re: First time investor, advice

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Start with ETF's for bulk of your portfolio (50% SPY and 50% QQQ for example). Then pick a handful of companies that you personally know very well as a customer or whatnot; and go through a few earnings reports...get to know the price action on these companies and responses to earnings and news, etc. That's pretty much how I started. From there, you will know what direction you want to go next. If your index etf's are doing just as well as your handpicked stocks; then put your money in index ETF's and focus on your primary income. It's not worth taking on increased risk and a 2nd job worth of hours to manage your portfolio if you cant beat QQQ. That's my personal benchmark for whether or not I'm wasting time and energy.

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