I kept waiting for "the right time" to invest for 2 years. Finally did the math on what that cost me.

in 2021 i had some money sitting in my savings account. wasn't a huge amount, around $6,000. i kept telling myself i'd invest it when the market corrects a bit. just waiting for a better entry point.

market dipped a little. i thought it would dip more. didn't buy.

market went up. i thought okay it'll correct soon. didn't buy.

this went on for almost 2 full years. i felt smart the whole time. disciplined even. "not chasing highs" i told myself.

finally invested in late 2023. just threw it all in, stopped thinking about it.

recently looked at what would have happened if i'd invested that $6000 in a simple S&P 500 index fund in january 2021 and done absolutely nothing.

i'd be sitting on around $9,200 today.

instead i kept it in savings earning 1.2% interest and felt like a genius about it.

the money i "protected" by waiting cost me roughly $3,000 in missed gains. that's not even counting the inflation that quietly ate into the savings while it sat there doing nothing.

time in the market really does beat timing the market. i knew this. i'd read it a hundred times. still fell for it.

anyone else been through this? feels like the most common trap that everyone knows about and still walks into.