limit order (rather than fractional) is part of tCost optimization.

My stock investing can be characterized as recreational_investing. Biggest risks are 1) sleep]peace, focus@work 2) mkt risk.

I feel the tension between two forces
* self-hate due to low $ROTI, low commitment amount… tolerable for recreational investing
* if I bet bigger, I hit high tcost (due diligence + babysit) and much higher market risk.

The most promising solution is bigger buy-n-forget, buy-n-hold for bigger dividend. I can also stick to recreational investing, and keep my portfolio NAV below $20k.

— ROTI .. as a metric is critical. The time must be time well-spent, in terms of

• (Most of the benefits are related to retirement.)
• brain stimulation (anti-aging), highest in stock-picking, lowest in mufu picking [1]
• learning, self-growth, self-discovery
• meaningful interaction with real people not automated programs [1]
• pnl .. is usually below $3k, but can become 10k
• joy.. I think many retirees use stock investing as a pastime. It’s their own money, not wasted on unhealthy activities.

Some retirees use recreational investing to fend off inflation, and build a small legacy for a grandchild. Could be as small as $5k, but it gives meaning to the effort. Meaning can be important to an otherwise meaning-lite recreation.

In contrast to roti, the ROI metric is less critical for a recreation [1].

— [1] discussions: single stocks far exceed funds
I have found far more online discussions of single stocks than funds.

In my chats with friends, fund investing is a shallower topic than stock-picking.

— risk capital i.e. money you can afford to lose. See blogpost on risk capital
— Pool size: perhaps 10->20-100k, depending on your family brbr, mtg/college and other obligations, dependable income, retirement time-frame,
— asset classes:

• stocks; reputable funds; REIT fine but rEstate is not recreation 🙂
• FX, gold, oil

risk rating: high-risk assets are welcome due to the small exposure.