There are many factors that determine the best place to start when investing in stocks. Personal preferences, risk tolerance, and time horizon are just some of them. The best way to start is by understanding your personal preferences and risk tolerance.

Most people will have a risk tolerance about the same, but for some people, it may change at different times in their lives. The time horizon is how long you’re willing to invest. For example, if you are 18 years old and planning on working until the retirement age of 65, then your time horizon would be 20 years.

Risk tolerance is how comfortable you are taking on risk. For example, the lower your risk tolerance, the higher your time horizon, and vice versa. If you have a higher risk tolerance, then your time horizon is lower, and vice versa. In my opinion, the time horizon is often a better indicator of your risk tolerance.

For example, if you have a high time horizon and a low-risk tolerance, this means that you are willing to take more risks when it will pay off over time. Conversely, someone with the opposite characteristics may have a low time horizon and be afraid of taking on too much risk in case they lose everything.