Of course it is. Had the market taken off in February, it may have been a bad decision. You don't know if a investment decision is good or bad until time passes. And, an investment may look good now, but look terrible in the future...or vice versa.

Here's some words from someone that knows a thing or 2 about investing:
Warren Buffett famously discourages market timing, emphasizing that "time in the market beats market timing" and that focusing on long-term value investing is more effective than trying to predict short-term market fluctuations.

Good luck with your investments!

Why does everybody think people investing in the market are long term investors? Not a long term investor. There are patterns. Why would I ignore an obvious pattern? I didn't predict the fall, I saw the flat performance. That was enough. The drop just makes it a luckier decision.

One more time. I'm not a long term investor. I may not have 5 years to recover losses.

P.S. If the market would have taken off in February, I would have invested and caught the wave. That is the pattern I'm looking for.

Good for you. You should consider a career as a financial advisor.

Then why pose this question to the uneducated masses? PM Ken, PM Steve.... get the answers you're looking for.

He already answered the question. Ken tended to agree, I thought.

Prices go up and down but YOU DONT LOSE unless You SELL!

It all depends on how you're investing.

We don't even know what or how the OP wants to invest. Kinda need to know that to answer his question.

Different strokes for different blokes. I like trading frequently. We all knew that the tariffs would cause confusion and the market does not like confusion. Sold my poor stuff and my big winners and am buying back now.....jk

Short term,,,,,European defense is a no brainer

I understand what you are saying. However, the OP is asking when to put money in the market. If his money is currently earning 5% per year in a fixed investment, or a money market account he is making money. If he had it in the market the last 3 months he would have earned nothing. If he invests this money plus the interest 3 months from now and the market still hasn't recovered to January levels he would be ahead that interest and wouldn't have the paper losses. I could be wrong? What he would have loss by investing in the market in January would be the 5 percent interest for a 6 month period.

What he appears to be timing is the buy in?

Not giving advice. Not telling anybody to do this. Just looking at the logic of the strategy.

What type of 'something else' are you thinking that would have been a wiser choice?[/quote]

I wish I would of bought ground and put storage buildings on it or bought apartments that had three or four apartments in them or bought a condo at the beach.All would of been giving me monthly income now.I`m 62 and I only put money in a retirement at work.I never understood it and still don`t but I trusted the finacial adviser and that was a misstake in my opinion.If your young invest in something you understand.

Angela, don't ask me for advice. I like gold.

If a person's investment window is say ten years plus invest on a consistent regular basis. Trying to time the market is a fools errand for the average investor
Nothing wrong with buying the dips but I'd suggest saving some extra money for that.

Of an interesting note the M1 money supply has gone down about ten percent give or take.

I wish I would of bought ground and put storage buildings on it or bought apartments that had three or four apartments in them or bought a condo at the beach.All would of been giving me monthly income now.I`m 62 and I only put money in a retirement at work.I never understood it and still don`t but I trusted the finacial adviser and that was a misstake in my opinion.If your young invest in something you understand.
[/quote]

Me too.

Dirt, what we don't know is how long or what are the investment goals. What are they buying? Single stocks? Bonds? Mutual funds? Etc etc.

Steven, do you think the money is going back to the government though bonds or where is it moving to create drop?

He has no clue. Prefers low risk safe investment like cd and bonds. That's cool if that's what works for him. My issue is he seems to think his way it the only way and try to take a shot about it. Never seems to understand short term dips have little bearing on long term investing or I achieve many times the return he is getting.

But the low risk is his comfort level.

Yotetrapper30 typically tries to take a shot at me then ends up agreeing, admitting she may not know the subject matter( taxes) Or this pose is a good example. Just she doesn't like my take on female phycology among other things. Yet always is a shining example if exactly what I say. Amd true to form takes a general statement about 52 % of the population personally. Unlike men that can smile and admit yep a lot of men are like that and know that does not mean all or is it directed directly at them. It's not just me I have gotten pm saying she has gotten snappy with others and they had no idea what ticked her off. At least I know I don't care but I know.

Good conditioned jute is a good choice and you can believe me I have absolutely no interest in anything to do with you Yotetrapper30. I find you less than ideal from my limited interactions here.

Which is why I asked Ken instead of you,

But you're still very knowledgeable!! Yes, you like gold, but you also like crypto, which I am interested in... so I follow your posts....

To answer Jbyrds question, if you spent 20000 dollars in gold in january of 2020 the price I found was 1527.70 and with a price now of 2997.80 it would be worth 39245.9 so you would have and increase in 19245.90.

My recommendation is to dump all in as soon as it hits rock bottom. In his first term, Trump was all about the stock market because it was doing good. Now he says it’s going to go up and it’s going to go down. Might be because it’s going down now…idk. Maybe just keep an eye on it. Uncle Jbyrd will let you know when it’s time. He has the crystal ball.