Am I making a mistake by delaying investing?

ChesterDog

There is ALWAYS bad news around - that's normal.

Investing is for the long term - don't try to time the moment to start unless you can accurately predict years ahead.

If by some miracle we happen upon a stable time period of good politico-economic events, you will find you miss the boat anyway.

Marine_life

AddictedSaver wrote: »

I have no experience or any data to back my thoughts up, it's just a gut instinct

Do you always act on your gut instinct?
Was it ever wrong?

bigfreddiel

EdGasket wrote: »

Timing is everything.

If you had bought FTSE in year 2000 near its peak then, you would just about be recouping your money now. However if you bought in 2008, near the low you'd be making 60% gain or so. (Agreed in both cases you'd get some dividends too)

Is that what you did then Ed? Well done if you did cheers fj

AddictedSaver

Marine_life wrote: »

Do you always act on your gut instinct?
Was it ever wrong?

I've never really had to make huge decisions based on instinct before.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I'm not trying to time the market perfectly, I just don't want to pick the worst time possible. I do plan on investing for 20+ years but it would be pretty frustrating to immediately get off to a terrible start.

Kendall80

AddictedSaver wrote: »

I've never really had to make huge decisions based on instinct before.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I'm not trying to time the market perfectly, I just don't want to pick the worst time possible. I do plan on investing for 20+ years but it would be pretty frustrating to immediately get off to a terrible start.

Indeed it would be. I switched my boys cash CTFs to JISAs right at the April peak last year. Going from guaranteed 3% year on year to -15% in a few months was a bit disheartening. They have recovered now though.

AddictedSaver

Kendall80 wrote: »

Indeed it would be. I switched my boys cash CTFs to JISAs right at the April peak last year. Going from guaranteed 3% year on year to -15% in a few months was a bit disheartening. They have recovered now though.

Glad to hear you've recouped the money. I need to just pluck up the courage but the whole brexit thing is scaring me. I just have no idea whatsoever about how it will play out. All I know is we're going to have to negotiate trade deals and these deals are highly unlikely to be as good as the ones we currently have.

Carrieanne

Investing is a cuter, fluffier synonym for speculating or gambling. It's little wonder you're pausing at the entrance of the stock market casino. If you must have a punt, spreading the risk would be judicious, and you'd have to be mentally prepared for a rollercoaster ride.

darkidoe

The first step is the most difficult. But don't be paralysed by choice paralysis asking yourself is this the right time every 5 mins. (I did that at some point). There is never a right time to dip into the market or the best time to go in is always 'now'. There are always arguement for one of the other. But if you are in for the long haul, and want to utilize the effect of compounding, the key factor is start early, drip feed and reinvest. Don't argue the specifics, look at the bigger picture. Life is bigger than some arbitrary volatile fluctuation of market pricing. I find the numbers fiddly to get around my head, but I feel the philosophy of investing is just as important or maybe even more important especially when you start off. (I am a philosopher at heart)

Have a sensible saving plan and emergency cash fund to soothe your own nerves. Keep attacking the snowball of investments with further contributions until a time when it can start rolling on its own and you're set! It's allegedly exponential but a few have lived to tell the tale!

Thrugelmir

AddictedSaver wrote: »

All I know is we're going to have to negotiate trade deals and these deals are highly unlikely to be as good as the ones we currently have.

On what assumption? Until Brexit no one cared about trade deals or tariffs etc. Yet they have always been part of daily life. If it concerns you learn about the topic fully. Don't get sucked into the media frenzy. Where lazy journalism rules.

Eco_Miser

Carrieanne wrote: »

Investing is a cuter, fluffier synonym for speculating or gambling. It's little wonder you're pausing at the entrance of the stock market casino. If you must have a punt, spreading the risk would be judicious, and you'd have to be mentally prepared for a rollercoaster ride.

Those activities normally called gambling have a negative expectation for the punter (and a positive expectation for the house).

Those activities normally called investing have a positive expectation for everyone, because ultimately they are about buying a bit of a profitable business (or lending to a profitable business).

Sometimes it doesn't work out because the business doesn't make the profit, but sensible investors have bought bits of thousands of businesses, and the gains from the successful ones outweighs the losses on the unsuccessful ones.