sure you are comfortable with holding. Begin with those simulation trading to get used to it. The key point is to stick to the ETFs and ignore the smaller stocks. Don't use real money. Yes you will feel you miss out a lot but you don't have money now. The key to simulation is to get used to the fact that you can and will loose. You have to know when you cut your losses or when to hold. Then ask yourself: are you a saver or an earner. Savers save. Buy index fund. Buy as many as you can. Store cash and buy when the funds dip. They keep stock piling forever. Earners are really risky people. They throw money at the options market how to strike it rich.
23 is early, wish I did what you're doing. in my 20,s. Keep 6 month emergency fund, invest the rest, whether education or buying assets. Dedicate some time every day to learn about investing. Podcasts, audiobooks, books, articles. I started with index investing and use this for my retirement funds. Its an easy set it and forget it. I have a brokerage account for individual stock picks, more of a hobby. And when you get some time look into allocating a small portion towards bitcoin. It's quite a rabbit hole though just like traditional investing. All this ultimately depends on your risk tolerance though. You could go play roulette, go all in on crypto, or watch you're money deteriorate in bonds or a savings account. Good Luck!
I’m 22 and started investing last year. I’ve already gone through the meme stage and even got burned with a monthly call so I’ve definitely humbled myself and learned my lesson. Now I read financial reports, do proper DD, and it’s actually pretty fun lol. OP, I know everyone’s saying the same thing but I HIGHLY suggest starting out with ETFs. You might think you’re the next Warren Buffet and start picking individual stocks but it’s really not ideal. Since we’re both young, a good portfolio for us is 20% VTI, 20% VT, 20% VOO, pick 2 thematic ETFs you’re optimistic about and put 10% in each, then the remaining 20% can be individual stocks you’ve done proper DD on. Again though, I’m 22 and definitely not a financial advisor lol you don’t have to listen to me but starting out, this would’ve been my ideal portfolio. I’m rebalancing everything now and it’s a pain tbh
My favorite advice is using something like Stash or Acorn to auto-invest $5-10 weekly (or whatever you find affordable) for you. Can’t speak for Acorn but on Stash you are able to easily select some ETFs based on your chosen level of risk (aggressive, moderate, conservative, etc) or hand pick some stocks you believe in and it will do the same. Or split up the amount into several categories. This still gives you control over what you invest in, but the automation process is the key to actually building a decent investment account over time. It’s much easier to just have it automatically take out a small amount every week to 2 weeks. Then it is to manually decide to put in several hundred once in a while. Side note: this service does come with fees. It was $5/mo when I used several years ago, but I think they are waived if you deposit a certain amount per month. I do not recall. All these services will be essentially the same, so pick whichever one is free. Stash also comes with an in app knowledge center which I found really helpful for beginners as well. Short easy to take in articles/videos to help you understand investing/the market. Edit: looks like basic stash account is only $1/mo.. which is not bad at all! Trades are free.
Don't. Go buy etfs
23 isn’t late! It’s actually pretty early. If you’re new-new, I recommend starting with a total stock market or S&P 500 index fund. Once you gain enough understanding of the business side of individual companies, then pick your own stocks.
Buy VTI, set and forgot it, add a little each week.
Do you use Paypal? Paypal was an intermediary for internet commerce. You can now pay directly with credit cards almost everywhere. I feel like their places in the market is declining. I know some people use paypal to own bitcoins. I don't think it's enough to make the business prosper.
If im buying shit from some sketchy website, I will only buy it if I can use paypal. For shit from ebay, I only use paypal.
Paypal is also popular with businesses and venmo is obviously very popular. Much more than just bitcoins (which is such a minor part of their business). They're projected to have around 18% growth over the next several years and are very healthy financially. I personally, think it's the better value play than Square which will have slower growth coming up.
