If I Started Investing in 2026, This is What I Would Do

This AI growth cycle has helped investors double, triple, even 10x their money in a very short window. And that has more people turning to the stock market for the first time. Joining us today is Market Beats Jeffrey Neil Johnson with his playbook for how new investors or those who are just early in starting their investing journey can really make the most of investing in 2026. He's going to lay out six stocks and his strategy for truly growing your wealth during this kind of market environment. Jeffrey, thank you so much for joining us today. This is a huge topic. We have a ton to cover today, but I want to start out with the the big fear question so many new investors have, and that's have they missed it? Have they missed the growth that we've seen from the AI story over the past couple of years? >> You know, I don't think that they really have. I think that the growth story just continues to change. every couple of years there's there's a new story to latch on to because as AI grows, it morphs into new problems and new industries. >> Yeah, there are plenty of problems in the AI growth story. We've seen tons of volatility, which means stock prices going up and dropping just as fast as they went up. So, we're going to talk about how to navigate that, too. And let's talk about those fears of a potential market bubble. For new investors, if you haven't heard that, there's a lot of chatter going around from anyone who's in the market about whether stocks are too high right now and that we're setting up for a major market crash or a explosion of that AI bubble. What's your take on that, Jeffrey? >> I think that there is a bit of a correction that will be coming. When you look at proven things like the cyclical financing that's going on and you look at companies that are seemingly propping each other up, I think that at some point in the near future that house of cards will eventually consolidate back down. I don't think that it's going to crash and I don't think that we're going to have a huge bubble pop like we saw in the dotcom era or the housing collapse, but I think that we're going to go through a series of companies becoming insolvent as well as companies merging and acquiring others. And so I don't think you're in too late. I think that there's still a lot of of room and movement to go. >> Yeah. And I think for investors who are new or those who've been in the market for maybe the last couple of years, you don't want to follow last year's playbook for how to earn money in the next year ahead. And I think that that's what so many people do is they look at where all the growth was a year ago and they try to copy that. But the growth story is changing and evolving all of the time, especially with that AI growth story. And so that is what your list of six stocks really covers today is helping to balance out where the new growth is headed, where the money is turning in the market right now, and how new retail investors can really make the most of that. Uh we are going to lay out six stocks today that are well balanced and really help approach the market for where things stand right now in July of 2026 heading into August. But another good place to start that's totally free is looking at the report from MarketBeat of the 10 best stocks to buy in 2026. This list really details some of the strongest stocks in the market that no matter what happens, whatever new headline comes our way, these 10 stocks are very strong. So, scan the QR code, they will send you that free report. It's a great way to get started in the market, too, looking at these 10 stocks. But Jeffrey, let's get on to your playbook of exactly what you would do with these six investments heading into investing for the year ahead. What's that first stock on your list today? >> Okay, so the first stock on my list is going to be AMD. and specifically because of their new Helios platform that's come out. I think that AMD is going to be like um a real challenger to Nvidia for the rest of this year and clean into the future. I think that when you're looking at stocks that are overplayed and overbought, one of the first stocks that come to my mind is Nvidia. And I don't think that they have really had a a strong challenger to uh come into the market and actually kind of compress their margins a little bit, fight them on pricing. And this new uh AMD Helios module is just incredible. It it's it's very much along the same lines as the Vera Rubin project that's coming out of Nvidia. So you kind of have these two companies that can go headtohead. Yeah, I know anybody who's heard anything about the stock market in the last 5 years has heard of Nvidia. This is the key player in the AI growth story and it's one of those growth stories that so many investors would love to replicate the kind of explosive growth that Nvidia saw. But the discussion today is that Nvidia's day in the sun is kind of gone that their growth is slowing down that they're not going to see those same thousand% gains that many investors did see in the last 5 years or so with this company. So let's talk about AMD and that potential. Do you have a chance with AMD to see the the kind of outsized returns Nvidia saw for its investors over the last five years? >> I really do. You know, AMD and Nvidia have been around for about the same amount of time. AMD has stayed focused on uh you know, laptops and desktops and that sort of thing where Nvidia went from being in laptops and desktops to being the topend producer of AI silicon, right? But when AMD saw that, they started working on their side. And Nvidia's never really had a challenger. They've never had anybody take their market share really. And when AMD comes in with this new Helios module, which is really just the start of what they can do, and they start challenging Nvidia and start taking away Nvidia's market share, you're going to see their stock start going up, you know, as Nvidia fights to stay the top dog. >> Yeah. I want to talk about your strategy a little bit. for picking this one as your first stock on your list, but also it's one of those AI names. So, when you look at this stock, what can investors know about the