Does it matter when I start investing?

You are ready to start investing. What is a good time to begin? 

Investors often worry about whether they are getting in at the wrong time. As a result, they often decide to do nothing. That sounds logical, with rising prices and the crisis in Ukraine in mind, but it is not smart in the long term.

The pressure - and the procrastination to start - caused by wanting to ‘time’ the market is simply not worth it. Moreover, it is difficult to (continue to) make purchases at exactly the right moment year after year. If it succeeds, it is often more luck than wisdom. In the short term, it can have a big impact on your results. But in the long term, those differences fade away. This is because time in the market is more important than timing the market. 

How that works

Suppose you invest €1000,- annually between 2001 and 2022 at the very worst time of each year. Your total investment is then €20,000. Despite that poor timing, you would still have €56,000,- left at the end of 2021. Quite impressive. 

For comparison. If you had not looked at the market and invested the same amount at a random moment - for example, the end of the year - you would have ended up with €61,000,-. 

So over a period of 21 years, your total result deviates (only) €5,000,-. Even though you invested at the market peak year after year. In the long term, time in the market makes the difference. Patience pays off for investors.

Vive

Apart from time in the market, the products you invest in (such as stocks and bonds) and the cost of investing have a major influence on your performance. Vive helps investors with the ideal products and approach. By putting together a unique investment strategy and portfolio for everyone that has an optimal balance between risk and return. This way, you invest spread out, worldwide in sustainable funds with low costs.

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