Never invest more than you can afford to lose. Keep a cash flow for emergencies.
Too many people think it's hours, days or weeks. This is called day and swing trading. If that's your time horizon, you probably don't need this list since that's not investing. Think of 1-5 years for the minimum buy and hold investment horizons.
Stocks, bonds, crypto, art? What about investing in yourself by taking a class? All investments come with some expenditure of time, capital and oversight and everything doesn't need to be a stock.
Don't chase "hot" stocks. Think about the reasons you're putting your own cash on the line. Do you believe strongly that it's a company that you'd like part ownership in? That's what an investment is?
Most investment decisions don't pan out better than a coin toss. You will never be right 100% of the time. Plan accordingly by not betting it all on red.
If you bought and held blue-chips like Merrill Lynch, AIG and GE 20 years ago, you would not be sitting pretty right now. Change comes even to the big companies of the world. When to sell an investment is as important as when to buy.
Do your stocks look like AAPL, FB, MSFT? You might be over-exposed to the tech sector. Make sure you're buying into some diversification by considering multiple growth sectors.
Again, don't chase stocks. Something might be overheated and you're buying at a high. Review at least some technicals like 52 week high, RSI and MACD indicators. Set alerts or buy puts if the price is currently too high for your liking. Take advantage of market drops and down days.
In a smaller account, you might be better suited towards "set it and forget it" portfolios. The most basic one portfolio could be an age appropriate allocation of VTI (vanguard total stock market) and bond exposure like BND.
Go ahead and buy Bitcoin and speculative investments, I certainly do. But I don't put a lot of capital there. Understand your risk tolerance and size investments accordingly. If it goes to zero, you don't want to lose everything. On the other side of risk, there are conservative bank accounts or penny dreadful CDs. No risk = no reward.
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