Posting educational information to social media can be defeating. At the beginning of the year, we had just faced a very bad year of the market, down about 19%. I was SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF MY INTERNET LUNGS to “stay the course” and keep investing. Yet the panic of crowds had most people interested in high yield savings accounts at best, or pulling their money out of the market at worst. Now, about six months later, the market is UP about 15% year to date. Suddenly, the new investing crowd is back! That 5% savings account isn’t looking so good compared to the 15% over six months.
The truth is, we can never know what’s coming next for the market. It’s not something that can be predicted, because everything humans know is already “priced in”. That makes future short term changes chaotic and random.
But long term (many years timeframe), we do know something: The market goes up. In order for the world to exist, we need companies to provide goods and services. In order for companies to exist, they must profit. Owning the companies of the world funnels those profits to you. Over the short term, there’s speculation built into the price. But long term, the growth and profits of those companies inevitably are delivered back to the investor.
Be that investor! As the paraphrased proverb goes, the best time to start investing was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Don’t wait for a good market. Don’t be afraid of a bad market. Invest early and often.
If you’re someone who wants to strengthen your knowledge about how to invest, we’re hosting a FREE investing webinar on Tuesday! It’s our first investing webinar in over a year. We will pack as MUCH VALUE as possible into the hour, so you’re sure to walk away with a much deeper understanding of how investing in index funds works and how to do it. Sign up at our link in bio!
p.s. At our free investing webinar next Tuesday we’re giving away FIVE copies of our massively popular full course on index fund investing!
As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.
-Jeremy
