The idea of making a wrong move with your money and losing what you worked so hard to earn can induce anxiety and fear.
It’s easy to visualize stock market crashes.
This is the information the average beginner investor has about the stock market after consuming media for their entire life.
Thinking the stock market will crash as soon as you invest is like thinking you’ll win the lottery when you buy a ticket.
What that means is that if you invest today and then stocks tumble over the next few weeks, that doesn’t mean you made a bad decision.
Imagine you’re advising someone else what to do with their money, instead of trying to make the decision for yourself.
Another point of view to consider is your future self.
By changing your reference point to today’s prices instead of what prices were in the past, you’ll be able to make a decision more easily.
If you could reasonably expect your investment to double over the next decade, think of it like losing your entire savings if you wait to invest for 10 years.