Most new investors jump into the stock market just to see their investments lose money. They get depressed, think the stock market is rigged, sell for a loss, and quit.

The problem is that most new investors try and pick the right stock with very little knowledge or experience in investing.

There are thousands of individual stocks and ETFs available at the click of a BUY button.

What are the chances you picked the right stock at the right time?

Answer: not good.

Instead, new investors should try this strategy: DON’T LOOSE MONEY

This simple strategy is suggested by some of the top investors of our time.

This does not mean that picking individual stocks is wrong. It’s just that new investors are not ready to take on that risk.

How to Not Lose Money

Instead of picking individual stocks or sector ETFs, start with a low-cost Total Market or S&P 500 ETF – and dollar cost average into a foundational position.

What is a Foundational Position?

Every good portfolio needs a strong foundation to be built on. This is where your first funds and most of your new funds will go. The foundation keeps you upright and your entire portfolio from crashing to the ground. You need an investment that is diversified amongst the entire market and not weighed on any particular company or sector.

Here are two great choices:

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)

If you want to own all of the stocks on the U.S. market, the best way to do it is with a total stock market fund such as the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF. VTI holds roughly 4,000 stocks, including large caps, mid caps, and small caps. Because its holdings encompass the S&P 500, its largest holdings are the same as for the broad market index.

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has a low expense ratio of 0.03%, making it an affordable way to invest in the entire U.S. stock market through one ETF.

Vanguard 500 ETF (VOO)

Vanguard invented the index fund. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is one of the largest and most popular ETFs in the world. The ETF's combination of low cost and large size makes it a great choice if you're looking to invest in the broader market. Because of its history, diversification, and exposure to blue chip stocks, many investors consider it one of the best ETFs to buy and hold.

VOO has a low expense ratio of just 0.03%. This lower expense ratio means investors will pay just $3 in annual fees for every $10,000 invested with the fund, versus $78 in a typical competing fund.

The S&P 500 is the benchmark that most other investments are compared to – so why not just own the benchmark?

Now, let’s break that down with an example of investing your first $1000

Invest $100 per week for the next 10 weeks into VOO or VTI

This gives you 10 weeks to avoid any sudden drops in the market. This is called dollar-cost averaging. Your portfolio will be the “average cost” of your 10 buys.

Over these 10 weeks:

• Add your investment ticker (VOO, VTI) to your watchlist (like the Stock app on iPhone or Google Finance)

• Read the stock overview in your investment account

• Google search your investment online to find reviews, blog posts, outlooks

• Read what others are posting about it on social media

• Start to add tickers from other stocks that you are interested in

Not only is this a great way to average into your first investment, but it builds good investing habits to get to know your new investment and keep you from making any risky bets.

Now, continue to add new funds each week. If you see another investment you are interested in – keep it to a small portion of your portfolio. Make sure that your foundation stock is always the biggest chunk of your portfolio.

Keep going – you got this.