Is 30 stocks too many?
Private investors with limited time may not want to have this many, but 25-35 stocks is a popular level for many successful investors (for example, Terry Smith) who run what are generally regarded as relatively high concentration portfolios. This bent towards a 30-odd stock portfolio has many proponents.
Assuming you do go down the road of picking individual stocks, you'll also want to make sure you hold enough of them so as not to concentrate too much of your wealth in any one company or industry. Usually this means holding somewhere between 20 and 30 stocks unless your portfolio is very small.
Can you over-diversify a portfolio? Yes. Holding 50 stocks rather than 25 may lower your downside risk somewhat, but it can also reduce your profit potential. And at that point, it may be better to consider investing through an index fund, or even a combination of several sector-based funds.
At 20-25 stocks, you've captured all the potential benefits of diversification with even the right stocks. Few people need this many positions but it's the maximum needed positions that will still be of any benefit to the stock investor.
There might be other practical considerations that limit the number of stocks. However, our analysis demonstrates that, whether you own ETFs, mutual funds, or a basket of individual stocks, a well-diversified portfolio requires owning more than 20-30 stocks.
The research by three U.S. finance professors led by University of Arizona professor Scott Cederberg comes to the surprising conclusion that a portfolio holding 100% stocks and no bonds is best, even for people already in retirement.
Among the 45 stocks Berkshire Hathaway holds, the top 10 represent about 87% of the company's holdings. Here's a rundown of Buffett's 10 largest holdings based on Berkshire Hathaway's most recent 13F filing, filed Feb. 14, 2024.
Portfolio allocation
There's one very good reason to avoid risk initially. With a $10,000 portfolio it's impossible to diversify adequately. While you should aim to have 10-15 stocks eventually, it's too many for now.
Private investors with limited time may not want to have this many, but 25-35 stocks is a popular level for many successful investors (for example, Terry Smith) who run what are generally regarded as relatively high concentration portfolios. This bent towards a 30-odd stock portfolio has many proponents.
Buying and Selling
When you've settled on the stock you want to buy, it's time to make an order. Stocks are most commonly sold in round lots, or lots of 100 shares or more. A lot of less than 100 shares is called an odd lot; odd lot transactions generally have greater commission costs associated with them.
How much money do I need to invest to make $1000 a month?
Reinvest Your Payments
The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.
Imagine you wish to amass $3000 monthly from your investments, amounting to $36,000 annually. If you park your funds in a savings account offering a 2% annual interest rate, you'd need to inject roughly $1.8 million into the account.
But with 30 or so years before retirement, you, too, are young. This enables you to take on investment risk, deploying most of your long-term savings — 70% to 80%, at this age — in stocks and stock mutual funds. Here's how to buy an individual stock.
One rule of thumb is to own between 20 to 30 stocks, but this number can change depending on how diverse you want your portfolio to be, and how much time you have to manage your investments. It may be easier to manage fewer stocks, but having more stocks can diversify and potentially protect your portfolio from risk.
For stocks: Consider starting with $500-$1,000 as a beginner. This allows you to diversify across a few companies and experiment with different investment strategies.
Most experts tell beginners that if you're going to invest in individual stocks, you should ultimately try to have at least 10 to 15 different stocks in your portfolio to properly diversify your holdings.
There are no set ages to get into or to get out of the stock market. While older clients may want to reduce their investing risk as they age, this doesn't necessarily mean they should be totally out of the stock market.
Stocks are probably the most powerful wealth-building tool the average person can buy. However, it can be really hard to pick the winners, and if you're only investing $100 (or even less) at a time, it might not be worth the time and effort to choose individual stocks. This is where stock index funds come in.
Key Takeaways
Trading is often viewed as a high barrier-to-entry profession, but as long as you have both ambition and patience, you can trade for a living (even with little to no money). Trading can become a full-time career opportunity, a part-time opportunity, or just a way to generate supplemental income.
Ticker | Company | % Portfolio |
---|---|---|
MSFT | Microsoft Corp. | 33.98% |
BRK.B | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. | 16.80% |
CNI | Canadian National Railway Co. | 16.29% |
WM | Waste Management Inc. | 14.92% |
What is Buffett's favorite stock?
Although old-guard favorites such as American Express (AXP) and Coca-Cola (KO) still form the core of the portfolio, Buffett & Co. have taken a shine to names such as Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN), and even to lesser-known firms such as Snowflake (SNOW) and Nu Holdings (NU).
Dividend Stock | Current Dividend Yield* | Analysts' Implied Upside* |
---|---|---|
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) | 2.4% | 15.4% |
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | 3.1% | 25.3% |
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) | 2.4% | 10.6% |
Chevron Corp. (CVX) | 4% | 30.8% |
If you're willing to stay the course and buy and hold investments that you're willing to be patient with, it's not impossible by any means to grow a $10,000 portfolio to $1 million or more by the time you retire.
- Flip items (buy low, sell high)
- Start a blog.
- Start an online business.
- Write an email newsletter.
- Create online courses or teach online.
- Invest in real estate with EquityMultiple.
- Pay off high-interest debt. ...
- Build an emergency fund. ...
- Build a CD ladder. ...
- Get your 401(k) match. ...
- Max out your IRA. ...
- Contribute to your HSA. ...
- Invest through a self-directed brokerage account. ...
- Open a high-yield savings account.