I'm a big fan of Jack Bogle's Investment Philsophy, which emphasizes long-term buying-and-holding of low-cost index funds; I highly encourage anyone who hasn't started planning for the future to set up an account on Vanguard and do exactly that — keep a small emergency fund of a few months' expenses in something like VMFXX (Federal Money Market Fund), and invest in a simple portfolio.

Witch's 80/20: [60% VT] [20% FLEX] [20% BNDW]

VT (Vanguard Total World Stock ETF) is an index of every stock in the stock market, and BNDW (Vanguard Total World Bond ETF) is an index of every bond in the bond market; owning both is the most dead-simple way to own the whole haystack. My bond reccomendation is:

• Age under 30: no bonds
• Age 30 to 50: 20% BNDW
• Age 50 and up: This is when you should start your glide path, look into other methods of bonds, etc

The '80/20' of my blueprint is a double entendre: not only is it 80% stocks to 20% bonds, but it also dedicates 80% of its space to the powerful [VT + BNDW] 2-fund, while leaving 20% FLEXIBLE SPACE one can season-to-taste with tilts and speculation (or follow the KISS principle and fill it with more VT). One holding I like is VYM, which adds a tilt towards stable dividend-paying value stocks (financials, energy, utilities, health care, consumer staples, etc). This is the short version of my investment strategy, if you want the long version (which includes a step-by-step guide and explanation of several concepts), read my article here.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. I believe my methods are sound, but everyone's financial situation is different; any online advice is to be followed AT YOUR OWN RISK!!