Reddit Posts
Should I change from an Investment Account to a IRA?
What is the best strategy to allocate and optimize a 100K investment?
21 year old college student with $10k saved, what would you do in my spot?
Vote against S&P changing rules to fast track IPOs into the S&P 500 indexes(SPY, VOO) - (Deadline TOMORROW, May 28)
Automated investing for retirement accounts (fidelity/schwab) vs picking your own distributions. The good vs the bad. Discuss
Built my first Roth IRA portfolio in my 20's - here's my 6 ETF allocation and the reasoning behind each pick
Do you keep growth stocks in retirement accounts and dividends in taxable?
For parabolic gains DO NOT read this. It's just a Samaritan text for thise in despair.
Forbparabolic gains DO NOT follownthese advices.
If I want to generate the most money from my traditional & roth IRA accounts - where should I "park" it for the next 20 years?
MAG7 is outperforming all the hype stocks posted about constantly, why do people not learn, holds true for last 40+ years
Little less than 3 months in and I think I’m doing well
the s&p 500 vs equal weight spread just hit 13.8%. it's only been this wide twice before
Anyone here actually outperforming just buying VOO long-term after taxes, stress, and time?
Choosing VTI over VOO has cost me about $44,000.00 over the past 6 years
Small business owner here, looking for investing advice from people further ahead than me
18 year old who just started - any advice would be appreciated! I don’t know how to diversify properly.
Sell some Intel to take a larger position in SLS? I’m OKAY with the greed, but I’m not sure my logic is sound.
Hold Intel vs buying more SLS . I’m leaning greed, but have I’m not sure about my logic.
Investing my first $250.. Is this a good profolio for buying and holding?
The more you learn investing, the more you realize there’s not much to optimize beyond saving more, staying invested, and avoiding mistakes
20 y/o F looking for advice for my portfolio
Is the stock market becoming more & more volatile?
Why do people who just buy index funds call themselves investors? You set up an auto deposit once. My grandmother does the same thing with her savings account.
Is Wall Street Bets a legitimate strategy what should I buy besides VOO ?
Late starter..has that tech ship already sailed? Amd, MSFT, VOO?
Hit $100K… But It Came With More Risk Than I’d Recommend
After about 7 years of losing money from options and meme stocks /coins, I'm finally back in the positive.
If someone is worth one million dollars, how much $VOO and $VTI should they own? What if they're worth *two* million; how much then?
If you had $7.5k to invest tomorrow, what would you do in this current market?
What’s your opinion on selling All Tech Heavy Stocks soon and moving to SP500 $VOO?
Took my whole IRA out of VOO yesterday and bought AMD and NOK calls. Am I dumb? Probably.
Should I get out of SPY and move it to a better long term index?
Do automatic 401k contributions affect markets?
My tech-heavy portfolio is up across the board, TQQQ leading the way
Do you think tech will outperform the market over the next 30+ years
Reddit Ticker Mentions MAY.04.2026 - $NVDA, $AMD, $SOUN, $MSFT, $SNDK, $SPY, $VOO, $XRX, $RDDT
I have 358k of VOO at 44. Ive played around with several calculators to see what it can be worth at 74.
I am at a crossroad in my mid 20s of what I should do, I'd be very appreciative for some advice
I just started investing at 19. Are these good investments?
Beginner dipping my toes in the water…
Updated - J.P Morgan's Top Stock Picks for 2026 - +7.40% YTD
Systematic profit-taking - worth doing? Or not recommended?
Sticking to my investment portfolio allowed my investment assets to grow by 100%.
