Why waiting can cost you thousands!

📊DEEP DIVE

The “Perfect Time” to Invest? It’s You + Today.

Ever catch yourself thinking, “If only I’d started sooner?” You’re not alone. Let that regret jolt you forward—not freeze you in place! 🚀

Back in February 2018, I held off investing because the market felt rocky. I thought, “Just wait—it might get cheaper.” So I sat on the sidelines.🤦‍♂️

Fast forward to year-end… If I’d invested right then—even as prices tumbled—I would’ve ended 2018 up 5%. But because I waited, I missed the rebound and ended up roughly 8% behind!

Buffett’s tree quote (let’s be real) isn’t about actual trees—it’s about letting a small action (like that first investment) turn massive over time by not missing out on gains!

Here’s what paralyzes so many: “Should I buy now or wait for a dip?” But waiting (almost) always costs more than it saves. The cold, hard numbers:

How “Timing the Market” Stacks Up (Spoiler: It’s Not Even Close)

A 20-year S&P 500 study (2004–2023) spanning the 2008 crash and Covid years (link to the research):

• Luckiest possible investor—always buys at the market’s low—gets an average of 12.64% per year.

• Worst luck imaginable—always buys at the market’s high—still makes an impressive 10.78% per year!

• Chronically cautious investor—sticks to cash, “waiting for the right time”—misses out entirely, watching the gap widen year, after year.

• That’s hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to indecision, not market drops.

Even with the world’s worst timing, simply being in the market gave strong, steady gains—proof you don’t need perfect luck, just consistent action. But numbers only say so much. Sometimes a story drives the point home even better.

So let’s meet four friends whose investing choices make these lessons come alive…

The Tale of Four Investors

Picture this. Four friends—Joey, Ross, Chandler, and Phoebe—promise to start investing together at a New Year’s Eve party in 2005. Fast-forward to the end of 2024, the Royal Bank of Canada actually crunched the numbers on exactly what happened when each took a wildly different investing approach.

Here’s how it played out (with everyone putting in $3,000 a year, every year):

• Chandler was the “Could I BE any better at market timing?” guy—always bought low, sold high, and picked trends no one saw coming. His final haul? $148,959

• Phoebe kept it breezy and consistent—like playing her song “Smelly Cat” at every open mic. Rain or shine, she dropped $3,000 into investments each year. Her reward for being unfazed by all the noise? $137,328

• Joey? Poor guy always invested at the absolute worst time—buying at every peak. (“How you doin’? Oh… not so well financially.”) But even Joey, with his classic bad luck, finished with $128,847

• Meanwhile, Ross was on a break—with investing. In his classic, cautious style, he waited…and waited…for the “right time.” That $3,000-a-year? Sitting in boring, safe cash, earning interest and gathering dust, with dinosaur bones. After nearly 20 years, he wound up with just $71,785

See what happened?? Joey and Phoebe—who had no crystal ball or even terrible luck—both ended with nearly double the wealth of Ross, who sat on the sidelines. The only strategy that almost guarantees you’ll miss out? Doing nothing. And this has held true across all major stock markets worldwide!

For the curious: RBC used a balanced global portfolio (mix of stocks, bonds, and cash), rebalanced monthly from 2005–2024. No fees, taxes, or direct index investing included. (Link to the research)

Bottom line? No one has to be perfect. The fortune goes to the faithful—not the fortune-teller. Just start, stick with it, and let consistency work the real magic.

How To Actually Implement This (Quick Actionable Plan)⚡️

So how do you “plant the tree” right now—without overwhelm or jargon?

Here’s your move:

Open a free account with a trusted broker (like Vanguard, Fidelity, IBKR or your favorite investing app). Search for an “S&P 500 index fund” (think SPY or VOO). Start an automatic monthly investment—even $10 gets you in. That’s it. Set it, forget it, and watch your money grow.💸🌳

But here’s the hard truth: Most people never start. The real risk isn’t starting late—it’s putting it off.

To recap, just three steps. You can’t afford to skip:

• Start this month. Procrastination can cost you thousands. Hit “auto-invest” now—not “someday.”📅

• Go hands-off. Pick a low-cost index fund (like VT), automate, and ignore the headlines. Consistency beats trying to be clever.🤖

• Embrace imperfection. Waiting for the “perfect” time is the only way to lose. Let compounding work while you live your life.🔥

Bottom line: Each month you delay could mean tens of thousands lost. Don’t believe it? Check the math here.