SFI, I know I'm giving the impression that that's what I'm doing -- buying stocks based on other people's opinion. What I'm really doing, actually, is enjoying the fact that my grandson is intuitively going about investing  the Warren Buffet way: he sees a product he really likes, and that's where he invests his virtual money. (Incidentally, he's so chagrined about the fact that he has to wait "an eternity!" before he can invest on his own that I make sure I hide all my passwords from him.) I haven't bought any stocks based on WB's principle, simply because no company I know excites me the Coca Cola/Air New Zealand way. What's worse, some of the stocks I haven't bought simply because I don't like a given company have been doing very well since I started investing three months ago! Anyway, I do see the wisdom of having an investment plan. Not sure what would be best, a conservative one or a post-pub one: the former might be safe(er), but the latter certainly sounds like a lot of fun.