Reddit Ticker Mentions APR.27.2026 - $SPY, $AMD, $MSFT, $POET, $INTC, $RDDT, $NVDA, $VOO, $ASTS, $QQQ
Mentions
I’m in VOO, SOXX, and VTI mostly and am up 26% YTD. I’d say that’s pretty good and really easy investing
>Where things can get tricky is ETFs. SPY and VOO are considered substantially similar so you can't sell SPY for a loss and then buy VOO. I deliberately didn't mention that just for brevity. I think SPY/VOO were the actual examples they gave me too. My easy way to remember the rule ever since has been to sell an EFT for a single stock or vice versa, or completely change sectors "just in case"
If you don’t know what you’re looking at, go buy shares of VOO
Did you read what OP wrote? Similar companies are fine, just not the same company. And selling for a gain and then rebuying does not trigger wash sale rules, it's only for losses. Where things can get tricky is ETFs. SPY and VOO are considered substantially similar so you can't sell SPY for a loss and then buy VOO.
VOO follows the S&P 500. For the moment you could continue with that, until they change their policy to also fast track spaceX. VTI follows the CRSP total market index which has fast tracked it, so steer clear of that if you don't want that.
VT is about 60% US and 40% international. My ratio at the moment is the other way around. I've been moving away from US funds in the past few years, so just doing VXUS + VOO.
Selling too early is why I index. QQQ and chill if you want to bet big. otherwise VOO and chill if you want something stable.
I'm extremely fortunate. I don't do options, I just saw household companies that started in the market and bought aggressively. For instance, I bought sandisk in January and DRAM because Samsung isn't going anywhere and it's the only way I know as a US investor to get a piece of it. I did get lucky with MU but am regretting cutting Seagate (also a household name). I am avoiding stocks that I think are being pumped like Intel. Beginners luck I guess but I started with $25K after saving for 2 years and doing a tremendous amount of research. My portfolio is now $120,000. I'm investing in companies and ETFs that I plan to keep for several years. If I were smart, I'd VOO and chill but feel like I have some serious catching up to do. Best of luck with your investment journey internet friend.
Most people lose in the stock market to people who know what they are doing. Professional traders have advantages as well in addition to experience. If your losing, you should be sticking to ETFs. If your from the US and want to keep tracking the US market, VOO and chill. Outside the US, I like VWRA on the LSE and use it as my private pension top up fund.
Unfortunately everybody holding VOO or a 401k in an index fund or target date fund won't have that option. A space x/Tesla merger would force bag holders to carry even more bags so Elon can collect his $1T payday. It's sick.
You're smart though. VOO is an excellent play long-term, which 99% of investing should be. I have a sizeable sum in VFIAX that I started with 6+ years ago with $35K and over the past year+ threw some in MU, NVDA and AMZN as my "risk" plays, if you even want to call them that lol. My portfolio broke $700K today.
If you had $25,000 to invest right now, what would you pick? Give me the full breakdown of your picks. 25% NVDA? 10% VOO? Are you throwing 1% at some more risky picks? And why are you making those picks? Give me your picks broken down by percentage of the $25,000.
I held NVDA the past decade, cashed out last fall and now am in boring old VT/VOO resisting blowing it, but even that makes me nervous now TBH.
18 y/o incoming Austin nursing student. Tuition is fully covered by Pell + Texas grants, so I should graduate debt-free. Current situation: * $1,000 emergency fund * $1,400 checking buffer * Plan to increase emergency fund to $2,500 during freshman year Expected refunds: * Year 1: \~$8,250 per semester ($16,500 total) * Years 2–4: \~$6,750 per semester ($40,500 total) * Total refunds over 4 years: \~$54,000 Expected living expenses: * Rent: \~$450/month * Utilities: \~$50/month * Food: \~$200/month ( prolly gonna be larger but thats what the cushion is for ) * Total annual living costs: \~$8,400 * Total 4-year living costs: \~$33,600 Investment plan: * Keep a $2,500 emergency fund in HYSA * Invest $750 each semester during Year 1 * Invest $500 each semester during Years 2–4 * Auto-invest $50/month throughout college * Total invested over 4 years: \~$6,900 * Allocation: 70% VOO / 30% QQQ ( idk split can shift more voo? currently have a paper trading set to c how itll be ) * No individual stocks, options, crypto, or margin Based on my estimates: $54,000 total refunds * $33,600 living expenses * $6,900 invested = \~$13,500 remaining cushion/savings over 4 years (plus any summer savings if I move back home) My goal is to graduate debt-free, keep a solid emergency fund, and build a small investment portfolio while in school. Anything you'd do differently? Would you change the VOO/QQQ allocation, invest more aggressively, hold more cash, or keep the plan as-is?
