re: Reccomend some buy and hold stocks

I'm just a bit older than you but recently started doing something similar. Been putting $300/month or so into a Vanguard index fund. These track a particular market or group of stocks instead of individual stocks. The good part about the Vanguard funds is that they're passively managed and therefore have very small management fees (like 0.05%).

I'm currently investing in VOO (S&P Index Fund), but I'm thinking about moving to VTI (a little broader based). I do think you have to put in a minimum of $3,000 to start, but I've been pretty happy with it. They'll let you auto deposit money from a checking or savings account into a money market fund (on a regular schedule). You can then buy from there.

It's a solid way to get some returns without having to manage it too heavily.