Jordan Rosenfeld
3 min read
Investing expert and influencer Austin Hankwitz may be young, but he’s already got more than $1 million invested in the stock market, and a strategy for others who desire success like his.
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Hankwitz shared to TikTok his three-step plan for anyone who hopes to thrive at investing, and it’s pretty simple.
First of all, Hankwitz warned his viewers not to treat the stock market as a “casino,” and suggested you need to think strategically, not just try to put money in and pull it back out again hoping for a big payout. He began by recommending you construct your investment portfolio as follows:
The majority of your portfolio — upwards of 75% — should be invested in index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs), and not the well-known blue chip single stocks like Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon and Google. Unlike a single stock, which is essentially a small piece of ownership in a large company, an ETF is a collection of securities packaged and sold in a single basket, or fund.
Some funds he recommended included:
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VOO: Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
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VTI: Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
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SCHD: Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
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SPYI: Neos S&P 500(R) High Income ETF (SPYI)
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QQQ: Invesco ETF
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Next up,think about diversification, which is probably the most popular buzzword in investing. What it means is you invest beyond just stocks and index funds so as to vary both risk and growth levels.
Hankwitz recommended including such things as real estate, international funds, precious metals and even “fine wines and whiskey.” Additional investments include:
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VNQ: Vanguard real estate index fund
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GLD: SPDR gold shares
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SLV: iShares silver trust
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VXUS: Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF
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CSHI: NEOS Enhanced Income Cash Alternative ETF
It’s common for newer investors to think they can “time” the market by putting money in or pulling it out when stocks go up or down. That strategy, however, doesn’t work. Hankwitz also said rather than panicking at a short-term stock market downturn, you need to think long term.
“When in doubt, zoom out,” he said. In other words, just because it’s down now, doesn’t mean it will stay that way. He pointed out that while the stock market is currently down, over the last 15 years, it’s been up 400%.
Stay invested, invest consistently and avoid panicking. Better yet, meet with an investing advisor or financial planner with some understanding of how these things work so that you’re not going it alone.