How do you know you are "moderately successful"? Are you certain you aren't wildly overconfident in your abilities? Have you tracked your entire performance against VOO or VT? How long have you been doing it, as obviously a lengthy track record is more meaningful than a short term track record.. though technically even 10 years could be luck. Wise long term investors just sit in VT, which will end up outperforming around 90 percent of investors over decades. Good luck.
Decent point but i do see pretty big performance differences with them depending on conditions. I'm more or less letting them all run for a while, and seeing if I want to keep or cut any. did reduce the number of etfs though, currently in VOO VOOG VXUS SPMO VGT SMH QQQ by having them all running for a while gaining some insights as to how they are all performing in different market conditions etc with slightly different balances of holdings, even if there is overlap. if any aren't cutting it will definitely trim
Why not both 😅 I allocate ~60% to shit like VOO, ~25% to individual "safe" stocks (eg GOOG), and ~15% to calculated risks (eg HOOD). So far has paid off well while capping my overall risk. Idk why people act like you have to choose between low and high risk, just choose a proportion that suits your personal risk tolerance but that will not destroy your entire life if you're wrong
Vtsax and VOO aren’t jokes. It can’t get any safer. If it truly tanks and you’re American, you’re fucked anyways.
Dude. Stop while you're ahead. VOO and chill. You won. Now STOP.
I'm purely VOO and VXUS and I'm at an all time high. Whenever I pick individual stocks, I just can't stop thinking about it, and keep checking my portfolio. So now I stick to index funds and sleep well at night while making money.
Yea this is humblebrag if you're even a little bearishly tilted like me lmao. VOO is consistently putting up 20% like only tech used to do.
DCA into VOO. Im 20% gains over 2 years. So not ridiculously rich yet. But maybe 10-20 years with more compounding
Agreed. I’m a VTI guy but VOO is just as desirable.
So I assume you will continue to stick with your VOO and have learned nothing. Index investing won't make you rich unless paired with a very high salary job.
This is exactly what it feels like. I’m sitting here with VOO and a few blue chip stocks and it looks like every asshole on the internet suddenly became a retired millionaire this month on some random obscure bottleneck companies that were “such obvious buys”
I would stay away from day trading, especially options and leverage. 90% of traders go broke within a year. Statistically, the best traders are dead people because they just buy and hold. The market just wants to go up over time. If i were you, I would just find some good companies and wait for a dip to buy for the long-term. ETFs that track the S&P 500 like VOO are good, relatively safe long-term investments. I think the market will top around Q4 of this year, maybe October or November. We're in the last throws of a bull market right now where everything goes parabolic and big IPOs come out. That traditionally marks the end of a bull cycle. So save your money, wait for the correction or crash towards the end of the year and then load up on some good assets for the long-term.
Maybe one of the brokerages will start an ETF that's similar to VOO, but removes any companies that don't follow the previous rules from S&P.
Putting short term cash into volatile stocks like STX or NVDA is incredibly risky when you have a hard 8-month deadline to pay back $15,000. Even a diversified index fund like VOO can swing wildly in under a year, so your best bet is sticking with a high yield savings account or a low-risk money market fund where your cash is completely safe and still earning decent interest.
Dude. Putting money in stocks, at least short term, is not “safe”. VOO is safer than individual stocks since it’s diversified, but unless your time horizon is years, it’s not safe. The market could crash tomorrow and you’d lose half your money. If your timeframe is 8 months the best you can do is a CD or savings account.
