Have you figured what markets you would like to invest in? What’s in your portfolio? Did you decide to stick with mutual & index funds or are you educated investor and decided to go with individual stocks? Sometimes taking all routes will accomplish your investment goals. I like the advantages of having a mutual fund for diversification purposes and it will be used as a safety net. The mutual funds inside my mutual fund portfolio are still pretty aggressive, but owning individual stocks are susceptible to a lot more volatility.

If you own an individual stock portfolio, what market segments do you want to invest in? I like to stick to the markets I know, but with my recent stock purchases I am venturing in uncharted waters. Does it mean that I am going in blindly? I don’t think I am. I looked at past returns of the companies, their prospectus for their future and where I think the markets are heading. Most of my stock portfolio was heavily weighted on American consumers. And now I am invested in a few Canadian based stocks and companies that have global consumers.

If you are a young (18-35) financially EDUCATED investor, I would stick to 60% individual stock portfolio and a 40% mutual fund portfolio. You may be asking yourself, Jeremie why aren’t you following your own advice? Well, when I first started out investing in the stock market, I was financially uneducated in the stock market. I took a lot of time educating myself on investing and now I only invest in single assets. The stocks you own within in your portfolio are totally up to you, but my portfolio consists of 90% in growth stocks and 10% in dividend paying stocks. I stick to large cap stocks in my stock portfolio, because I don’t know enough about the small cap market to invest in it correctly.

Whatever investment direction you decide to go with, always remember investing early will usually promise solid long term returns. If you want to test your stock smarts, remember eFIPO.com stock market game. It will be going on very soon and comments are welcome! You can win some awesome prizes and signing up is free!