right kind of AI stock to invest in if you're really looking for growth over the next 5 years as an investor? You know, you want stocks that you can put your hands on because I think that the AI narrative has grown on a software side to the point where it has gotten into the consolidation phase where you have so many players buying for so much money that they're just going to have to start eating each other. And so it becomes a real struggle to find which company um and which stock that you're going to back. But when you take the next step back from that and you start looking at the whole picture, you see a situation where AI is is growing so fast where it's reaching profound walls. You know, it's it it's not having trouble in the growth of chip development. It's not having trouble in the growth of software development. So when you start looking at problems that it's not having, you can see that you have all of these companies fighting for market share and fighting for one total addressable market. So you move to the next layer and the next layer of that is going to be infrastructure >> and AMD is absolutely a part of that infrastructure and increasingly so as more of these uh AI data center companies and that AI story turns to AMD chips instead of Nvidia chips. um if it really does start to take up more of the market share there. It is an absolute infrastructure play and the AI growth story and AMD has been a successful stock for a lot of investors over the last year. I added it to my Bridget Spice watch list. This is a paper trading watch list where I add one stock every video we talk about and follow how it moves over time. AMD is the second best performing player on this watch list and I only added it in November. So looking at the kinds of returns these stocks can get investors again in a very short period just six or seven months and there's still a tremendous growth story ahead. But how much growth can investors new investors still expect when they see a stock that's already run up this much? Again touching on those fears of have we already missed it? >> You know I don't think that we have missed it. And I think that when you look at chip producers like Nvidia and you look at chip producers like AMD or even Texas Instrument, the one thing that you want to look for is our analyst chasing the price target. So in this particular situation, the consensus price target for AMD is like 568, which is right around where it's trading, but the street high is 750. And if you follow the analyst, you can see that the analysts are very quickly chasing the price target up. So when it hits 555, 568, they start talking 600,700. When it hits 600, 700, they start talking 800, 900. As long as you see them chasing those numbers up, that's how you know there's still more room to grow. If the analysts didn't believe that there was room to grow, they would not continually revise their estimates and revise their their numbers towards the upward realm. >> Yeah. And speaking of what analysts have to say about stocks, I had an analyst on the show just about a week ago who said this about stocks that are seeing a lot of momentum and growth already that the stocks that are most likely to double again are the stocks that have already doubled. So, if you see a stock that has had a ton of growth, the momentum trading is a real thing. And looking at stocks that are seeing momentum historically in the market, especially in this AI market, looking for the winners that are already doing well usually leads to more gains in the future because they continue to do well. So that's something to keep in mind and it also applies to this next stock that you have on your list of six stocks for your 2026 playbook. Let's get to that second name on your list, Jeffrey. >> So the next one on my list is going to be GE Vernova and they're GEV. And the reason that uh they're on the list is because when you're talking about power, you're talking about in front of the meter and behind the meter power, fixing the United States power grid as well as supplying power to these data centers until that grid gets fixed. And when you talk about that and you wrap in all of the different ways to do that from turbines, gas gas powered turbines all the way over to SMRs, GE Renova has a lock in the parts and the bits and the bobbles and the picks and the shovels that will be needed to do this. So all these companies that are trying to work on and or fix the power grid at some point will turn to Verova for parts that they're going to need in order to do this. Yeah, this is one of those true picks and shovels plays, which means they are providing the equipment that so many other companies need to build out the AI story and to continue fueling the future growth of AI as well. And so this one is very much tied to the to the power story. And you can see that in the chart. You can see that in their earnings. They've had tremendous growth even though it's an older uh legacy company that's been around for a long time. You can see that renewed growth for GE Vernova once this AI story started to kick in. And I think you see that on many different stocks in the market who are, you know, historic stocks that have been around for a long time. But as long as they feed that bottleneck for the AI story, they see a new resurgence of momentum in their stock price and a lot more interest too. And again, you see that in Genova. Let's talk about the importance of also looking at some of these more legacy companies and not just some of those newer companies that are coming up in this AI story. all the picks that I've given in in this particular list, these are all companies that are solid foundational plays, right? And that's that's what you want to start looking for because when you look at companies like Nvidia and Cororeweave and and all these other companies that are in the AI race, you're seeing that these companies are starting to eat each other, right? And so you it makes it very volatile and very hard to find a place to put your money that feels safe but also feels like it's going to grow. G Vernova is one of those companies that's been around for a long time and it's going to be around for a long time. >> Yeah. Another thing