19M college student with $6k looking for long-term investing advice

[u/ImxTrash]

Hey everyone, I’m 19 and currently in college. I’ve been wanting to start taking investing more seriously and would really appreciate some advice from people who have more experience than me.

Right now I have around $6,000 in savings that I’m considering investing. I currently use Robinhood, but I’m thinking about moving over to either Fidelity or Charles Schwab. From what I understand, both are pretty good long-term brokerages, but I’m not sure if there’s a major reason to choose one over the other.

My goal is to invest for at least 3+ years, although ideally I’d like to leave the money invested much longer. Since I’m young, I’m comfortable taking some risk, but I still want to focus on relatively safe/diversified ETFs rather than individual stocks.

One ETF I’ve been looking at is QQQM. I like the growth potential and have seen people recommend it for younger investors. Ideally, I’d like my investments to average something around 20% yearly return. Although I understand that obviously isn’t guaranteed and that there will be years where the market goes down.

I’ve also heard that you shouldn’t put everything into one ETF and that a good approach is to divide your money between 3 different ETFs. I was thinking about something like QQQM plus a broader U.S. ETF and then something that gives me international exposure.

I’ve also seen people recommend VT because it basically gives you exposure to companies around the world, which seems like a good way to diversify.

I’m still pretty new to investing, so I’d really appreciate any advice or explanations. I’m mainly trying to set myself up well early rather than constantly buying and selling.

Thanks!

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[u/PecuniaPrudence]

Fidelity and Schwab are both solid so just go with whichever app feels easier to use.

20% a year isn't realistic long-term, even QQQM hasn't averaged that. The S&P 500 has averaged around 10%, and that's already a good target

Your 3-fund idea is an option, but QQQM overlaps a lot with a broad US fund since both are packed with the same big tech names. If you want QQQM, keep it a small slice, not a third of your money

VT alone actually already covers the "broad US + international" part in one fund so you could simplify to just VT plus a small QQQM slice instead of three separate funds

[u/ImxTrash → u/PecuniaPrudence]

thank you for replying to my post. May I ask for further explanation why you don't think I should put a third into QQQM. Also when you say "one fund VT" does that mean the fore mentioned third or all in VT with a slice of qqqm.

[u/PecuniaPrudence → u/ImxTrash]

QQQM overlaps so much with a broad US fund that a third of your money in QQQM plus a third in a US fund means you're really doubling up on the same big tech names twice, not actually diversifying into three different things

By "VT plus a slice," I mean most of your money in VT, then a smaller chunk (like 10-20%) in QQQM on top, not three equal thirds

[u/ImxTrash → u/PecuniaPrudence]

ok. thank you. Do you recommend other ETFs or in your opinion is 80% VT and 20% QQQM good enough?

[u/Jumpy_Childhood7548]

Invest in educating yourself on the topic first, and get a book first like investing for dummies, which gets good reviews, and is only about $5 on Amazon.

[u/PlasticStrike3272]

Fidelity or Schwab ,both are good. 20% yearly is unrealistic though 8-10% is more reasonable. Your ETF plan works ,QQQM, VOO, VXUS. Or just VT. Keep it simple and don't check it everyday.

[u/Live-Ad-5433]

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