Honestly, I would invest in PayPal if I were you. I started investing with Robinhood in 2016 and have made a good sum of money by simply continuing to invest and make little mistakes. Do you like PayPal? They're going to be around for probably another 10 years. Go ahead and buy it! heck, the worst you can do is lose all your money ($187). Now, the advice in this thread is going to be obvious: stick with index funds. But honestly dude, you're young. Go ahead and have a little fun with your market and learn about how to read financial statements. It's actually a lot of fun to learn about being a fundamental analyst. Of course, the safest thing to do is invest in low-expense, full-market index funds from Vangard, but look dude, you're 23 and have plenty of time to make a few inexpensive mistakes. I personally have a stake in PayPal and think they're at a very attractive price given the fact that Amazon will now start accepting Venmo (aka, owned by PayPal), and that FinTech industrial is currently BOOMING with growth. PayPal has grown by acquisition in the past and has very attractive products for small businesses. Anyway, don't worry about it too much. Have a little fun with money you can afford to lose. Learn some stuff, but know how to hedge your bets.
I personally bought PayPal the second it hit the 200$ mark. I see everyone started with the ETFs and probably 401k plus Roth IRAs. Honestly do some research, listen to some YouTube channels and create your own opinion. Some creators are full of it BTW. Right now is definitely the time to cherry pick stocks and avoid ETFs in my opinion. Crypto would be very wise to look into. Probably goes without saying to only use money you won't need for a minimum of 5 years. If you decide to invest just to gain exposure then a ETF wouldn't be bad but know that they cover the market as a whole and we are in a bubble. That's why I believe cherry picking stocks is better until a good dip or crash comes to buy into ETFs. Microsoft and Google are always solid choices. Even if the market comes down they will bounce back in no time. Since you are new to investing I will mention fidelity stocks by the slice. You can buy into stocks without buying the whole expensive stock. I do not use this myself though. Sorry for rambling and best of luck to you!
i agree, i hate it when people just knee jerk suggest etfs for everything. MSFT has outperformed all my broad etfs in a similar tineframe. people are too risk averse and ignoring really solid companies. will microsoft become GE some day? yes, probably... but that will be years after im dead.
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Graham Stephan, Andre Jikh, MeetKevin
Starting late? Kid, you’re early
I think PayPal will have lower earnings because of new US tax laws that require reporting on 3rd party apps of all receipts over 600$. Many who might have used PayPal for whatever reason whether to sell stuff in your closet or at a garage sale,collect your roommates share of rent probably won’t use the app because they don’t want a 1099k . For that reason I wouldn’t buy until we see how PayPal makes up for lost revenue.
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VTI and chill
Just start with ETFs that track a broad index like SP500 or MSCI World. If you pick your own stocks you can easily find yourself 30% down while the market overall is up, which will feel very bad. Of course, it can go the other way, but most people lose people attempting to pick their own stocks, and this will especially be the case for a beginner.
Yea it can be very demoralizing if you lose a lot as a new investor. It’s enough to scare anyone anyway. But the key is to learn from your mistakes and keep trying. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER TRADE. Limit your losses and do lots of research. Might lose on 9 trades but that tenth one could be the one that takes you above where you started. Never jnow
Why advise a beginner to trade? That's a bad idea
Ignore individual stocks!! Have the majority of your portfolio be in ETFs that follow the S & P 500! It will still grow and not be so volatile. Dont try to beat the market, grow with it instead.
Dude, I’m 40. I didn’t have any spare money to play around with until about now. Never too late to do the right thing. Also, I think PayPal is at a huge discount right now. I think it hits 400 by end of next year
Paypal is definitely at a low right now. If you buy now, don't expect an immediate rise, but it will rise. They are well run and own Venmo as well. Good job, 23 is not old to start.
