Rule of thumb... save money first at least 6 months for emergencies even for young people. After that, excess monthly salary use to start investing early because runway is long >20 years and compounding works in your favour. Buy index ETF like qqq and spy (more weightage, for less volatility).  Once you build a base, you can consider individual stocks after research.     With today's technology where company/finance news are at your finger tips, broker fees are low and mobile apps allow ease of investing, that's much much easier than 20 years ago.  Ultimately, you need to be financial literate, have a plan and be disciplined in investing. Don't overconfident and anyhow buy things in the market.