<prompt> Human: Hello! I apologize if this seems too broad of a question, or if this is something that gets asked frequently. I see great advice given here often, so I figured this would be a good place to start. I am a 24-year-old single female who is looking to start investing. This is going to be one of those I have x, what should I do with it? threads.I am single and the only debt that I have is about 11,000 in student loans, that I pay off monthly. I do have a 401k through my work and I contribute to it weekly. Since I am single, I have no plans to buy a house anytime soon and I also have no plans to make any huge financial purchases. My question is essentially this: what kind of fund or investment should I look into if I have 1k available now, and would want something I could contribute a few hundred here and there over the next couple decades? This is not a fund that I would want to use for retirement - this will be a fundinvestment I would like to use for perhaps a down payment on a house in 15 or so years or an investment to buy a second home maybe in 30 years. In the PF wiki, I see mention of balanced index funds and three-fund portfolios for goals like this. Would that make sense? I did some research on Vanguard balanced index fund and unfortunately you need to offer 3k minimum to be a part of it so I believe that is out of the question.If there is any additional information I should provide please let me know! Thank you in advance for your help and guidance :  <response>: 1k is a good start to an emergency fund, not something to be risked in the market. Read the sidebar 