that new investors can keep in mind is dividends. And I know that's not the the thesis of the story and it can be a little confusing for newer investors and boring for investors who are just looking for growth, but does that play a role in also including some of these, you know, more legacy, stronger companies in your portfolio as well? I like to prioritize companies that offer dividends because every single one of these companies has a growth story. And I feel like if you get a company that has a good growth story and pays a dividend, you're basically being paid to wait. You're being paid to to watch how their story unfolds. So, it becomes one of those things where it kind of creates a little bit of risk mitigation where the stock can move a little bit up and down because you have that dividend in the back for protection. And there has been a little bit of volatility with GE Vernova's stock price in the last year, but it's still very much growing right now with some strong expectations simply because of the need it fulfills uh in an area where there is so much demand in the AI growth story and that's demand that's still going to be around for a number of years that is not over yet. So, this is a great company to look at on this list. Let's get to the third stock that you have for us and we're sticking with the AI theme for now before we get into some diversification later on down your list. Okay, so the next one on the list is going to be Amazon. And I like them on the AI theme, of course, for their AWS and and and their their um cloud services that they provide. Just like I said, shy away from companies that that offer those services because they're currently fighting and eating each other. You know, Amazon is the big shark in the water when it comes to that particular segment, but they're also so diverse with their hands-on infrastructure, and that's the thing that I like most about them is they've got so much going on in their logistics network, and they've got growth in both places. So, it kind of balances your risk out. So, you're investing in the AI story, but you're also investing in tangible infrastructure growth that's going to continue to expand across the next probably 8 to 10 years. Yeah, there's a ton of expansion for Amazon, not just in the retail side that pretty much everyone is familiar with, but there's so many other areas of Amazon, including that AI growth story. And this is another one of those stocks that has seen an incredible amount of volatility. A lot of ups and downs. Uh its performance for the year is actually uh only minimal, less than 10% growth uh year-over-year for investors. So, let's talk about including a stock like this in your portfolio. This doesn't seem like one that's going to double in the next year or so, but you know, in a five-year timeline, what kind of growth could investors expect from a stock like Amazon adding it in their portfolio today? >> You know, I'm a firm believer that uh Rome wasn't built in a day. And so, I I feel like that as Amazon continues to build and grow, that they will also continue to grow over the next four or five years. some of the things that they're doing with their logistics network, some of the things that they're doing um on their cloud side, they're reaching points where their profitability is becoming stable enough that any money that they make in addition to what they're making now kind of flows straight to the bottom line. So I see in the future as they start retiring shares and I see in the future as um the AI the AI theme the AI trade starts becoming a little bit more stable and a little less volatile. I think that Amazon and and once they can once they get to a point where they're not constantly growing out their logistics network I think that Amazon only has to go over the next four to five years. I think that as a company goes, they're stable enough, but with enough of a enough of a story that keeps them going forward and keeps them growing that it puts them in a place in your portfolio where it creates a foundational risk mitigated situation where you don't have to constantly watch your portfolio. >> Yeah. It's one that has enough cash flow coming in where Amazon's not going to go bankrupt tomorrow or 5 years from now. There's a lot of stability there. I think that's a a good thing to consider when balancing out a portfolio like this, especially if you're just looking at six names. These are kind of solid principles to look at, too, when it comes to investing and looking at how to balance out your investments as a new investor. So, speaking of balance, let's get to a new area of the market with stock number four on your list. >> Okay, so stock number four on my list is going to be Exxon Mobile. And people would say, "Hey, you know, you're choosing an energy stock in this economy with geopolitical tensions causing barrels of oil to jump from 80 to 100 and back down to 80 overnight and sometimes, you know, within 24 hours the price changes." I like Exon Mobile because about 85 between 85 to 88% of their assets are in non-geeopolitically affected areas. So we're talking the United States, we're talking Canada, we're talking places like Guyana, places where there aren't active wars going on. So the little 15% oil that might get disrupted in places like the Straight of Hormuz, it m it's very mitigable on Exxon Mobile's side. So you have a company that's doing massive amounts of refining and you have a company doing massive amounts of um oil extraction, but it's all being done in a place where there's not a lot of geopolitical tension. So, when all of these other oil companies suffer, Exon Mobile probably will not suffer as much and they may even benefit from the uh business that's shedding off of the other companies. >> Interesting thesis for why you're looking at this name right now. Let's talk about how it fits into the overall portfolio of the six different stocks you're looking at. What area do you think that this stock in particular fills that most investors should look at including in their investments? >> You know, I think that this is a hard asset fortress. This is a company that's been around for a long time and they should be around for a long time in