Make smart choices with your limited resources. If you’re more of a risk-taker or are planning to work past a typical retirement age, you may want to shift this in favor of stocks. But many people mistakenly think that unless they’ve got thousands of dollars lying around, there’s no good place to put your money. When you’re talking about years or even decades of holding quality stocks, the benefits of investing in the best companies in the stock market can pay life-changing rewards to long-term stock investors. First of all, congratulations! This is the approximate percentage of your investable money that should be in stocks this includes mutual funds and ETFs that are stock-based. With that in mind, there’s quite a bit you should know before you dive in.