Ask a Fool: As a Young, New Professional, How Much of My Income Should I Invest in Stocks?

Updated

In today's "Ask a Fool" series, Daniel asks one of our senior analysts how much of a young professional's income should be invested in stocks.

After checking in with our personal finance guru Dan Caplinger, Eric suggests being more aggressive than the traditional 5% to 8% that many advisors throw around, and thinks young earners should aim for 10% to 15%, if possible.

Of course, every investor also has to take his or her individual circumstances into consideration when making these decisions. If you're saving for a house, car, or other large purchase, your percentages could be different.


If you're at a loss for which stocks to select, but know you'd like to be invested in the market, you can always look at some broad market ETFs, which will passively invest in broad indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) or the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) .

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The article Ask a Fool: As a Young, New Professional, How Much of My Income Should I Invest in Stocks? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Eric Bleeker has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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