At the time of writing this article (March 2023) the financial markets are still reeling from the run on the Silicon Valley Bank and the forced UBS takeover of Credit Suisse. This in combination with the inflation cloud that is still hanging over us and the war in Ukraine may not seem as the ideal conditions for buying shares.

History hashowever shown that the worse the conditions looked for investing in shares the betterthe return. If you had invested during the bear market after the dot com crash in2000 or during the financial crisis of 2008 and had held on to theseinvestments you probably would have had a great return.

The thingis that very few people have the mental strength to invest when it feels like theworld is coming to an end. From my own experience I remember the terrifying timeafter the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 when we didn’t know from one dayto another if the global banking system would survive or not. Or the month ofMarch 2020 when the magnitude of the Covid pandemic started becoming clear tothe world and the stock exchanges were falling by 10% per day. The feeling Ihad during these times was an urge to sell all my shares and run for the hillsinstead of buying more shares. I would say that it would take superhuman mentalstrength not to be affected and stay calm under such circumstances.

It's mucheasier to buy when the economy is in a mood of euphoria in the markets andeverybody is throwing all the money they have at the stock market as if therewas no tomorrow. The problem is that the investments made under theseconditions and when the market is peaking seldom generate a great return. Anypeak will be followed by throughs and it may take many years for the market togo above the peak.

To summarisethe best time to invest is when the atmosphere is that of the world is goingunder tomorrow. It’s during times like this that the markets reach theirbottom. It’s, however, impossible to know when exactly the bottom is hit. Youmay make an investment in a share today and see the price of this share fall by10% the next day. This is stressful for most people to experience.

For mostpeople the best strategy is to invest regularly, e.g. once a month, to spreadthe purchases over a longer period of time and get an average price of throughsand peaks.

I personally believe that the markets will continue to bejittery and may fall even further before it’s clear and it has been publiclyaccepted by the Federal Reserve that the Inflation has peaked, and they willstop raising interest rate. Does this mean that one should nor invest beforethat? No not necessarily but I am personally keeping some powder dry until thishappens.  

So toanswer the question now is a good time to invest. Tomorrow may be better or worse.Nobody knows. Just don’t invest all you funds now.