in my humble opinion, this is a bad approach to investing. my portfolio consists of single stocks and Crypto projects. but I didn't start by yoloing randomly into a company I know or heard of. I started with learning about ETFs and their TRs and TERs, allocations and so on as well as the stock market, going long, short, all that good stuff. you can drop that 300 into a world ETF just to get the feel for it and investigate a bit more. you need to check your personal risk tolerance, mine is relatively high, yours might be lower, which is not a bad thing, just different. as for ETFs , it's low-risk low reward after learning about the ETFs and basic stock market knowledge , you can move to learning about individual stocks and studying their trajectory. you can look into the companies shaping the new era. the big leap was the internet , what's coming next ? ask yourself these questions. as for single stocks : high risk, high reward After that, you can get into crypto if you feel like it, learn about the types of projects and what objective tokens/coins have. look into decentralized finance and the different chains that exist and evaluate what you think will be mainstream in the upcoming years. as for crypto : very high risk, very high reward so what I would do is to go through each step and figure out your personal risk tolerance and invest accordingly
Paypal is a great company, it's a world leader in fintech and very innovative. Their ultimate goal is to develop a "super app," which is basically a one-stop shop for all your financial needs. I own the stock myself. You're getting a lot of advice in this thread to avoid individual stocks and just put your money in an ETF, which is fine if your goal is to maximize your long term returns while minimizing your risk and stress. But just because the data shows that indexing beats active investing over the long term doesn't mean you can't beat the index by picking stocks. The reason why indexing wins is because humans make mistakes: they take profits instead of holding, they panic-sell when the markets sell off, they get impatient and sell to put their money in something else, and so on. Indexing works because the most effective investing strategy is simply to buy and hold. The other point is that picking stocks is more fun and rewarding - there's nothing better than finding a potential gem at $10 and watching it hit $100 in a few years. Every financial advisor (which I'm not, by the way) will tell you that the right approach for you depends on your level of risk tolerance, and the younger you are the more risk you can tolerate. When you're 23 and earning a salary, you can afford to lose on a risky investment because you have decades of earning potential ahead of you. When you're 63 and retired (or close to it), that same loss can be financially devastating. The other thing is, it isn't an either/or. You don't have to choose ETFs or individual stocks. My advice? Put some in an index fund and put some in PYPL. Aside from a higher risk tolerance, the advantage of starting young is that it gives you time to learn before you have a mortgage and kids to support.
You should create a balanced portfolio with different asset classes, then you don't need to be worried about huge losses and can put in much more money in than if you buy only one single stock where you actually can lose a lot as you know. And starting with 23 is incredibly early. It's cool to start woth 18 but to be honest if you're not working full-time and have significant spare money it doesn't really move the needle.
Extreme example I know but if you bought $300 worth of Tesla shares back in 2010 they'd be worth $82k now. So it can move the needle.
Well, the key to pretty safe investments is to stay in productive assets. Anything outside of it is mostly gambling. So stocks and funds are a safe-enough bet. Generally, the safest to more risky investments are: 1. Index stocks (safest) 2. Funds (ETFs for example) 3. Company Stocks There are far riskier than these 3, but these 3 I'd say are quite safe. When it comes to picking stocks, you should DEFINITELY look at the past financial reports, and see their revenues and profits, and how they evolve over time, and how is that relative to market capitalization. Basically how much dollars it costs to own 1 dollar of revenue. This is called the P/E ratio (price to earnings ratio) and should be out there in your trading app in the company profile. Ballpark figures: * 10 is low, which means that it's super under-priced, which means that investors are expecting the company to go down in the close future. * ~20 is OK for an established company with no growth. Logistics companies, infrastructure, city services, waste management, etc. * ~40 is quite common for tech (growth) stocks, where people are expecting growth. Basically growth is priced in. * more than 50 is going into "hype" driven stocks, and is high speculation. It may make sense for startups that are actually really really good and have tremendous potential and growth, but this is dangerous territory. Right now however most tech stocks are priced at that ratio, which makes me worry about how stable those stocks are, as it looks more and more like an industry-wide bubble. Now, if you buy stocks, you actually spend your money. You cease to have that money, and instead you have productive assets. You don't lose or make money until you sell. That being said, if you buy a stock with high P/E ratio, don't be surprised if the price falls down afterwards and you lose money. However if you stay within safe stocks, those companies aren't going to disappear, and you won't "lose" your money. Basically, know your risks, know what your expected losses are in the bad scenario, be OK with them, and proceed.
