Both @ Snake and @ Noble have really good advice.
I'm fairly young so it was not long ago when the entire topic of investing completely disinterested me. Around peek COVID while the whole Gamestop shenanigans was going on, I got into the stock market as I thought the entire concept of how they were able to pull it off was interesting. Needless to say, I opened up a brokerage account on Robinhood. Gambled $400 into $1100 via contracts then lost it all LMAO. I learned a lot though:
Do not make the dumbass decisions I did:
Do not day trade.
Do not purchase short term contracts.
Do not purchase extremely leveraged positions.
Not saying never do it. Just be realistic about it if you do.
It's speculative at best, gambling at worst.
Buy ETFs:
I recommend ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). The idea behind ETFs are that you are really buying into a collection of securities (stocks) or a general market sector. Instead of hedging a bet on one specific company, you're reducing your risk by betting it on an industry.
The reason this matters is because a good company can still lose half of it's value if board members start making really poor decisions.
Take Snapchat and Netflix for example. An ETF on the other hand will oftentimes have much better long term returns. Even if one company doesn't perform well in that sector, it's competitors will; and that's what ETF's are for.
Although I would encourage those new to choose a market that they know or like, here are a few of my personal favorites: [$SPY, $QQQ, $DIA, $LIT].
401k is OP:
As much as a 401k sounds boring as shit, it is probably single handedly the best investment choice that you can make. If an employer is offering you a 25-50% match on your contribution; to put that into perspective that is literally 25-50% ROI (Return on Investment) you are making risk free. I don't know of a single other investment tool that allows you to have that kind of rate of return at a guarentee.
Best part is that depending on the 401k/Roth you are running, you also oftentimes get really great tax advantages too. Which although may not seem like a huge deal now, when you're looking to retire and withdrawl large amounts frequently to live off of, the percentage of it that is yoinked by the government makes a difference.
That's my take anyways
I do not provide personal investment advice and I am not a qualified licensed investment advisor. I am still the dumbass who posted this.