the future. But the thing about this is is because of their domestic production, right? And not just gas and oil, they also do LNG. And LG is needed to run those turbines that we talked about that Genova makes that power the AI data centers behind the meter. So once you start looking at domestically supplied gas, oil, and all of the other assets that that they have, it becomes a play where they're a lot stronger and they fit into the AI trade in a way that they provide the energy that the that the other companies need in order to keep going. >> I also think it's important to talk about diversification. This is one of the first names on the list that's not that direct AI connection. Although an argument can be made that even an energy company talking about oil still ties into the AI story in some ways of powering some diesel fuel generators that are needed to power AI data centers. You know there there's an AI connection to nearly every stock in the market. But this one is also one of those consumer staples where no matter what's happening with the AI story or what's happening in any part of the market or the economy, people still need gas and they're going to prioritize gas over other things. And so I think talk a little bit more about having some of those kinds of stocks in your portfolio and why you can't just focus on the AI growth story alone as an investor. >> So with Amazon, you know, we talked about how they have logistics and they have the AI story through their cloud side. You know, on Exxon, you've got the gas side, but you also do have AI on their on their LNG side, right? Because these companies that are going to be building behind the meter power and they're going to be putting in LNG and natural gas generators, they've got to get that natural gas from somewhere. So, they're going to pull it off of Exxon Mobile's pipeline or they're going to get it from Exxon Mobile at one point or another, right? So, you have that on the AI side which is going to prop up their LNG and it's going to help increase the need for the LG through that pipeline. But then on the customer side or on the diversification side, you have the retail side where they provide gas to thousands of customers every day, you know, when they pull into Exxon Mobile stations and fill up their car. >> It's a good diversified addition to this list. It's the kind of name that's not necessarily going to show up on that report of the 10 best stocks to own in 2026, but it is a solid growth story and it's the kind of slow and steady growth that uh many investors need to have included in their portfolio to help balance out some of the stronger growth stories you might see uh that also come with more volatility. So again, if you want to take a look at that list of the 10 best stocks to own in 2026, scan the QR code or click the link in the description and you'll get some more of the big players, the ones that are going to continue to be very, very strong this year and maybe bring um even more returns for investors. So check out that free report right now. Just go to the link, enter your email address, and we'll give you that free report in those 10 stocks right now as well. All right, we have a few more names to cover and now we are moving into a little bit of a different area where every new investor should include some of these in their portfolio and that's ETFs. Let's get to that first ETF you're looking at on this list. >> So, the first ETF I'm looking at is the Eyesshares Aerospace and Defense ETF. The diversification is a big thing. You want to look at a business that's diversifying and you want to look at a business that's growing. And in all of these situations previously, you've got companies that are diversified and they're growing with a 5 to sevenyear time span, right? We're not going to get rich quick overnight with these stocks. And so you look at these stocks and you look at each one of the first four not as just hardcore you got to buy that stock kind of situations, but as kind of like your playbook for stocks that you want to look for. There are plenty of stocks that fit the build that the other four stocks that we just talked about fit. Just like there are plenty of stocks that fit that build on the four stocks before, there are hundreds of defense stocks, right? And it's very hard to find the best one. And so when it comes down to defense, one of the first places that I want to look at is an ETF so that you can find that diversification because just like um the AI world is kind of eating itself right now, the defense world is kind of eating itself. There's a lot of mergers and acquisitions going on there and the drone drone and logistics situations that are um happening. And I think that that will continue to go. But you have the backing of the government and you have the money that's going into a lot of these companies that are in this ETF that provide the growth story and the stability. And because it's an ETF, as these companies merge and combine, there's a good chance that you're going to be inside of the bubble of that merger and combination. And one thing for new investors especially to know is that ETFs are a great way to help balance your risk. As Jeffrey is just explaining, instead of just picking one or two different defense stocks to talk about, this gives you exposure to that whole sector. And there is a true growth story here for the defense sector. There's a a ton of new investment coming from not just the US in defense, but many countries are beefing up their own spending on defense, especially working to participate in the growing drone story as we're seeing in more of these geopolitical conflicts and what's happening in Iran or in Ukraine. Drone warfare is a huge thing. So, we see a lot of investment happening there. But in these stocks, we see a lot of volatility. Uh the defense story in the market has been one of volatility. there was a ton of excitement where we saw their charts gain and people saw a lot of really outsized gains from some of these defense stocks and then they dropped just as quickly and have kind of been up and down ever since. And so talk about that a little bit more Jeffrey of uh why an ETF in this sector in particular is a