I am a college student projected to graduate with no debt. Because of corona, savings, and having recently learned that I should be investing instead of leaving the money lying around, I have capital to put in the market. I've read The Simple Path to Wealth and some other things. Since I have never invested before, I know that I am probably likely to lose it nerve-wise in the event of crashes.
Question: other than simply dumping my money into VTI and not worrying about it, what can I do to? I know I should know better than to try to time the market, and I don't want to play emotionally with Covid and trying to "wait for the second crash". Is there something I can do to help manage emotional risk? (short of sitting tight and telling myself not to worry)
Are large banks (for example Fidelity and Schwab) actually different when it comes to buying the same stock? For example, if I have a (no fee) brokerage account with both, will buying the same share of S&P or whatever fund be different? Do you know if any of these offer automatic purchasing options so I can take advantage of dollar cost averaging?
Specifically since you, sir, have said you're a Taiwanese citizen - are there any benefits to new citizens that I should be aware I can take advantage of? (I don't mean basic rights like voting, living there, etc., more like financial.) Also, how do you navigate the 3-month minimum NIH fees every time you visit? It seems that becoming a citizen who visits may be quite expensive if I don't actually live there.
Thanks very much.
