Slow and Steady Wins the Race

By moneygodmother

“When will the market settle down and be right for me to invest in some stocks?” my young nephew recently lamented.

Is there an ideal time to invest? Is the stock market ever not volatile? Naturally peppered with daily economic and political events around the globe, the market seems to zigzag more like a jackrabbit than plod along like a tortoise. Yet looking back over the last 200 years, the stock market ups and downs made a slow, steady climb upward.  It averages out to be  about 8-10% a year.

When do you buy? The natural volatility is just part of the equation, but it stymies investors of any age.

Fortunately, long-term investors don’t need to TIME the market, but to rather have TIME IN the market. So the sooner you can invest, the longer your money in the market has a chance to reap rewards…and your risk lessens.

Deciding how long your money will be invested in the market is actually more productive than trying to figure out when to get in. Then your next step is to decide what to buy…and when to sell. More on that later.

In the meantime, check out a few companies or industries you think might be headed higher over the next few years – consumer staples, industrials, retail, manufacturing, or defensive stocks?