Timing the Market

Timing the market is the costliest investing mistake, proven by data: missing the S&P 500’s 10 best days from 2003–2023 slashes annualized returns from 9.8% to 5.6%, and missing 30 best days drops it to just 0.8%. Renowned investor Peter Lynch noted that more money is lost preparing for corrections than in the corrections themselves. The best days often cluster within two weeks of the worst, meaning sellers during crashes consistently miss recoveries. This outperforms #2’s delay penalty, as dollar-cost averaging into index funds beats market timing 94% of the time over 20-year periods. Committing to steady investing avoids the emotional trap that erodes wealth.