How much do you have that you need to grow to 15k in 8 months? NVIDA is semiconductor/ai play and no way as safe as VOO. STX is gambling at this point and you are late to that game. Are you trying to invest or gamble? Do you know the difference?
You should honestly just put your money into VOO because you clearly don’t know how to do proper DD 😂
QQQ, VOO is this a trick question
SPY is for trading VOO is for holding
Rotation into other VOO holdings
How on earth did VOO end up green with NVDA GOOG AMZN AAPL WMT COST in the red
Yeah whatever they have him in he is getting hosed. Tried to tell him too but he wouldn’t listen. The expense ratios on a lot of the funds too were like .5%-1% which is insane when VOO is .03%
I don't know much about stocks/investing past "buy the dips" and "put it into VOO". At this point, I avoid individual stocks. The only one that I would put it into right now is MSFT or GOOG, but otherwise just VOO. I think that's where I'm thinking, "Is this going to keep going or will it all die down after the AI craze is over(which I feel it will be before that long, couple years maybe)".
My guy, buying individual securities is for jackasses. You need two: $VOO and $VIGAX. Then don’t fking touch it.
You should be able to invest in VTI or VOO in the HSA. ?
It feels good but you still have this lingering feeling over your head like dont fuck this up. But for the most part it feels unreal to think I could put 100% in VOO and make 500k/year (on average obviously 🤪). And no for osrs. A quit like 3 years ago amd just flipped on the GE for 2 years here and there and then stopped completely. I think I have like 1.4b ive just been giving to friends
Hi everyone, question for HSA investing: From a previous employer, my wife qualified for an HSA account. By the time she left there was $1200 in the account. Her new job as well as mine offered FSAs so instead of using that $1200 I put it into a total market for a while. Since this account can't be added to anymore, I took a swing at RKLB @ $16 and bought 107 shares. So now its sitting at $15K in the HSA account. What is the best way deal with HSA gains? I'd like to secure what has worked so far but also need it to grow in the market since I can't add to it. I'm pretty much a novice if it isn't obvious. Any other investments are typcial VTI, VOO etc. I'm not a 'ROCKET LAB TO THE MOON' guy, just someone who took a swing, so the investment wasn't really based on DD, and even if it was my DD wouldn't be very effective. Thanks for any advice
I’ve been seeing some great performance with SMH but was scared to put in $7k after I already saw so much growth (idk if that’s the right move..), I put all of it into VOOG (like a riskier VOO). Now I am at peace, until I calculate how much I lost out on.
You can buy VOO on Schwab now for fractional shares.
No it’s when the random broke people start talking about buying I’m selling all my shit and putting it into VOO.
I mean VOO is up over 60% ytd but okay
You don't stick the derisked portion into a savings account, you roll in into a broad market ETF. It's also not going to zero (AMD is still a well run, profitable company with physical assets) but it definitely could tank 70% (it also could keep running). You'd be in a position where it'd be like if you'd bought VT or VOO with that initial money, plus received "free" shares in AMD equal to 2/3 of you current AMD share position. The point is to set a floor under your winnings where you won't backslide below where you'd be if you did the safe thing in the first place, without completely sacrificing future upside.
If the goal is passive and easy to stick with, VOO alone is already a strong default. SCHD is not bad, but I would only add it if you know exactly why you want the dividend tilt. In a Roth, the tax angle is not really the point. The simpler portfolio is often better if it keeps you from second guessing every few months.
Put 500k aside, pay taxes, buy VOO, keep gambling with the rest. But you won’t, and you’ll go broke revenge trading after something goes bad. Cheers!
Recently read somewhere that 60-40 has been replaced by 90-10, where 90% is stocks and 10% is cash. You should have some idea by now of probability of you being laid off. With that in mind , I would keep a 1-3 years worth of cash, 1-3 years of stable investments (SCHD) and remaining in VOO. This pattern would be for one retiring today. Let me know your opinion as well.
