I am new here and would like to ask for some advice from the most seasoned members. I am in my mid 20’s and have no experience in investing. Also, I don’t know any experienced or successful investors personally. I have been doing a lot of reading and I think I have been successful in following general advices on how to get ready to start investing; however, I have not been able to come up with an investment plan or strategy. Anyways, this is my current situation:

•No debt, no payments that charge any interest.
•34,000$ in savings.
•3,000$ in a simple IRA account (retirement funds from my previous job).
•My income and expenses allow me to save about 2,000$ a month.
•My employer offers 401k with 25% matching up to 5% of my salary, but I have declined to participate in this program as I didn’t see much of a benefit from it.
•Brokerage account funded with 5,000$, but I haven’t made any moves.

My question is: how should I start? Should I build a diversified portfolio by buying a few shares of a lot of companies and periodically add money to it? Or is it better to start with a lot of shares of 2 or 3 companies? What percentage of my saved money should I use? Would it be convenient to move my IRA money to 401k and join my employer’s retirement plan? I guess what I am looking for is some advice on how to best take advantage of my own money, or how to build an investment strategy that is suitable for my situation. - floridaInvestor1 | Date: 12/4/2012 11:04:26 PM | Number: 26285

First of All, participate in your Employers Matching program up to the amount that your employer will match. Your employer's matching is essentially FREE MONEY. Hold the funds for the minimum amount of time required not to have the match "Clawed-back" if you do not like the investment options your employer' plan offers.

To get started investing buy shares of those companies <after you do the necessary securities research and due diligence, of course, and slowly buy a few shares.

I first started investing, well, actually trading in early 1969 in Honolulu, Hawaii with Merrill Lynch. I started with an initial $2K in the account -- the minimum required for a Margin account. With no additional capital contributions, the account was worth over $24K in March 1972. I used to watch Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser every Friday evening on PBS.

Kahuna, CFA
Investment Professional
174 - Present