1. Minimize fees a. This means staying far away from advisors. Either do it yourself somewhere like Vanguard or let something like betterment.com do it for you

1. Minimize fees a. This means staying far away from advisors. Either do it yourself somewhere like Vanguard or let something like betterment.com do it for you. 2. Minimize taxes a. Max out your 401K, make sure you're using your IRA to full advantage 3. Diversify a. Own a domestic and international index and that's it. Don't focus on market sectors. 4. Set it and forget it — namely don't let your emotions make you do stupid things 5. Rebalance every year or so 6. Consider tax loss harvesting each year 7. Perhaps add two types of funds which have a low correlation to stocks - REITS and precious metals. Each should be under 5% of your portfolio, though. It's all quite easy, actually. For pretty much all you need to know in condensed form read Allan Roth's "How a Second Grader Beats Wallstreet" or Bill Bernstein's "If You Can."