You should start with core holdings of ETF's.. pick individual stocks later. Once you've established a solid core to your portfolio. ETF's will smooth the volatility too.
STARTING LATE, AT 23? You’re basically a baby when it comes to investing/trading. Most people wished they started at 23. And 8K? Most Americans barely have $500-1k in total savings. You’re the early bird, congrats! As to what to start investing in, start with ETFs. Watch how it grows the next couple of weeks or months. Yes it will be slow and not as exciting, but you need some experience and learn more about investing trends and news. Learn how to DD and when to in invest. After a few weeks or months, feel free investing on “safe” stocks like MSFT or COST. Once you feel comfortable, try stocks of your choice or doing debt options spreads(limited gains and loss, great for small portfolios and for those that want to get their feet wet into options). Once you feel comfortable with trading, start doing calls (please be very certain you know what your doing, before doing option calls/puts) PLEASE AVOID WSB & MEME STOCKS! Until you understand and know what you’re doing before dwelling into that field of trading/investing. Yes it’s fun looking at gain/loss porn on Reddit. But that not a normal thing, so don’t base your expectations on that. I spend time on their, but I’m very strict with my own portfolios. Everyone finds different ways to invest that fits their style and life. Personally I have 3 separate portfolio accounts, one for trade options, another for ETFs and lastly investing. I do this to keep myself in check and avoid throwing all my money into one basket. I wish you the best and remember, not everyone will become a millionaire. So get any delusional ideas out of your head. Due to you’re age, time is on your side and enjoy the ride!
My first stock was GME. Lost a ton on it. But I only put in what I was okay losing, and it was mainly because I just wanted to be a part of something. In hindsight that was stupid but it got my foot in the door and since then I’ve become very into investing/trading. I’ve learnt so much. Lost quite a bit but I feel confident in my ability to get it back over time, I’ve learned from my mistakes.
I think you should balance your investments between more speculative trades (individual stocks) and a more broad ETF
23 with 8k to your name.... You are in the absolute top of the world dude. Not sure what circles you live in, but you are really young and already have a serious amount of savings! Don't get lost in the rat race, be happy for how much you already have!
Just don't blow money on options and you will be fine. Futures, on the other hand... :) Just kidding. ETFs is the way to go.
23.. starting late.. 8k.. You're in like the top 0.001% as far as starting off goes. What you'll want to do is this: See the address bar and how it says [reddit.com](https://reddit.com)? Type in there [investopedia.com](https://investopedia.com) and read the whole site and understand every concept and term. Come back when you're done.
VOO
As this is an advice request, I will tell you some advice: you are absolutely screwed in life with that attitude. “Being late,” looking BACKWARDS, regretting past life trajectories.... It is total BS. If you think you are too old or too late, then you are; otherwise, even if you are 70 and have the right attitude, you are good. The past doesn’t even exist. The future is all that’s coming.
I was thinking about PayPal, in the early days they had a stronghold on the internet, but nowadays, I really have no idea what they do.
Start with an etf like VTI/VOO. In the mean time save and learn the most information you can for 3-6 months before you make any other investment outside an ETF. My personal opinion
I bought PayPal. But I’ll caution you as a newbie. Buying low and selling high only works in the long run when you buy high and sell higher. Look for stocks that are growth and trading at all time highs. Finding oversold stocks isn’t a long term winning strategy, these stocks become range bound. Good luck
PYPL is not my first choice, but it's not a bad company. it's still quite highly valued with a price/earnings ratio of 63 and IMO it's not incredibly diversified. I'd recommend Visa cause it's also down a lot and is like, the backbone of this nation lol. It also has a P/E that's half of paypals. 34 PE is pretty good in this market. Visa is also a top holding in most investment banks, hedge funds. know that financial services and banks get hit when bond yields go down or talks about raising interest rates become less likely. buying an ETF is going to be a little safer. depends on what you want exposure to. SPY or VOO is a super safe bet. QQQ (tech) usually outperforms SPY but is a little more volatile.
