There’s Never a “Good” Time To Invest — Why You Should Do It Now

Investing is key to becoming financially secure, but you might feel like you can’t start yet. Maybe you’re waiting for a good time to invest — but guess what? There’s no perfect time to invest. 

There are a few major benefits to investing as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the so-called “right time.” If you’re putting off investing until you reach other goals like paying off debt or buying a house, you’re hurting yourself financially. 

This isn’t to make you feel guilty, but to inspire you to start now. Because the longer you put it off, the more earnings you miss out on. 

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Is There a “Good” Time To Invest? 

Maybe you’ve held off on investing because you have debt or you’re changing careers or you just don’t think you can invest enough to be worth it.

There’s always going to be a reason not to invest, but you don’t want to postpone it forever. Maybe you pay off your car and then you decide it’s time to buy a house, so you have to save for a down payment. Or you finally get into your first home and then a child comes along. 

You can’t ignore those financial needs. But investing works most effectively as a long-term strategy, not when trying to time the market for big gains. And waiting until X, Y, or Z happens is a losing game because there’s always another milestone to hit. 

READ MORE: Should You Pay Off Debt or Invest?

The best time to invest is whenever you first start earning money. But if you’re like many of us and didn’t get the ball rolling then, don’t fret. The next best time to invest is now. 

You don’t even need much money to get started — investing apps like Webull and Robinhood let you buy fractional shares for just a few dollars.

Webull even has an offer on right now to earn 20 free fractional shares when you open an account with $500 — or six free fractional shares if you start with just $0.01!

Invest Now Because of Compound Interest

Here’s the biggest reason not to delay investing: compound interest. 

Compound interest means that you earn money on what you’ve initially invested (the principal) and on the interest that the investment has earned. Over time, your growth compounds. That’s why you need to start early and leave your money invested for a long time.

A great way to get a feel for compound interest is by using an investment calculator. Find out the average rate of return on the stock market and plug that into the calculator along with your contributions to see how that money will hypothetically grow. 

Here are a couple of scenarios for comparison.

Let’s say you start with a $1,000 initial investment and add money monthly, assuming an 8% return:

Monthly Investment	Number of Years Invested	Total Contributions	Total Interest Earned	Total Value of Investments
$100	30	$36,000	$122,971	$159,972
$100	25	$30,000	$71,442	$102,443

As you can see, that five-year delay doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a massive difference in results thanks to compounding.

Now let’s look at what a 15-year delay in investing could mean.

In the above example, you contributed $100 monthly. If you kept other factors the same but upped your monthly investment to $250 for 15 years (meaning you started much later), here’s what could happen:

Monthly Investment	Number of Years Invested	Total Contributions	Total Interest Earned	Total Value of Investments
$100	30	$36,000	$122,971	$159,972
$250	15	$45,000	$43,816	$89,816

It’s almost shocking to see the impact waiting to invest can have on your finances. 

In the 15-year example, you’re putting away more overall, but ending up with a fraction of the interest earned by the 30-year investor. 

Starting now means that even if you can’t spare much each month, you’re still better off investing what you can. 

These aren’t guarantees, but the gist is that the longer you leave your money invested, the better off you’ll be.

READ MORE: 15 Essential Financial Tips for Young Adults 

Invest Now Because of Inflation

Investing now safeguards against the effects of inflation later. 

Inflation increases the price of goods and services, and investing makes your money work harder to keep up with and surpass inflation rates. 

Maybe you are saving money, but if you’re not putting it into vehicles that will gain much in value. That’s risky, knowing inflation will make your money worth less in the future. 

Here’s a reminder of how much costs can rise: A gallon of gas would have cost you about $1.08 back in June 1994. But in June 2024, that same gallon of gas cost an average of $3.58. Your buying power simply goes down over time, unless you invest to turbocharge the value of your money.

If you’re struggling to set aside money to invest, it might be helpful to think how much your money could be worth if you invested it instead of spending it. Remember: $100 today could be worth nearly 11 times that amount in 30 years (if invested). 

If debating a purchase, use the investment calculator to see how much that money could be worth if you invested it instead. 

Delayed gratification really can pay off. 

Invest Now To Meet Your Goals

We all have financial and life goals. Maybe you’re hoping to start your own business or adopt a child. Perhaps you’d like to put down roots by buying a home, or tour the country as a nomad in an RV.  

Investing prepares you for the goals you hope to achieve one day. You should save, of course, for things like emergency expenses. But for most of the major milestones in life, you need your money to work harder — and that means investing in assets that will appreciate in value. 

Think of your investments as a long-term vehicle to help you reach your goals. Retirement is an important goal that’s probably far down the line, and you need consistent investing over many years to amass enough money to fund it. 

Other goals work the same way: You can invest in educational savings plans to get your kids through school, invest in a health savings account (HSA) to prepare for medical expenses down the line, and invest for other goals like buying a home or launching a company or leaving an inheritance. 

READ MORE: Long-Term vs. Short-Term Investment Strategies

FAQs

Should I save or invest?

Both saving and investing are important and you should ideally do both. 

Saving is for an emergency fund and expenses you’ll need to cover within a few months or years. 

Investing is essential for your long-term finances, so make investing even $50 a month a habit now to take advantage of compound interest. That way, you’ll have more purchasing power in the future. 

At what age is too late to invest?

It’s never completely too late to invest, but as you get older, you’ll probably need to invest more and do so more conservatively. 

If you’re 55, for example, you’ll likely put more of your investments into safer vehicles like bonds. But at age 35, you have the timeline to take on more risk and can put more money into stocks and other high-growth assets.

TL;DR: Investing Now vs. Later

There’s never a good time to invest — except for right now.

There will always be obstacles standing in the way, whether it’s student loans or children or buying a home (or all of them at once). But investing gets you started building wealth that will benefit you the rest of your life. 

Start small if necessary. Remember that even on a tight budget, investing $50 a month now provides “future you” with a lot more than that. Delayed gratification isn’t easy, but it will be worth it. 

For more advice on building your wealth, check out these episodes of the Erika Taught Me podcast:

• How To Invest for Beginners (Step by Step)
• 7 Baby Steps You NEED To Get to Financial Freedom
• The Missing Piece in 99% of Financial Advice

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