Obviously when it comes to finance Sidefi is unchallenged but feel free to opine.
Did someone say opine....
Had to lament yesterday when I looked at some stock I held 2010 and sold for a middling profit
I'd invested $1000 in Netflix at 13 a share
If I'd held until today it'd be worth around $90k
alas
the only saving grace is I bought much bigger amount of BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY in 2005 and still hold today
That made up for it
My advice to anyone is ETFs
If you had picked some plain vanila ones 10 years ago, you would have easily tripled your money if not more
I wouldn't recommend individual stocks or Mutual funds (too much risk/fees/and ETFs typically do better than MFs with almost no fees)
and 401ks....often they suck really bad
if you look at how they work and how much the fees and poor selection have a huge impact on returns
The only people making money in 401ks are financial institutions
the only good thing for most is the automatic pay roll deduction
if your employer does a good match, that does change things, as that can really increase your 'profits'...but again you are in a shitty vehicle with poor options
It's a shame you can't just take that match and invest on your own
although my perspective is from working at SMBs and they rarely match at all
in that case run away and buy an ETF in a Roth IRA....and DON'T LOOK or TOUCH IT for decades
The wild card here is Trump and his team could upturn our economy so badly that it could tank the stock market for a while