hi with the downfall of the SSA looming in the 2030's I'm more paranoid bout losing my lifeline (I cannot work due to my disability progressing as i age) I'm thinking on doing small time investing to secure my future I tried S&P once but pulled out when it took a nose dive due to the bubble burst+ Iran war restarting i need the most stable stock (going by history) with a slow growth rate
There’s absolutely nothing more stable than the index, the problem is inexperienced investors getting cold feet. My suggestion is not too dissimilar from the Warren Buffet method - whatever you do, set aside a specific amount of money each payday (let’s say 5-10%), put 90% into a surefire index or ETF (my suggestion is Vanguard S&P 500 accumulating, so any dividend payouts automatically convert to more stock, the ticker is VUAG) and 10% into short-term investments that you feel somewhat confident about (I’m currently investing in the memory market which is seeing unprecedented growth due to the AI boom, but this is volatile and likely to swing up and down by wide margins). I also have a specific pie of investments that are dividend-oriented, solely to generate income into my account that can be redistributed later.
The biggest and best piece of advice I can give you is “when in doubt, just zoom out” - treat any crisis like a sudden war or change of policy as a buying opportunity, not as a loss. You haven’t lost a dime if you didn’t sell, the only thing that changed is a number. Historically the index *only* goes up, so if this is a long-term plan for you, you have nothing to worry about besides making regular deposits. Once you’re a little bit more experienced you will learn how to identify buying opportunities and when to “run away with the bag” and reinvest later. Stay calm, don’t get cold feet, and if you can’t control that guttural feeling when the graph turns red, log off and forget the password - don’t worry, things will be just fine. Case in point, the S&P 500 is up by 283.5% since 2016, and that’s not accounting for compound interest. Remember, capital chases capital - you’re only doing yourself a disservice by exiting at a loss, this is a panic option that only applies to individual stocks that you expect to go bust, drop in an irrecoverable fashion *or* you’ve observed that your money will simply grow faster elsewhere. Your objective is to earn, if you must exit, try to break even.
Good luck investing! I’m happy to answer any questions you might have, or suggest worthwhile tickers (but I can’t give you financial advice, only information about what I myself am invested in. Your money is your responsibility, all investment carries risk, yada yada. I am not a financial advisor).
