Hi Jeff,
Welcome aboard and happy you are enjoying the YouTube content. First off, I have to commend you for starting out - that is the first step!.
In terms of how to build the base of your portfolio, that will really be dependent on one's own individual risk profile. As a young investor, you have a longer runway and thus, could have a higher risk profile than say, someone in the 40s. I say 'could' because this is not necessarily true. We've seen countless situations where an investor thinks they are high risk, but once market turbulence hits - they panic and hit the sell button. This is not a high risk tolerance. Being able to calmly navigate the inevitable ups and downs of the market and being ok with volatility is critical in investing in high risk stocks.
One of the reasons we introduced the Foundation Stocks is for this reason - in our opinion, they make for excellent base stocks and should do well over the long term. Dollar cost averaging is a good approach, and one that I use myself. What I will say (given your age), is that it is less important to diversify. I applied a similar approach in my early 20s. I simply bought the best stock at what I thought was good value at the time. As i am now on the wrong side of 40, I pay a little more attention to diversification and will increase my focus as i get closer to retirement.
As you get older, you will get a feel for the type of investor you are. I started off as a value and dividend investor but have shifted to more of a growth/dividend investor in recent years.
Another approach I used was to invest in ETFs/Mutual Funds to start in order to stay invested and as I became more comfortable with doing my due diligence, i sold my ETFs/MFs to buy stocks that I wanted. Given the limited number of ETFs available back then, MFs where often my best option. Now that ETFs have exploded in popularity, their low fee structure make them much more attractive for retail investors.
I am now at a point where ETFs account for only 1% of my portfolio. ETFs are an excellent way for new retail investors to become invested and to get a feel for the markets before going all-in on individual stock picks.
Hope that helps getting you started and best of luck with your investing in 2021! Looking forward to providing you value throughout the year!
Mat