I bought the top on VOO smh
With VOO https://preview.redd.it/xegvfwdpo04h1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c05cd23673beef5133f7dd7a311ae318b0b482d
How did you get 37% though? VOO/VT are at 28%. Factor tilts? Margin? Includes contributions as gains?
Target date fund probably has fixed income? Just buy VOO
Guys sell it and buy VOO. Hate to be party pooper but y'all ain't built for this.
VOO and chill. Don't overcomplicate it.
Stocks don’t go up forever. It’s up on speculation momentum and fomo. Not earnings alone. Take some profits. Deploy proceeds to VOO
> Missing a hot sector? If you have VOO or VTI you have all the sectors, dude. This looks like just buying a bunch of stuff without any sort of specific goal or plan.
I’m in a fairly similar spot, steadily investing several thousand a month, and I just recently rode MU from $300 to $775, then transferred those profits into VOO. It will continue to ride (I know this) but I got out of it what I wanted, reached my goal so to speak. Keep this is in mind with your MU throughout the year; that’s the breadth of your port. Those mag stocks are probably just fine and with any real length of time you’re golden. UNH, had recently been a bit of ride, but again any with the years will prosper, assuming they keep the Medicare advantage market on lock. Personally I’m not a huge fan of CRWD, so my personal bias is going to tell you this is one of your problems (when it’s really not) If I was you this is what I would do: Make your largest holding an S&P 500 etf. Pull some profits from the MU ride you have experienced recently, reroute that money back up the chain to that S&P fund. Use the 10k and find 3-4 strong ETF’s you feel passionate about and break your 10k up and diversify it amongst those few ETF’s. Sell UNH for right now it’s not doing much.
Lol, options definitely aren’t. Now I’m just holding long on SPCE and will be putting solid biweekly investments in things like VOO or SPY.
I'll always run heavy VOO but keep the tech stonks around for the lolz
Well if you do then make sure it’s an equal weight S&P fund and not something like SPY or VOO that are 35%+ large cap tech
They *think* VOO returns will outpace currency-adjusted VT/VXUS, so they keep pumping money into it, even if they're not Americans. Btw, YTD 9.84% vs 11.19%/13.98% respectively.
I’m up 50% this month, I had a buddy tell me I was dumb for not investing in VOO “like Warren Buffet”😂 gay bears
Not sure (all) funds are *legally obligated* to follow the index just because they track it or use it a benchmark. Most have their own rules, time lags, and so on, that introduce tracking error which, like in this case, can work in your favor. If you look at [VOO](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/voo)'s portfolio composition drop-down, you'll see the index has 505 stocks but VOO has 503.
I thought they don't believe in VOO
Over in value investing they are saying if you have VOO you get a piece of this Dell pump
What age are you? You are heavily invested in tech. Maybe buy some VOO? Buy some bonds?
SCHD will be less tax efficient than VOO, even if you reinvest dividends. If your time horizon is long, then I'd stick with VOO and add in some international exposure too.
Don’t say trade, don’t gamble on penny stocks. Put everything you can into VOO and allow 30 years of compounding to give you an early retirement.
Real talk, I am brand brand new to all this, basically “VOO and chill”/gamble on some penny stocks because fuck it. I have $2000 I want to play with on this but I legit don’t know where to start, can someone ELI5 or point me toward me a “Calls and Puts for dummies”? I want to go full regards on the hype train.