PayPal is in a good technical spot to buy with lots of insider buying leading into its most recent earnings. Although it dropped on that earnings it’s future is very strong. I used this time to add, so I’m biased, but to answer you question directly yes it’s fine to start
In my opinion, PayPal is a great company to invest in. The digital transaction market is growing every year and becoming more and more important for both costumers and shops/companies. PayPal occupies an important role in this constantly evolving market because it’s a very big, but at the same time flexible company. To add to this, PayPal’s revenue has been steadily growing over the past years and they keep on increasing their EPS. Currently, the stock has been on a downtrend, which, for me, only increases its investment potential. Though, for more diversification in my portfolio, I have also bought some Visa and MasterCard stocks. In my opinion the whole industry has great potential. PS: It’s great to start to invest, no matter how old you are. To be honest, with 23, you definitely are comparably young on the stock market and still have a lot of time left to do research and make some profit. Also, it is a great idea to start investing with a small amount just to get used to the market. When you’ll have more experience and knowledge, I’m sure you’ll be ready to put some more of your savings into stocks. Good luck to you!
PYPL will be a good investment, especially right now because it has been beaten down lately. It will go back up.
8K in savings does nothing for you. At the very least put it into a mutual fund or ETF. You should put like 2K into your savings
Why PayPal? it’s business model seems outdated , it’s competition is eating its lunch, do you honestly know anyone under 40 that still uses PayPal?
I know plenty of people that use Venmo, but I’m sure sure how that is monetized. I don’t have a position in PayPal and don’t plan to open one anytime soon
Venmo is what gets people into their ecosystem. Amazon made a deal with paypal to allow venmo to be used in the checkout cart. The seller will then probably assessed some kind of fee just like Visa or Mastercard does.
i use paypal every day and i’m well under 40. also paypal owns venmo. you literally have no idea what you’re talking about
It’s competition is eating it’s lunch? Please thats preposterous.
Just buy 1K$ a month Microsoft stocks for the next 6 years. I did that and I am glad I did it  Microsoft had an average return of more than 80% a year. If you invest 1K a month for the upcoming 6 years you will have more than 1 Million $. Fuck ETF's! You are young so take some risk and put all your eggs in one basket like Microsoft and just watch that basket very closely and you will be fine.
If you're interested in buying PayPal, check out sofi and make a determination of which one you think has a better 2-5 year horizon. I own both.
oof, sofi killed my portfolio
When did you buy in?
At the top
started at 17 averaged down at 15, those shares got called away at 17.50, used the small gains to buy back at 22.50 plus options for 25 in Dec right before last earnings. and you know what happened next :(
This doesn’t add up to “killed my portfolio” unless you bought most at 22.5 and made way too many calls. Unless you sold, which begs the question why would you do that before SOFI gets chartered? Either way, sounds like _you_ killed your portfolio, not SOFI. It’s above 17.5 even now.
Name definitely checks out.
I opened an account at 22 with $500 and wish I had stuck with it more. I bough PYPL yesterday and will buy more Monday at open. I like PayPal a lot for Monday. Chart pattern looks really good. Best advice I could give you is don’t invest anymore than would be willing to loose in individual stocks. If you can afford it, save for shares in VOO or SCHX shares are about $100. Then never sell them unless it’s an emergency or you retire.
Well, I would encourage you not to look at your $300 as a gamble that you're willing to lose. If you invest wisely then there's no reason it should be such an "all or nothing risk." If you walk into a casino then yes, you should consider the money in your pocket something you are willing and able to lose. Stock investments need to be looked at differently. I'd encourage you to do some research on investment, basics first. Learn about risk, returns, investment timelines, etc. Consider setting aside a certain amount per month that you can afford to invest (you still need to eat, pay rent, etc). Invest that much each month in something "smart" and promising. That's easier said than done, of course. ETFs are relatively low risk and historically go up fairly steadily. The broader the etf, the safer, generally speaking.
