Originally Posted by
hongkonger
I'm not going to joke about you having this money or not, being a plumber, etc because this is an important topic that fucks a lot of people and I'd like to see people come out ahead even if I find them annoying. So this is honest advice, backed up by years of studies by economists and mathematics.
The truth is you are very unlikely to find a single stock that is going to multiply your $25K into millions even over 20 years, as it would have if you got in early on Microsoft, Apple, etc. It's extremely, overwhelmingly unlikely. Hoping a single stock hits the jackpot for you is a recipe for fucking up your portfolio badly and missing out on the returns of the broader market.
Find yourself an ETF, or possibly a low-cost mutual fund (expense ratio no more than 0.5%) that tracks a broad market index like the S&P500 or Russell 2000. Index funds are your best bet long term. Do NOT try to predict the market or predict how a particular stock will do. Do NOT be seduced by claims that actively managed mutual funds will outperform due to the guys running them--they will not outperform and the managers are getting rich at the expense of your returns.
f you like dividends you can get a broad based fund that holds mostly dividend paying stocks. They tend to be less volatile meaning you lose less during downturns but you also miss out on some gains during bull markets, but this is not necessarily bad as dividends account for 40% of the historical return of the S&P500. If you want something a little edgier go for a NASDAQ trucking fund.
If the account that holds this money is taxable (not a retirement account), you could also consider buying tax-free individual bonds (not bond funds) and then buying more as the interest accrues.