> Planning on setting $2m aside. Please do this now, for you and your families sake. It would be an amazing cushion as a base, and will grow considerably as well. Put it into something conservative (conservative compared to your current portfolio anyway, maybe something like 35% VOO 35% SCHD 20% VUSXX, 10% GLD, whatever you're comfortable with as a conservative portfolio). Use that addictive personality to your benefit and this is a great avenue for it, but please just secure your families future first with that $2m now that you're in this unique position. Super impressive portfolio and growth, and again not I am not trying to be hater, just trying to prevent you from being one of the "oops I lost millions and now I'm screwed" stories that we all see on here regularly. I genuinely want the best for you and your family and their future. It is so unusual to be able to grow a portfolio into wealth like this, so secure your families future first, and then keep going. Anyway I am rooting for you, take care of your future, really amazing situation you are in.
Time to put it in VOO and step away.
why the fuck did you buy this shit? maybe just hang it up and be a VOO guy, you're not cut out for this
I’ve got $25,000 that I’m taking from my HYSA to invest into stocks/etf’s. I already have around $19,000 invested in Nvidia, Microsoft, VOO, SOFI, TTWO (I don’t think GTA 6 is completely priced in yet and it will blow up) and other companies with a couple hundred invested in them. I’m not sure how I want to invest this $25000. Should I invest $5000 a week? Every two weeks? Or throw it in the market all at once? What would be the best strategy? As for what to actually invest in, what are some of your guy’s stocks that I should pick? How much of the $25000 should go in those stocks? Or should I buy just ETF’s instead? Should I do a mix of both? I’m 20 years old with a lot of time for my money to grow. I don’t need income from these anytime soon, but I also don’t mind throwing a couple hundred dollars at a stock for its dividends so it can start compounding now. Open to any and all suggestions, regardless of if it’s a safe investment or a risk. Whatever you would do in my situation, that’s what you should recommend.
AAPL. Worked for retail, invested into ESPP, have around ~800 shares dating back to 2011 when I started investing in them. I should probably sell it all and throw that money into more VOO or something but it's still doing well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
why the fuck would i buy bonds when VOO is giving 30%?
This is exactly how people lose money. Lump sum somewhere and forget it. I’d do an index but I’m money stupid and I fully acknowledge it. You probably are too if you’re here on Reddit asking for financial advice. VOO it all and forget it exists. Be happy in 30 years.
It's good to see some encouraging comments on this post. But the "hate" comments are kind of valid as well. It's awesome that you've made back your losses, but you should strongly consider smaller sizing to avoid another blow-out. The "wanted to quit so many times but just couldn't" is a huge red flag. Zero shame in the "VOO and chill" mindset
Put it in VOO and pack it up. You’re done. Seriously out that shit in fidelity and sock it away. Then keep like 1k in Robinhood for fun
SPMO rebalances monthly and it only keeps the top players. Do some research between SPMO and VOO. Including draw downs and recoveries. SPMO kills it.
put it all in VOO and leave it there
Im not as good as you are but my portfolio would probably be half of what it is now have I just went VOO and chill. Learning to pick stocks in my own time increased my earning potential as if I have a second job. If i don't get too greedy it should make me be able to afford to retire few years earlier.
$VOO. I just believe in it it, I think it'll do well.
I am 25 years old and have several brokerages. A couple retirement accounts and a couple more near term focused accounts. Near Term Accounts: My Schwab account where I have about $16k in is my more speculative account where I do my own research and make investments in mostly individual companies rather than ETFs. I buy/sell more often in here. My Robinhood account I started to be able to automate my investing and gain exposure to more dividends. Have about $2.5k. Most of SCHD and cash to use for my automated investments. My other positions are VOO, NVDA, VRT, DIA, and JPM. I don’t touch these, basically just let the automation do its thing to stay in the market and let the ebbs and flows level out. Do you all have any recommendations for how I should change this up or optimize my investments? I am trying to avoid jumping all over the place with my strategy as I know that is where you can get burnt in the market but am open to suggestions, whether it be new stocks to look into, tax strategies, alternative investments, etc.
There's alot of overlap with VOO, QQQM, and SPMO. Why hold all three?