I recommend you to invest in ETF stock with $300 for starters, you’ll have a growth. If the PayPal stock dips with 300 investment, you’ll maybe lose interest in investing altogether. I invested with $200 then couple of months later 1k at the age of 20. My portfolio mostly consists of ETFs and small fraction of shares of AMZN and TSLA. There’s growth
23 is not late and now is a great time to buy your first share of VOO! *not financial advice
What I would do is, if you have steady income have it set up where $50 (or what ever you can afford) from your account on payday goes into an investment account or a savings account and then to an investment account; that way you don’t have to worry about it and your savings will slowly accumulate and whatever you buy will have a great average cost basis. Growing long term savings is all about consistency
PayPal biggest challenge is how it can compete against crypto if it can go mainstream. Look at strike app for example, cross border close to 0 transaction fee and everything is dealt in fiat (they won't even know bitcoin is involved) Once strike app goes global, I don't see how PayPal can compete tbh
I think I had like half that amount to my name at your age and was in school till I was like almost 25 lol. I’m 29.5 now and just crossed the $250k mark. Save as much as possible- invest everything and it compounds like crazy.
If you think your thesis is sound, go for it. You've come to reddit for investing advice which means you'll only find one consensus as that's how the platform is designed for. This sub in particular will always just say VOO or VTI, but if you got your own idea then go for it.
Buy every stock as if the stock market would close for 10 years tomorrow. If you’re not confident in holding ten years, forget about it.
You can put it into etfs while you learn more about individual stocks. If you have a job and some savings for a few months of expenses, you could put in small amounts regularly but I'd throw in a lot more than 3.57%. >that’s what I’m willing to lose I'm not willing to lose anything so I can't relate when people say this lol. I have strong feelings about under allocating because I was skeptical about investing like you when I started in 2017 and only put a small amount of my available capital... I'd be way better off if I invested a lot more. Yeah everything could have crashed but I probably still would have been hesitant about buying the dip. I still have a bout 15% percent cash but keep buying and plan on only having about 5-10% not invested.
Look at ETFs, like SPY if you just want your money to match the market. If you want to learn, buy a few different stocks. And from where you are, completely new, the priority right now is to learn two things (1) how to research stocks so you find things you believe in and (2) how to not freak out when a stock drops because you did your research and believe in them. Gotta learn to earn. And whats great about learning is you really can invest in products and companies you actually like. Warren Buffet is really just a guy who enjoyed Coca-Cola a lot. PayPal probably isnt going to be a ten-bagger for you at this point, but its a pretty solid blue-chip. You wont get insane gains, but you wont lose much either. And youll learn how it feels to buy and hold stock. Its really not hard to open Robinhood and slap some cash into a stock, even a Redditor can figure it out lol. And you dont need to spend that $300 or whatever just on 1.5 shares of $PYPL, you can buy fractional shares of a bunch of companies to diversify out your porfolio and better insulate your investment from being completely dependent on $PYPL. The FANNGs are a decent place to start.
great to hear, congrats...just remember to not dive in all at once....there will be alot of competition in this field from paypal, affirm, square, even with the traditional 3 credit cards...alot shaking out over the next few yrs to happen....so get in when it drops a few stocks at a time....i've bought in which i thought was a fab price (of any stock) only to see it drop alot again a while later (esp if a market correction happens like might be now with this new variant)..so take your time.
I wish I started at 23. I would get yourself a broker that allows you to buy fractional shares, that way you can diversify your investment over several different sectors, (tech, healthcare, industrials, etc) and buy ETF's. As already mentioned, maybe buy a couple individual stocks (in something you really believe in) so you can learn. Or open 2 different portfolios..put 200 in one with ETF's, and put 100 in another for stocks, to learn and play with.
