Just set up my first brokerage account through Vanguard. Started a Roth IRA. Now, i want to start investing in index funds. Any advice on the best strategies going forward? - Thanks
Welcome! So broad strokes, invest in a S&P500 index fund, Vanguard’s is called VTSAX. The Roth has a $6000 yearly maximum so keep that in mind if you are wanting to invest more.
Here are some resources to get started!
How to prioritize your money (The phases of investing)
The layers of investing: Why “IRA vs Index Funds” doesn’t make sense
Three-Fund Portfolio
Seven reasons to put 100% of your portfolio in a target date index fund
What would be the difference say between that index fund and say (VOO or VTI?)
VOO and VTI are very similar. They’re both US stock index funds. VOO is just the 500 biggest companies, while VTI is a “total market” fund which contains about 3,500 stocks. But it turns out the 500 biggest companies make up about 80% of the “total market” by value. And the other 20% correlate pretty closely to the biggest 80%. So broad strokes, they’ll behave nearly identically.
That said, I’d always go with VTI. All else equal, I prefer the broadest index fund available. Guarantee yourself your fair share of all market growth! 
@dgurgan - Awesome, thanks for the advice.
However, i am seeing that the Vanguard S&P-500 has a min. of $3,000 to get in.
Furthermore, most Target Date Index Funds (TDIF) have a min. of $1,000 to get started.
With that being said, is it safe to assume that unless i have either one of those minimums at my exposal ready to invest, then i would have just have to play the waiting game from the sidelines?
Regards,
@ryanoriginal I think the waiting game might be the case. I know within Fidelity there is no minimum for their 0-fee index fund, I had incorrectly assumed Vanguard would be the same with their own equities.
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If you don’t yet have $1,000, then I would just save up in cash (even inside of the Vanguard account) until you do. If you’re itching to get started sooner, I would start buying shares of VT (total world ETF) for about $80/share right now. When you eventually build up to $1,000, you can sell all your VT and put all the money into a TDIF.
@jerschneid Thank you, I will definitely look into it! It’s a shame that it has taken this long to get educated on something that “should’ve” been taught to us years ago in school. I feel like there is so much catching up to do.
Anyways, really appreciate what you’re doing here with this platform you’ve created. Can’t stress enough how beneficial understanding and applying this information is.
Regards.
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