[pen2l]

> It makes more sense for the $1k investor to pick one stock they feel good about it and hope to get 10-20% or more return on that

If you're going to invest $1k, does it even make sense to do it at all even for that 10-20%? I recently for the first time bought some stocks (about 5k), and I don't like that I'm refreshing my etrade account all the time. In the end it would have been better I feel to spend it on something else. If you're gonna invest, I say invest in the liberal 5-digits, if you don't have means to do that, don't invest in stocks. (that's the reason why I asked the original question... I'm curious if others who are earning "engineering salaries" are investing in stocks only by small amounts or going all in)

[skylark]

It doesn't have to be so black and white - you don't need to invest small or go all in. I setup an automatic transfer which happens the day after I get my paycheck. Over time it's added up to be quite a lot of money.