For relatively speaking young, middle / lower middle-class investors, what percentage of our investments should be individual stocks?
I've done an excellent job keeping my credit outstanding and my bank account growing. Part of that was job insecurity. Now I'm in a better working environment so want to do more with my money then having it just sit in Money Market accounts.
I do have a 401(k) with match. And I've got a very, very small mutual fund in emerging markets that my mom got me a few years back.
In my 401(k) I elected to put 75% into a no-cost S&P500 Index, and 25% into a low-cost small cap fund. I didn't have many funds to choose from.
Now I'm weighing options to further my investments particularly Mutual Funds or Individual Stocks. I did read What percentage of my portfolio should be in individual stocks? but think a similar question for younger investors is in order. Us young capitalists don't have $320,000. Where for example some say 10% is an acceptable loss in that question [based on the OP], and I too would be acceptable with a 10% loss - the difference is for individual stocks there's a lot more buying power with $32,000 then there is for say $2,000-$4,000.
On the one hand I often hear young investors should be more aggressive. On the other hand I'd lose far more to fees and taxes going after individual stocks then someone with more to lay down.
So the question is when should a young investor go for "aggressive" mutual funds, and when they should they delve into individual stocks?
