It’s Never (Usually) Late to Invest.

The market has taken off and there’s absolutely no point in investing anymore.

Many new investors believe that they’ve somehow missed the boat. This self-limiting belief is what prevents one from starting to invest. They see the short term rise in stocks and conclude that they’ve missed all the great deals.

You haven’t missed the boat. There are still gains to be made.

The market has risen steadily and there’s a good chance it continues to do so in the future.

Since the 2007, the market has had a return of 7.8%.

I purposely started the calculation a year ahead of the 2008 crash to illustrate the market’s resilience. The market bounces back and will continue to do so if history is any indicator. The talking heads may disagree because it brings viewers to them. But stay the course.

Believing it is too late to invest is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Do so at your own peril.

The best time to invest was yesterday. The second best time is today.

The best way to invest is to make it automatic.

Set aside a certain amount of your income. Dave Ramsey recommends 15% of your income after you’ve eliminated personal debt. This is a good starting point. The big point here is to control spending.

Here are some tips to get you started.

Tip #1: Eliminate debt. Control your spending. Create and abide by a budget. Your future self will thank you later.

Tip #2: Build your Emergency Fund. Figure out your monthly expense amount. Multiply that by 3–6. That’s your emergency fund goal. Don’t touch unless it’s an emergency.

Tip #3: Set aside the same amount for your investments. This is called dollar-cost averaging. Invest the same amount at a set frequency.

It’s not too late to invest.

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