If you’re thinking about investing for the first time, your instinct may be to delay transferring any surplus cash into the stock market until the economic environment is a little calmer. With inflation at a 40-year high, the cost of living crisis, and volatile financial markets, it may seem like a good idea to hold on to your cash. However, delaying investing may not be the smartest decision for your money.
The timing of when you start investing is less important than how long you invest for, experts say, adding that ideally you should invest for a minimum of five years to help ride out peaks and troughs in stock markets. “The challenge for new investors, particularly amid the current level of market volatility, is avoiding knee-jerk reactions,” says Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at Interactive Investor, an investment platform.
