If you could rewind the clock and start over...

Don't get divorced

Invest as much as possible in XOM

Max out 401k and Roth EVERY year

I should have started earlier, and invested more. After 31 years in the game I believe that having diversity in your investments, investing as much as you can starting early in your life, and investing for the long term is the best strategy.

When I first started my career some 7 or 8 years ago, I was contributing very little to my 401k, so little actually that I would get a quarterly statement each month, and I was losing way more than I put in. Said screw it and didn't mess with it for a year or so. Huge mistake!

I now contribute a little over 15% to a 401k alone, and make weekly contributions to a Savings account and bi-monthly contributions to an account for my kids and have been for the past 4 or 5 years. Actually kind of looking forward to another big downturn in the market to take advantage this time instead of running away.

Unless you are doing it full-time do not try to pick your own stocks. A majority of professional managers don't beat the S&P, you probably won't either. Do not try to time the markets. You may be an outlier that does it successfully, but few are. Max out a Roth IRA annually, preferably spacing out your contributions (actually your purchases) throughout the year. Once you've maxed out the Roth put as much as you can into a taxable account without living in a box and eating vienna sausages every meal. There are mutual funds that do beat the market over time. Pick out 3 or 4 of these weighted towards mid-cap growth and buy monthly or quarterly. Morningstar has a great fund screener. It'll cost you $20 or so for a month of premium access which is more than worth it. When selecting funds look for no-load funds that have beaten the S&P over 5 years, 3 years, and 1 year with a turnover ratio under 25, fees and expenses under 1. Out of the 25,000+ open funds you'll end up with a very short list to choose from. Do not listen to message board stock picks, CNBC commentators, etc. They are useless. Find the best of the best fund managers and let them run your money for you. Review their results annually and re-balance as necessary. As you get older your portfolio needs will change. I'd go for aggressive growth over the next twenty years at least. While doing that you should read up on portfolio management in regard to asset distribution as one gets older.

The most important factor in building wealth in the markets is time. Run some compounding interest scenarios to see what is possible even with small annual returns. Moneychimp has a simple calculator that can be a lot of fun to play around with.

Obviously everyone has different opinions on investing. If I could talk to myself at 25 the above is what I'd recommend.

If there's a massive sell off or anytime the s&p goes under say 1000 be prepared to throw everything you have at the market. Some names I remember clearly from 08-09 ...SBUX @ 8, GE@ 10ish,DPZ@3ish, F under 2 etc. the list goes forever in that time period.

Did pick up some but nowhere nearly enough....

"Buy when there's blood in the streets"

Never have left my last job.