Is Now Really the Time to Be Buying Stocks?
The recent declines in many indexes and popular stocks have led some investors to wonder if now is the time to be buying stocks. The short answer is yes.
One thing that's inevitable in investing is volatility; it's a tale as old as investing itself. While daily fluctuations in market prices are not good indicators of trends, investors use periods of market movements to categorize a market as either a bull market or a bear market. Bull markets are used to describe rising prices, and bear markets are used to describe declining prices.
In January 2022, the S&P 500 had its worst month since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, declining by 5%. While this alone isn't enough to declare a bear market (several institutions use a 20% threshold), many believe we are approaching bear market territory after a long bull market. If you're a long-term investor, it's best to realize bear markets are inevitable, and that the short-term movements of stock prices shouldn't affect your outlook on investing in the long run. Bear markets don't last forever.
Source Fool.com
