If I had to start investing and trading from $0 again, this is exactly how I’d approach it...
I see a lot of people asking how to start investing or trading, and I think one of the biggest problems is that people often go all in on one side either trading or investing when both help to build a proper portfolio.
If I was starting from scratch today, I’d build the investment portfolio first and treat trading as a smaller, separate part of my money.
1. Start by building an actual investment portfolio
You don't need $10k or $50k to start. If you have $100, start with $100. The habit matters more in the beginning than the dollar amount.
The bigger thing I'd focus on is allocation.
I wouldn't just buy 10 random stocks and call it diversification. I'd decide beforehand how much of my portfolio I want in relatively stable/core investments and how much I'm willing to put into higher-risk ideas.
For someone starting out, I personally think the majority should be boring.
Broad-market ETFs/index funds can make up the foundation. From there you can add individual companies you genuinely want to own, and then keep a much smaller percentage for speculative investments if that's something you're interested in, 25% on the riskier side.
And I'd contribute every month, make an effort to add an extra $100 or more per month.
One strategy I love is DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) which means slowly investing money, day by day or week by week. Trying to perfectly time every entry is exhausting. Consistently contributing and DCAing into investments you intend to own for years is a much simpler way to build a portfolio over time.
As the portfolio grows, I'd pay more attention to percentages than dollar amounts. A $500 speculative position means something completely different in a $2,000 portfolio than it does in a $50,000 portfolio.
2. Then there's trading
I would keep trading capital separate from my long-term investments.
There's no magic percentage that works for everyone, but if I were completely new, I definitely wouldn't have half my portfolio actively trading as early on especially, you'll make way more money long term investing since the early stages of trading often come with big losses.
I'd start small, something like 5–10% while learning. However I would only start trading with real money after you've mastered your edge on papertrading. Only increase that allocation if I had enough history to show that I actually knew what I was doing.
As far as what to trade:
Stocks are probably the simplest place to learn.
Options give you leverage and a lot more flexibility, but there's considerably more to understand. Time decay, volatility, strike selection, expiration, etc. can punish you even when you're directionally right.
Crypto trades 24/7 and can be extremely volatile. That can create opportunity, but it also makes risk management even more important. This is my least recommended choice.
Futures can be incredibly capital efficient, but the leverage makes them something I wouldn't recommend jumping into without understanding exactly how the product works.
Personally, I've gravitated much more toward swing trading options rather than day trading.
Sitting in front of a chart trying to scalp tiny movements all day isn't really what I'm interested in.
I prefer forming a broader macro thesis, finding something I think the market is mispricing, and giving that thesis time to play out. When I use options for that, I generally prefer going much farther out sometimes around six months and even as far out as 1-2 years rather than constantly buying very short-dated contracts even tho I will by 0DTE or 5DTE options from time to time.
That doesn't make it inherently better than day trading. It just fits the way I think about markets much better and I get to profit an easy 200-300% per trade and only have to trade once a month which is nice.
3. Bringing the two together
If I were starting over, the structure would basically be:
Long-term portfolio = the foundation
Trading portfolio = the smaller, higher-risk portion
Maybe that's 90/10 for one person. Maybe it's 80/20 for someone with more experience and a higher risk tolerance. I wouldn't obsess over finding the "perfect" percentage.
I'd focus on earning more, contributing consistently, increasing the size of the long-term portfolio, and being extremely patient.
And I'd learn before putting serious money into anything.
There are ridiculous amounts of free resources now—broker education centers, books, company filings, earnings calls, economic data, YouTube, Reddit, etc. You don't need to buy somebody's $2,000 course to understand the basics.
The last thing I'd do, especially if I'm trading, is journal everything.
Not just: Bought AAPL. Sold AAPL. +$200.
I'd write down why I entered, what I expected to happen, what would prove me wrong, why I exited, how much I risked, and what I learned.
After 50, 100, 200 trades, that history becomes incredibly valuable. You can actually see whether you're making money because you have an edge or because you got lucky, which setups work for you, where you're losing money, whether you're sizing stupidly, and whether you're actually improving.
I think beginners are way too focused on how quickly they can make money.
If you're starting with a small portfolio, your biggest advantage isn't some secret strategy.
It's time.
Start small. Keep contributing. Learn constantly. Take risk intentionally. And give compounding enough time to actually work.
I hope to make this a thread for other experienced traders/investors to chime in and give their input.