When is really the best time to start investing?
THE FEAR
In investing, there’s one crucial factor that affects both existing investors and those who want to begin.
For those already investing, you’ve surely heard the term FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out. And surely, at least once in your investing life, you’ve felt that fear of missing a great opportunity because everyone around you was talking about it. Well, that’s FOMO.
On the other hand, fear is also the main reason most people delay investing. And that’s perfectly natural — the fear of loss, of failure, of “making a mistake.”
But this fear rarely comes from our own experience. Usually, it’s adopted from the news, social media, or the “opinions” of people around us shouting every week “the crash is coming!” or “the bubble will burst!”
Think about it: there are people ready to invest — they’ve read everything — yet fear still holds them back.
And what’s the cost of that? +270% total market growth over the last decade.
BTC? 85,000%
Gold? 314%
And the most dangerous part? The longer we stay out, the more inflation silently erodes our money’s value. In short — we lose quietly.
You might say, “Yeah, but what about the crashes, man?” The answer: WE DON’T CARE.
Crashes have always existed and always will. If we take a historical look at markets over the last 150 years, we’ll see a pattern filled with events that caused market declines.
We had (a) the 1929 Crash and the Great Depression, (b) the dot-com bubble in 2000, (c) the 2008 global financial crisis, (d) the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and (e) the 2022 bear market.
And yet, each time, the market recovered. That’s why anyone who stayed invested long-term came out ahead.
SHORT-TERM REACTIONS
The market drops we often see aren’t based on fundamentals. “So what are they based on?” you might ask. On investor psychology, which is easily influenced by whatever news is circulating. And lately, there’s been no shortage of headlines — AI announcements, geopolitical tensions, Trump doing his thing, and so on.
In the short term, the market is an emotional rollercoaster. But in the long term, it behaves like a scale — weighing real results.
And that’s where the advantage of the patient investor comes in. The further we distance ourselves from daily noise, the more predictable the market becomes.
THE PROFITS
And what are those real results? Corporate profits.
Let me explain. Markets rise because companies create more value over time. That growing value is reflected in earnings per share (EPS).
If we look at EPS historically, we see a clear upward trend. In 2025, the expected increase in earnings is 13.2%, surpassing the historical average of 10%.
And that’s the strongest data point we have: when companies earn more, sooner or later, their stock prices follow.
INVESTING
So you might say, “Okay, I’ll start investing today — but what if everything crashes tomorrow?”
NOTHING HAPPENS. Because your plan and your strategy must be long-term — 10, 20, even 30 years.
And the answer to that big question — when is the best time to start? — is simple and crystal clear: NOW.
Not tomorrow. Not when the market drops. Not when you “feel ready.”
And you know why? Because the market never stops. Time keeps moving. And while we sit on the sidelines waiting for the “perfect” moment, our money loses value — and the cost of waiting keeps growing.
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I agree that one of the first things an investor needs to understand is that time is an investor's best ally. A thoughtful investment, that is, one that isn't made haphazardly, always yields a profit over time. A clear and convincing text that uses logic and data to dismantle one of the most common excuses for not investing. Excellent post.
Exactly time is our ally and over time history shows us that we can make a lot of money