Should You Buy Index Funds at All-Time Highs?

Markets are at all-time highs. Does that mean it is a terrible time to invest and should you wait instead for the inevitable pullback?

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This video does not represent financial advice, and I am not a financial advisor. When investing, your capital is at risk. Investments can rise and fall and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Sources:

Timestamps:
00:00 - ATH
00:48 - Doubt
02:48 - All the time
03:36 - Crash
04:30 - Cash
04:58 - Swap
07:00 - Performance after a high
07:33 - Be honest
08:54 - Rise & fall & Rise
09:52 - Maniac

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[knockoutlightz]

Watching in my 40s... And only just starting I feel so behind!

[lh]

Time in the market beats timing the market

[ceciliabrown]

I just keep buying whenever I have spare cash no matter what.

[mosleyman]

I remember buying my first Index Fund in April 2022. It dropped in June. I bought more every month and managed to even out my losses, that then turned into gains as the months went by.

Now up 22% over two years.

Consistency is key.

[robbie]

This is such a genuinely brilliant video. I found the info really useful, but even if I disagreed, critically the setup, editing, theme and quotes, it's the best thing i've seen on youtube this year. Thanks for your effort to make great quality videos, it is valued.

[BaileyMxX]

The s+p 500 has been at all time highs for approx 20% of it's life. Not too many people that have invested along the way would regret it, even if there timing was so bad they only ever got in on the highs

[CuriosityVlogging]

Call it mad, but that montage at the end was actually very uplifting.

Thanks for rekindling my desire to believe in humanity and its abilities again.

[EBlanco]

I think it was Branson who once said 'If you can't explain something on the back of an envelope, it's rubbish' and this video encapsulates that perfectly, Damo.

Your ability to take fairly complex information and deliver it in a understandable, sympathetic and well-edited way is reason why after a number of years I still watch (and invest!)

Keep up the great work mate - it's much appreciated.

[nah]

(If you have the funds)
Best thing is to lump sum a large amount into your ISA beginning of each tax year, then DCA rest of the year to mitigate crash risks.

[Alchemist-cdhq]

When I hesitate to invest during an “all time high” market I ask myself the question “would I sell my ETFs during all time high to wait for prices to crash?” The answer is always no, which means I should invest regardless of what the market is doing.

[RichardKelwick]

Wanted to say thank you for demystifying a stocks and shares isa for me. I now have a modest but growing portfolio. Focusing on long term growth on T212 platform with vanguard ETFs. Here’s to the next all time highs 🥂

[kw]

You've set the bar high with this video Damo, you're going to need a longer pole for future content.

[richardattridge]

Yes yes and yes is the answer. Dollar cost averaging every time you get paid is a sensible thing to do.

[DarkoFitCoach]

Yes!

Every year or month or even week things are at an all time high. How else would the market otherwise grow over time: it grows bigger (peak) then previously

Buy buy buy. Hold hold hold

[nathanhouston]

Been watching your videos for a year and a half now, think your content is brilliant. Get started and keep investing for the next 10-20 years is the lesson I’m learning!

[Randomguy-xt]

There’s just something about an 80s throwback that makes you fall in love, brilliant content dude.

[darthveder]

Not only, that excellent, well structured video, but a real eye-opener: very few videos let you sit down and let you to think…

[chrisf]

That RBC research @4:00 isn't wrong, but it's a bit misleading imho. When you adjust for inflation (ie, measure prices in real terms), the SP500 was in drawdown for nearly 20 years between 1970 and 1990. It took two decades to get back to your starting point, even after reinvesting all dividends. 2000-2010 was also brutal. And their chart also doesn't rule out periods of long, drawn-out, sideways movement which aren't uncommon. As equity investors, we earn an excess return because there's a non-zero chance we might never get our money back. Too many people don't understand this.

[cyclingphilosopher]

I don't know if I agree with this analysis. All time highs in the stock market don't mean that much when money creation and central banks balance sheet expansion also are at all time highs. I think it is better to relate stock market indices to money supply or global GDP (which is basically M2 money supply x velocity of M2). If you correct a stock market index for nominal GDP you'll get a sideways trending data series. Then you can work out if the stock market index is in a certain percentile. Currently the MSCI World Index is in its top 17th percentile.

You could also use the CAPE-ratio.

[christines]

I just keep buying regardless of whats happening in the market. I wont start withdrawing any of it for the next 10 years earliest so it happy to ride out the highs and the lows.