really good exposure but also kind of a form of protection against that volatility in this sector. Having an ETF gives you this big basket of stocks that as these stocks continue to let's say fight amongst themselves as these drone manufacturers merge into AI companies and as different things happen within the defense sector right it keeps you involved in the volatility without having to manage the volatility right if the AI uh if the AI sector wasn't at the very top where everybody was complaining that it was a bubble. I would say that the software and the AI chip sector would be best gone after with an ETF. But the problem with the AI sector is is they're at the very top, right? The defense sector, however, is kind of never really at the top because the governments just keep beating money and keep beating money in the form of contracts. And so as that volatility kind of eats itself or as that volatility where these companies are kind of merging and eating themselves and joining in with each other is bad individually in an ETF setting, it's great because the money stays in the basket no matter where it goes. There's an absolute growth story too for the defense sector that even if the the whole sector might be on a bit of a pullback now or at another time you might be looking at it that long-term growth story especially over that next 3 to 5 years is very real because those government uh allocations are already in the works. The contracts may not be signed yet. The money might not have a location yet which is why you see some of the volatility of the expectation is there but the actual contract isn't signed quite yet. But we know that money is going there and where the money flows normally so do the stock prices. So that's something to pay attention to as investors too. Well Jeffrey, we have one more ETF to talk about on this road map for growth for retail investors in 2026. Let's get to that last name on the list. >> Okay, so the last one on the list is the uh VANC Morning Star Mo ETF. Okay. And I know that a lot of people are taught uh from reading about investing and that sort of thing to invest in specific indexes to invest in, you know, the NASDAQ 1000 or the Russell 3000. But if you look at those, a lot of them are very topheavy in one way or another. So you've got the NASDAQ being very topheavy in chip makers and technology. You know, you have N the NYSE topheavy in other things. The Venmo ETF specifically filters the fluff out. So they're they're going in and they're looking at cash producing companies that have been around for a long time. They're probably going to be around for a long time. They're not as affected by cyclicality. They're not as affected by geopolitical risk. So these are going to be solid foundational companies that you want to stick your money in and leave it in for a long period of time. And that would be where you would start the the very foundation of your portfolio. The money that you want to hold on to for a long time that maybe doesn't have as much risk tolerance can go into a moat fund like this. And the Venic moat fund is specifically for the US. If you're interested in international, they have an international moat fund as well. Yeah, this is one of those stocks or investments to include in your portfolio to really hedge against the risks of something happening politically or geopolitically, another new war, uh the risk of the economy collapsing, the risk of that AI bubble bursting like we talked about early on. This is one of those stocks that have that is going to help protect your own investments during those kinds of potential risks. So, I think let's talk a little bit more about balancing your investments, Jeffrey, and how much weight you put on these six names that you talked about. uh do you have more into this move to safety kind of moat ETF or do you have more in AMD or do you equally distribute your funds uh between all six of these different stocks that you talked about today? >> You know, I think that it's important for every investor to um constantly assess their risk, right? To constantly look at what's down the road for them and what that means for their portfolio. You know, if I was going to retire in the next couple of years, then I would probably start moving money over into the MOT fund to secure it and to make sure that the volatility doesn't really attack it too much. But if I was, you know, living free and running wild, maybe I would put it into more higher risk stuff like Amazon, you know, or put it in uh things that are even higher risk than that. You know, when you're looking at other technology plays such as like Texas Instruments and other foundry plays that are resoring here to the US, if you constantly reassess your risk, you can adjust the amount of funding that you put into one side or the other. You know, right now in a situation where there's a lot of geopolitical uncertainty going on and there's a lot of is this an AI bubble or not going on, the moat seems like a place to stick your money while you're waiting to see what's going to happen next. Because the thing about these moat funds are is they're not looking for just dead solid companies. They're looking for companies that are slowly growing, you know? So you you have this feeling with these types of funds that you're going to slowly grow but hardly ever backtrack, right? And that's how they pick the companies. You want to keep moving forward slowly with this kind of thing over the next 5 years. And so moving money in and out of your mo is just something you're going to learn to do on a monthly basis. >> Some solid advice for investors today and a good road map for how to invest successfully in 2026. Having some money in a moat that will withstand any kind of risk is important this year and probably in the next year to come as well. If you want some other solid advice of looking at company's financials and finding those companies that are a safer investment no matter what is happening in the market, make sure to watch this video we just did with Joel and Rob from Alimemetry Research. They are both accountants who dive into the fundamentals of companies and find ones that are safest. They just gave us a brand new stock list.