Table of Contents

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Introduction

If I was investing for the first time today, above are the 3 things I'd do, in order. Keep in mind how SOON you invest matters more than how MUCH you invest. Google it and you'll see studies on it - even with a 10 year difference.

​

Oh also, if you do not have 6 months income saved in CASH (not credit) and/or have significant debt that has an APR over 1%, you MUST kill that debt first. Google Dave Ramsey's "Snowball Method" where you pay off debts from smallest to largest so you can feel a sense of accomplishment right away. I do not recommend #2 and especially number #3 above if have debt outside a mortgage. Credit card debt is debt by the way. 

​

Another thing, do NOT check your portfolio every day nor every week. Once a month at the most. It will stress you out and your stock WILL fluctuate. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Type in "Visa stock" on Google and look at the chart. Click on 1-week-view and then click on 5-year-view. Now be quiet and continue reading. 

​

ALSO YOU'RE NOT GETTING RICH TOMORROW. My approach is strictly about long term retirement planning. If you want to try to make a ton in a short about of time, it's literally no different than going to Vegas if that's your stupid goal.

​

​

1) 401K Matching

• If you work for an employer who offers 401K matching, contribute the same amount that your company matches. So if they match up to 6% of your paycheck, you will want to contribute 6% of your paycheck. Not taking up your employer on this "matching" is leaving free money. 

• You won't touch this money until 65 I think it is or you'll pay tons of penalties if you try to take it out. You'll probably have to manually type in "6" (for 6% if that's the max) on your company's "Benefits Management" company. Usually it's something like Fidelity or Morgan Stanley or etc.

• After you do that, it'll probably take you to a list of mutual funds. Pick 3-4 and call it a day. They may show percentage growth over 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, or etc. Use common sense and go for what looks good. you will pick 3-4 so its safe. 

  • (Mutual funds are like bundles of stocks. They are safer since your risk is spread out so if one of those stocks tank, you aren't effected as badly, however the reverse is true, if one skyrockets, you won't make as ton. Don't worry because a) nobody really looks at the individual stocks in a mutual fund as they are focused on strategy like "international stocks" or "biotech" etc and b) 99.5% of the time a stock doesn't skyrocket over night. )

• Also when it comes to bonus time, you may want to turn this off but up to you if you want to contribute 6% of your bonus.​

​

​

2) Roth IRA

• So after you set up your 401K, you need to start saving every month to put into a Roth IRA. This is DIFFERENT than a Traditional IRA. Roth IRA growth and withdrawal doesn't get taxed assuming you don't withdraw before 59.5 years of age. If you do, you pay tons of penalties. I think you can lose up to 40% but Google it because I could be off but I know you lose a decent chunk. 

• Think of Roth IRA as a book cover to a bunch of funds (see my list below) you'll pick later.

• There are many places you can do it through but I use Fidelity.com

• The maximum you can contribute to a Roth is $7,000 in 2026. (You know something has to be good if the government puts a limit on how much you can contribute to it. 

• Also you can only do a Roth IRA if your Modified Adjusted Gross Income is under $139K for a single person or $206K if you're married and filing jointly.

• After you set it up, you need to pick a few funds. My investment selections are below.

• Really try to add to it monthly because we are humans and we delay or procrastinate. You want to get into a behavior or habit of tucking money away.

​

​

3) Investing at will

• So if you are at this point you have​​

  • Maxed out your 401K contribution​

  • Maxing out your Roth IRA

  • You do not have any debt outside a mortgage

  • You have 6 months of income saved in CASH. (Keep in mind what COVID did to the country and how 16 million folks are out of work as of July 2020. Unemployment money is NEVER a guarantee and can be a complicated and timely process.)

• Congrats to getting to this point. Seriously. Its a big deal and its obvious you are on top of your shit. I can't stress it enough and will honestly buy you food if this is a recent event to celebrate. This is a BIG BIG deal.

• At this point is where you have maxed out your investment options that have limits so now you're on your own.

• Download the Robinhood app. It's a much easier interface than Fidelity. Also you learn so much from the way Robinhood presents information. I did.

• It's really intuitive and when you look up stocks and funds, you see so much information.

• VERY VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: I know I've primarily talked about stocks only but the closer you are to retirement the more conservative your investments shoudl be which means you should have more mutual funds than stocks. The last thing you need is to be impacted by a dive in the market right before you are ready to retire. If you utilize Google or text me, you can find some strong solid mutual funds. Again mutual funds are groups of stocks. For example a bank mutual fund could comprise of a few national and a few regional banks. Mutual funds are hedged much more from declines in the marketing but also goes for upswings in the marketing. ​​

​

​

​

What I invest in

• I invest in funds (which is like a collection of stocks) because its less risky and I'm not getting paid enough to watch this stuff daily. Plus if you watch stocks daily you'll have 2 heart attacks a week. What I do personally is buy extra stuff but that's a bit more risky and just message me if you want to know but at least 50% of my investments are in the below in some form.

• The funds below are actual assets I invest in heavily for LONG TERM PLANNING. If you enter their symbol on Google and click on their 5-year-view, you'll see a nice steady incline.

• You will NOT see risky funds either or whatever funds and stocks are in the news these days. 

• Below are funds I have not or do not foresee myself selling for 5-15 years minimum. So if you lose all your money in one of the stocks below tomorrow due to supernatural events, then we'll be in the same boat. But it'll be OK because you are DIVERSIFIED. 

• I will block you if you text me about bitcoin or some random stock you saw on the news but know nothing about.

• Remember even if you have all the popular consumer brands like Nike, Coca-Cola etc, keep in mind just because they are big companies, they still have to beat analyst estimates and expectations to increase in price. Many of your legacy companies and brands have mediocre performance over their lifetime.

• What I invest in and communicate to folks​. Yes some companies may be in more than one.​

  • VTI - Broad U.S. Market

  • QQQM/QQQ - Growth, all your tech heavyweights like Google

  • SMH - Semiconductors - so think all the AI boom and all the companies involved

  • SCHD - Provide quality, dividends, and less tech-heavy balance

​

​

​