'Finally In A Place Where I Can Steadily Invest'

‘Finally In A Place Where I Can Steadily Invest’

Many people will tell you to invest money if you want to build a nest egg and retire early. Putting your money to work in the stock market can allow it to multiply much faster than the cash in your savings account.

However, the stock market can also feel overwhelming when you are getting started. That’s why a 30-year-old who’s ready to invest $5,000 per month turned to the Investing subreddit for some advice. He wanted to know the best place to put money and was eager to hear everyone’s thoughts.

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“[I’m] finally in a place where I can steadily invest,” he stated.

Redditors shared their suggestions in the comments. These were some of the top responses.

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Most Redditors recommended ETFs that tracked the S&P 500. This benchmark holds 500 of the largest and most profitable U.S. corporations. The index periodically adds and removes stocks from its holdings to trim the laggards and focus on promising stocks that fulfill the S&P 500’s requirements.

The index gives investors broad exposure to numerous industries. Tech stocks make up the highest percentage of the fund’s total assets, with the Magnificent Seven stocks playing a key part in the S&P 500’s overall performance.

You don’t have to know much about investing to get started with the S&P 500. If the economy continues to grow, the S&P 500 will continue to grow with it. You don’t have to risk it all with a single stock pick or monitor a bunch of holdings when an ETF that follows the S&P 500’s performance can work for most people.

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Redditors also recommended ETFs that follow the Nasdaq-100 due to its tech-heavy concentration. Tech stocks may produce outsized gains in the years ahead due to artificial intelligence. Although investors have heard about this technology for years, it’s still in the early innings.

Even without artificial intelligence, the Nasdaq-100 and other tech-heavy benchmarks have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past few years. For instance, the Nasdaq-100 is up by roughly 118% over the past five years, while the S&P 500 has only gained 97% during the same stretch.

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The Nasdaq-100 also outpaces the S&P 500 year-to-date and over the past year. When the stock market rallies, funds that track the Nasdaq-100 tend to grow faster than funds that track the S&P 500.

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While the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 are two popular benchmarks for ETF investors, Redditors emphasized the importance of investing in low-cost ETFs. While each investor has a different definition of a low-cost ETF, you’ll be OK if you have an ETF with an expense ratio below 0.20%.

You’ll get the lowest expense ratios if you invest in passively managed ETFs. These funds follow a predetermined benchmark instead of doing anything fancy like selling covered calls to increase the yield. You can find some passively-managed ETFs with expense ratios below 0.10%.

The expense ratio indicates how much money you must pay the fund manager to keep your money in the ETF. This expense happens automatically within the fund, so you’ll never see the money directly leave your account. If you have $10,000 in a fund with a 0.10% expense ratio, you only have to pay a reasonable $10 to keep your money in the fund each year. However, if that same fund had a 1% expense ratio, you would have to pay $100 per year for that fund.

Investors are willing to pay extra for funds that significantly outperform the market, but most actively-managed funds don’t hold up to the S&P 500. It’s better to invest in low-cost ETFs than it is to try your luck with an actively-managed ETF with a high expense ratio.

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This article A 30-Year-Old Asks Where’s The Best Place To Invest $5,000 Per Month: ‘Finally In A Place Where I Can Steadily Invest’ originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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