Ep 12: How to invest extra cash into the Stock Market

A listener asks the following question: "I’ve luckily survived the pandemic so far and my job has continued to be busy.  Through the last few years, I’ve found that my savings have grown quite nicely but I’ve been hesitant to invest the extra cash into the market.  Now I realize I have about $200,000 in cash that I can invest for the future.  How do I get that invested when the market seems high?  I know that I should do it, but it’s hard to pull the trigger. "The academic research shows that the short answer is to put it all into a low-cost total stock market index fund. But we're not robots, and this person is a N of 1 and that just feels really hard. Therefore I typically recommend for clients to divide the amount into 3 or 4 "chunks" and put a chunk in every 2-3 months. After the first chunk if the market goes up you feel good because you've made money. If the market goes down, you feel good because you have more to invest at lower prices. It's a win-win!My recommendation is to put $50k into the market today. Mark the calendar for 3 months from now and put in another $50k on that date. Do not look at what the market does, or where it is, just do it on that day.Of course, build a massively diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, US and International. Have a plan for your money and stick with the plan.We also discuss:Automation is your friend. Automate your savings and investing.The research about putting it all into the market at onceEven if you invest at market "tops", you still come out ahead in the long term.What to invest in: low-cost index funds.Have a plan!If you have a question, please get in touch!  [email protected]:A wealth of common sense: What if you invest at market peaks?Is the market overpriced?Account Funding PrioritiesFind out more about Mike at https://www.mortonfinancialadvice.com and connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwsmorton/