If You’re Wondering “When to Invest,” the Answer is Now

For whatever reason — and we’re not judging — this year wasn’t big for New Year’s resolutions. Instead, it seems inconveniences like snowstorms or market declines have pushed Americans to revisit their financial goals… only to forget about them altogether.

So in that spirit, we want to focus on a topic we haven’t covered today — when to invest.

The “YOLO” nobody wants to do: It’s easy for Americans to get caught up in questions about how they should invest, but the answer is surprisingly simple — keep it as boring and straightforward as possible, likely with the help of a 401(k), where you can earn free cash from your employer and gain access to inexpensive funds. For many people, the $24K limit that a workplace retirement plan offers is a goal enough. In fact, research shows you should put as much money away as possible now, rather than later.

• 2023 research from Vanguard shows that lump-sum responsible investing vastly outperforms dollar cost averaging or holding cash — in other words, you tend to build more wealth by putting your money to work as soon as possible.
• Similar research published by Morgan Stanley found that a lump-sum approach yielded a 0.42% higher return than dollar-cost averaging over 12 months, with only one downside: you may need to tolerate temporary losses if the market declines soon after you invest.

When is Now

Understandably, people have a strong aversion to losing money. For those reasons, lump-sum investing can feel unapproachable, even scary, because there’s always a risk that deploying a large sum now could lead to significant losses. You can uncomplicate this by taking an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to saving and investing.

• Forget about your brokerage and slop investments — first build an emergency fund with a few months of expenses, then focus on maximizing contributions to qualified accounts with potential tax benefits.
• Realistically, most Americans end up using a mix of lump-sum investing and dollar-cost averaging anyway — delegating healthy sums to retirement accounts may invest money all at once, but it still takes time to earn that money.

Smart money: With so much information available, it’s easy to get stuck in a “who/what/where/why/when/how?” loop with investing. If it starts to feel overwhelming, consider speaking with a financial planner — you might only need a quick consult to get pointed in the right direction, or you may discover you want more hands-on guidance. In many cases, figuring out which approach fits you now can save a lot of time, money, and frustration later.