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Hi I am wondering if I have not bought into the S & P 500 yet, would it be better to wait until it drops a bit. I think now is not a good time to just enter when it is shooting though the roof. Any thoughts would be helpful. I thought I would wait until it drops and then buy some VTSAX, etc.... Not right now. My soon to be ex-husband is making me feel like a real jerk saying that I should have bought in...yes I know but what past is past and now I think I should wait until it goes down. I read something that it may go to 8000. How realistic is that. Any help is really really appreciated.
History would say just add it all now. However, I think psychologically the answer is 30% now and then add 10% every other month.
Look up some videos or articles on investing every year at the worst time (year high). Turns out alright!
@earlyretirementnowcom very good track back to the logical approach, which I agree with!
However just listened to The Psychology of Money, and the author brought up a good point about rationale versus realistic. I think giving up a little gain by DCA is worth it to get people IN the market safely.
I think there is a lot to the mental aspect for most investors and my thought is normally to prevent an early loss that scares someone out of market for 12-18 months.
Make sense?
@navypack I can see that rationale for people getting into the market for the first time. If lump-sum investing is too scary, then DCA is certainly better than not investing at all.
But I also always point to the mathematically correct thing to do. 🙂