noticed specifically stated you “have about 5k to lose”
actually IMHO that is a healthy attitude because when investing in the market its a game that takes brains and guts because its possible to lose big time (I’ll admit my first individual stock pick tanked and I lost all my initial bet – fortunately it was a small loss but from that I learned my lesson that I should not bet everything on one individual stock)
said another way, its alway a good idea to diversify
another lesson I’ve learned over the years is never get too attached to an individual stock, by this I mean consider selling when the market is dumping the shares of some company AND don’t automatically think its time to load up (basically alway have an objective view of shares you buy because “investing” is a numbers games where you should basically look at the bottom line of the company, in other words is it profitable and do they have a product consumes want)
the converse selling a losing stock is, what happens when you are luck enough to pick a winner and the stock price goes up, and up… well the temptation might be to take a profit!
over the years I’ve learned to resist the temptation to make a quick buck and instead keep my winning socks (as long I see the company is profitable and I see consumers like the product)
there is an expression used by various money manages and traders “the trend is your friend”
one last bit of general advise, always try and lead your shot by looking at stocks you have an some kind of familiarity w/ because the pay off could be big
in other words if you have a general interest in cars don’t buy an individual stock in some fashion or health care company because those are areas where you have no inside edge, instead stick to investments in individual stocks in sectors where you have background knowledge (because the investment climate can change pretty quickly and you don’t want to hold onto some crap stock and ride that sucker into the ground)