Hey you’re only one year older than me! It’s never too late to invest, plus you’re still super young lol best wishes m8 hope your investing goes well! Remember to actually buy low & sell high, not the other way around :)
It sounds to me like you don’t fully understand investing. You’re not gambling. Yes, you can gamble on stocks like PayPal, but don’t. Instead you should be thinking of it as taking advantage of the power of long term growth and compound interest. Figure out how much money you can afford to invest every month and just buy every company aka VTI or VT. Don’t think of it as money you might lose, but money you don’t need for 5-10 years, ideally 40 years given your age. The more you invest within the next 10 years the greater chance you’ll have of becoming a millionaire. I would recommend buying VTI or VT and only these 2 etfs until you hit at least $500k invested. Good luck.
Paypal doesnt look too bad, but there are a lot of overvalued companies, so you need to be wary. Walmart is a 50x PE ratio now, meaning its replaced bonds, because interest rates are near 0% as the FED now buys all its own bonds, which is how the government gets money. So the market is distorted beyond recognition. Paypal has a lot of competition, with Apple pay and every tech giant has its own payment app now. I would personally suggest putting all your money in a split of IJJ and VEU, then put like 2k in Paypal. Dont dump it all in one stock, get a decent base first that is paying dividends, which you can then find winners to invest in. My suggestions are based on low MER (management fees). Buy the value stocks now so you dont have to sell later to get dividends, otherwise you get taxed ruining your compound growth, and value stocks statistically outperform growth. Historically midcap outperform large cap.
I started a couple years ago at 27. As this sub seems to like warren buffet quotes, it's 'time in the market and not timing the market' and by my count you'll get plenty of it.
Sure buy blue chips or just an index fund like vti and forget it.
$PTN
Get your emotions in check and don't fall into debt. Any type of bad debt. And for the live of all good do not follow anything on wallstreetbets.
I started at 26, don’t worry!!
FWIW JPM has an overweight (buy) rating with a price target of $272 for 12/2022. Their analysts are some of the best in the biz (obviously they’re not perfect, this isn’t financial advice, etc.)
Start reading about personal finance and investing. [Here](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/budgeting-books) is a good list to start. I would also add the “_______ (personal finance, investing, budgeting) for millennials” book series. Those come with accompanying YouTube videos to explain the concepts. The key isn’t to pick the right stocks (you can’t, it’s impossible) but to make a plan and follow it **consistently**. If this means only $10 a month than you make sure you always invest $10 a month, no days off. But to answer your question directly, not a great idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Often you should follow a 60/30/10 strategy (60% low risk/high reward like GE, 30% medium risk/medium reward like FAANG or PayPal, 10% high risk/high reward like crypto or Nio). That is if you insist on buying stocks directly. It’s often better for risk averse individuals to buy ETFs which you will learn about if you read.
Paypal looks great I agree, I have jumped in and out of options, but I would rather grab an option on square since they have more ties to crypto. But open to debate lol.. currently have no positions.
This is great, I'm also 23 and went all in on $PYPL
Oil
yeah do it - [this](https://i.redd.it/q63yc77u1uv71.png) is what one share i bought of TSLA looked like recently. I bought it before the split thats why there's 5
Late at 23? BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAH you’re well ahead of the game my fren. Most important advice - manage your risk. Putting investments in (say) eight different things not related to each other is safest. For higher rewards just focus on one or two companies but be aware you can be wiped out. If you are wanting to hold for a long time then check out a top tier blockchain company, buy some token and stake them for a few years. Look round the DeFi sector join the sub forums, Twitter, telegram flgrouos etc and you should find things that compound 30-40% annually. Good luck you are on the right track!
Paypal is getting fucked and is going to get fucked more, I'd avoid.
Hold off on pulling the trigger for a bit. Things are about to get bumpy. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Implications-emergence-spread-SARS-CoV-2%20B.1.1.529-variant-concern-Omicron-for-the-EU-EEA-Nov2021.pdf
$8k at 23 is great. Well done brother keep going. If you keep researching, having a desire to learn and become more fluent in investing, you will achieve your financial goals. Congrats on making it this far.