Author Topic: Am I timing the market?  (Read 1907 times)

Catica

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Am I timing the market?
« on: July 02, 2019, 06:39:46 AM »
I need to contribute $3000 to my IRA to hit the max and I've been holding off because VTSAX was $68.36 at the beginning of June and now it's $73.57.  Can someone tell that what I'm doing is stupid, cause I think I'm timing the market and I know that's not a good idea.

nereo

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2019, 07:07:21 AM »
You are timing the market.  Most of the time that's a strategy that winds up biting you in the ass. Pull the trigger and invest.  Time in the market is more important than trying to time the market (and other such sayings).

Hope that nudges you off the fence.

ETA:  Wouldn't it have been nice to have bought in at $68.26 instead of waiting?  Too late....  You are also missing dividends each quarter...
« Last Edit: July 02, 2019, 07:18:55 AM by nereo »

SwitchActiveDWG

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2019, 07:13:16 AM »
I think you know exactly what you're doing.

Buffaloski Boris

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2019, 07:24:00 AM »
A suggestion that might work: Dollar Cost Average it. Which is just a fancy way of saying you schedule your contributing, say $300 a week. There should be plenty of time to contribute to an IRA for this year and Vanguard does allow you to set up an automatic investment schedule with start and end dates. While some here might argue DCA is suboptimal, it does get the job done.


Catica

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2019, 05:00:04 AM »
Thanks all.  I'm going invest today.

h82goslw

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2019, 05:23:43 PM »
Glad to see that you bought today.  It ended up being a difference of 3 shares of VTSAX since you waited.  Not big in the grand scheme of things....but take this  as a lesson learned and next time just buy when the funds are available.  Timing the market very rarely works.

frugledoc

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2019, 05:33:56 AM »
Glad to see that you bought today.  It ended up being a difference of 3 shares of VTSAX since you waited.  Not big in the grand scheme of things....but take this  as a lesson learned and next time just buy when the funds are available.  Timing the market very rarely works.

I just sold a holding of Lifestrategy fund to move it into all world etf today.

It was 90k and the siren call of timing tried to bate me, but I just reinvested it now.  It’s in a retirement account that can’t be touched for 18 years yet.

Must_ache

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2019, 12:29:10 PM »
A suggestion that might work: Dollar Cost Average it. Which is just a fancy way of saying you schedule your contributing, say $300 a week. There should be plenty of time to contribute to an IRA for this year and Vanguard does allow you to set up an automatic investment schedule with start and end dates. While some here might argue DCA is suboptimal, it does get the job done.

DCA is just a variety of market timing

SwitchActiveDWG

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Re: Am I timing the market?
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2019, 06:58:45 AM »
A suggestion that might work: Dollar Cost Average it. Which is just a fancy way of saying you schedule your contributing, say $300 a week. There should be plenty of time to contribute to an IRA for this year and Vanguard does allow you to set up an automatic investment schedule with start and end dates. While some here might argue DCA is suboptimal, it does get the job done.

DCA is just a variety of market timing

I would disagree with this statement. DCA is just purchasing a specific amount of investment periodically independent of asset price.