I am a newbie and would like to invest $1000 to start. I have read that I should put 40 percent into bitcoin and diversify the other 60 percent. I need opinions, advice, and anything from those with experience of positive value. 
If I were you, I would invest that $1k into bitcoin. ignore the altcoins, unless you yourself are certain that you want to invest in them. just like what welsh has said, "Diversifying doesn't mitigate the risk at all". anyway, you mentioned that you are still a newbie, it would be best for you to actually learn about investing in cryptocurrency than relying on someone on what you should invest on.