In my area, right now, you could not buy a turnkey property (assuming 60% LTV) and be able to charge enough for rent to not be operating at an annual loss, especially if you’re in a higher tax bracket already and not doing RE full time, which is presumably the case for most people investing in real estate. You’re not going to get into it if you don’t already have a stable income. EXAMPLE (from my area): • Property price: $325,000 • 60% LTV = $195,000 financed, $130,000 DP • 6.5% / 20 years = $1,454/month (~$17,448/yr) —————— In my area market, you could reasonably expect to collect $2400/month — max — more than likely it’d be $2200, but let’s assume a best case for this example. And let’s actually take all reasonable expenses into account. Annual rent collected: $28,800 Vacancy (5%): -$1,440 Property management (9%): -$2,592 Property tax (est. 1.2%): -$3,900 Insurance: -$1,500 Maintenance reserve (remember roof?): -$2,400 Effective net income: $16,968 Mortgage payment: -$17,448 Net cash flow: -$480/yr ————————— Now, let’s say you can depreciate $260,000. Maybe there’s a big tax advantage?? Net annual rental income: $16,968 Mortgage interest (yr 1 est.): -$12,480 Depreciation: -$9,455 Taxable rental income/loss: -$4,967 (paper loss) ————————- Because most passive RE investors are in a higher income bracket, it’s considered passive income —- so passive losses can’t offset ordinary income. So, losses like this won’t materialize really until the property sells. —————————- Now, this same $130,000 invested in something like VTI or VOO would generate $9000/annual on average. And it’s 100% liquid, well diversified, not tied to one local economy, and involves zero local assholes. You can also invest more into a fund without worrying about who will be available to fix its toilets. VTI also isn’t at risk of a squirrel eating a hole in the siding so rain water pours in over 12 months and ruins two-stories of sheathing. —————————- For me personally, someone in a higher income bracket, RE seems like such a massive headache. In the end, with all the “advantages”, even if RE is barely ahead of VTI, what a pain to get to almost the same result. I would much rather spend time on other endeavors, than fighting with materials and people.
I’m 21 years old and I have about 3500 to put into an etf portfolio that will sit for many years. I am thinking of splitting it up as followed: 50% VOO 30% QQQM 10% SPMO 10% AVUV Of course I will keep investing over time, but I feel like this would be a good base to start. Please let me know how this looks. Thanks
You shouldn't be throwing your money into stocks let alone one single stock because you quite frankly do not have enough money to absorb the impact of a market downturn if you suddenly need that cash. Pay off debt -> Build an emergency fund for 3-6 months of expenses which is ideally a high yield savings account-> Start putting money in a 401k/retirement fund -> then and only then start putting money in stocks ideally an index fund like VOO.
Honestly, I'd either keep it in VOO, or take it out, because if 10k is all you have, that's not investment money, that's an emergency fund. Like, I get the feel like you want to let it grow, but the last thing you want is needing money right after your stocks fall 30% and you're selling at a loss.
Stocks go up and down. You may buy at the right time or the absolute worst time. The goal is to invest in solid companies or ETFs that withstand market drips and return profits after a drop. I bought VOO around $424 and it started moving down toward $330 or so. I stayed with it. Today, it’s almost $700. If I sold or had a stop-loss, I would have to buy back or put it somewhere else, then hope the same pattern doesn’t happen. Invest in good companies or ETFs that mirror the market. At least for your style of investing. Not everyone has a stomach for high volatility. That’s where specific ETFs lower your risk based on the investment style. It may drop 10% but it has always shown it returns higher than before. Find the right investments and you don’t have to worry about the drop. You look toward future returns. Selling a good investment solely because of an immediate drop is how you slow down in your race to retirement.
VOO and VOOG are solid. I've done well with them. The SpaceX IPO coming up could be big depending on who you talk to or wether your red or blue Keep it simple and ride out the waves. I keep my portfolio mainly ETF's Be as risky as you can afford for now Unpopular opinion but these days I wouldn't be going to college. I've done well without it