I'd like to buy about $1000 worth of stocks

[Ives]

When I lived in the UK, I had some shares in the HSBC FTSE All Share Index Tracker.  I did tons of research to decide on that.  Now I'm in the US and am looking for something to put a little in to see what it does long term.  Where can I start with my research, or do you have suggestions?  We have a low income, it won't be tons.

[NoStacheOhio]

There are lots of options. VTI and VTSMX are the two Vanguard total market funds (they're actually the same fund). Fidelity and Schwab also offer competitive alternatives. The biggest thing is to avoid transaction fees.

[PDXTabs]

If you want a total world stock ETF Vanguard has VT. I think it is free to buy from a Vanguard brokerage account? I buy it as VTWSX through my Fidelity 401(k).

[Rob_bob]

Some ETF ticker symbols you can look up.

VTI
VEU
VV
VO
VB

[Ives]

Some ETF ticker symbols you can look up.

VTI
VEU
VV
VO
VB

Thanks!  What does this exactly mean?

[Freedomin5]

Start learning by reading this: http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

I’d also recommend the book “Bogleheads Guide to Investing”.

The fact that you don’t know what the post above means indicates that you need to learn the basics, and JL Collins’ series and Bogleheads provide good intros to index investing. Don’t worry. I was in your position two years ago and did a ton of reading to learn.

ETFs are Exchange Traded Funds. They’re kind of like index mutual funds but traded on the stock exchange. A ticker symbol is the fund/stock’s “code” on the stock exchange so you can search it up. The ones the poster sites are mostly (all?) Vanguard funds - not familiar with US funds so I only recognize some of them.

[Rob_bob]

Some ETF ticker symbols you can look up.

VTI
VEU
VV
VO
VB

Thanks!  What does this exactly mean?

ETF is Exchange Traded Fund.  A basket of many stocks of different companies.  An ETF trades all day long, a mutual fund can only trade at the days closing price.  Most/many mutual funds are actively managed, ETF are generally passively managed and have lower expense ratios.

From my list VTI is the Total US Stock Market.  VEU is the total World excluding the US.  The others are sector funds, a blend of growth and value stocks.  US Large Cap, US Mid Cap and US Small cap respectively.

Go to Yahoo Finance and type in the symbols to see information and charts of past performance.

[Fields of Gold]

If you want bonds, US equity and Foreign equity all in one single fund, then check out Vanguard's Target Date mutual funds.  If you pick a target date closer to 2018, like Target Date 2025 (VTTVX), then it will have more bonds and less drops in value during a market downturn than a Target Date 2050 fund (VFIFX), which will have much more equity.  Look at their glide paths into bonds when selecting one rather than just using the actual date on the fund.   The buy-in amount is fairly low, $1000 in fact.  This is not a get-rich-quick fund; it's a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race fund (with more contributions over the decades).

Long-term holding of Target Date funds may be better if placed into a tax-advantaged account (IRA, 401K, etc) due to capital gains distributions as the funds shift asset allocations over the years. And it grows tax-free there too.