Published by Anthony Di Pizio

When investing, focus on the long-term!

You're about to read the story of a fictional investor who invested only at the worst times (right before a major crash) for his entire working career. Let's call him Jim. The purpose of Jim's story is to highlight the importance of focusing on the long term when it comes to investing. 

Jim began his working career in 1977 at 20 years old and he had a promising plan in mind. He wanted to make one lump sum investment of $100,000 into the stock market every 10 years (give or take) until he eventually retired. He wanted broad market exposure so he planned to use a low cost S&P500 index fund which closely tracks the US S&P500. Jim has a special, unwanted talent though; he's a magnet for market tops. 

Investing in 1987

In 1987, Jim was really excited as he met his goals and managed to save his first  $100,000 to put towards an investment in the stock market. In August of that year, he made...