Investing 101

Before investing in stocks, do the following (in order):

1. Pay off any credit card debt.
2. Put six months’ expenses in a money market account.(or savings. Don’t have this cash sitting in a savings account that gives less than 1% interest rate)
3. Invest 10% of your income in 401k/pension.
• Allocate as follows:
• the sooner you need to cash out your investments, the more conservative your portfolio should be - the longer you have till you need to cash out, the more aggressive your portfolio should be
4. Setup Will/Life Insurance if you have a family to support.
5. Open IRA/Brokerage(stock account). I suggest going with Vanguard or Fidelity. Differences in IRA/Brokerage account here:
• https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/buying-stocks/articles/brokerage-account-vs-ira-whats-the-right-move/
6. For Stocks, I suggest investing the majority in Index funds (VFINX, VOO). Index funds generally have great returns and aren’t as risky. They are a great investment.
7. After investing in index funds:
• Invest in dividend yielding stocks(AAPL,MSFT,etc.). These stocks pay shareholders dividends regularly. (I suggest reinvesting the dividends).

Books I suggest: 

• The Millionare Teacher - Hallam
• I will teach you to be rich - sethi