What does waiting cost?

Put in the cash you are sitting on and how long you would wait before investing it.

Cash on the sidelines

How long you wait

12 mo

Years until you need it

Return before fees

7.0%

What the wait costs

Where you land either way

How often waiting actually won

Checking every starting month in the real data…

The honest version

Waiting is not always wrong. It loses on average because markets go up more months than they go down, so time out of the market usually costs something. In the months where it wins, it wins because the market fell right after you would have bought, and nobody gets to know that in advance.

There are reasons to hold cash that have nothing to do with timing. An emergency fund, a down payment next spring, a roof that needs replacing. None of that is on this page. This page is only about money you have already decided to invest and have not invested yet.