The most important lesson I learned freshman year in my college finance class was that $1 today is worth more than $1 tomorrow. This is because I can take todays dollar and invest it, allowing it to grow into a larger amount of money.

But there is also a second part to the reason why: inflation. A dollar today buys more than a dollar tomorrow thanks to the eroding effect of inflation. While many people dislike inflation, it is actually a good thing, when controlled. I go into all of this over at my other blog,

Money Smart Guides (that link will take you to the post in question).

Because of the power of compound interest and time, you need to start investing today. Every day you put off investing, you lose a day of your money growing for you. I know, the market is at an all-time high right now, so you want to wait. Aside from the reason I gave you above, here is why this thinking is flawed:

First, you will keep putting off investing indefinitely. Here is how your “logic” works: “The market is high right now, I’ll wait for a pullback”. The pullback happens and you say, “I will wait until the market starts rising again. After all, I do not want to invest in a market that is going down”. The market rebounds and you say, “The market is high again, I will invest when it drops”. The cycle continues in some cases forever. In other cases, you give up and invest at the top and then the market drops, you get scared and sell.

The key to being a successful investor is to invest early and often and then forget about what is happening on a day to day basis in the market. The sooner you invest, the sooner your money can grow for you. The more often you invest, the more likely you will buy at both highs and lows. This is a good thing because you will buy fewer shares when prices are high and more shares when prices are low. When the market rebounds, you will earn a nice return.

As long as you invest early and often, the only thing left to do is to ignore the market. Think about it, does what happens in the stock market today really matter in 30 years when I need my money? Did Johnny Football or Stacy Cheerleader not going out with you in high school really have a significant impact on your everyday life today? Chances are not really. The point is, when we get bogged down in the details of the stock market on a daily basis, we lose sight of our end goal – to have a nice sized nest egg for retirement. The more you can ignore the stock market on daily basis, the better off you will be.

Where To Start Investing

So I have convinced you to start investing today. Great, but where do you invest? This is a great question. For most people, a discount broker will be best. There are a few that I really like, in particular Schwab and Scottrade. You can learn all about these (among others) in my detailed online broker comparison chart. It will help you pick the best discount broker for you.

Of course, there are others out there that do not want to go through the work (albeit little) of picking a broker and picking mutual funds, etc. For these people there is Betterment. It’s an investment firm that has investments already chosen. You just decide on your goal and an amount to invest each month and you are done. The entire process from account setup to funding takes 10 minutes at most. I use them and love them. Here is a review if you want to learn more.

Final Thoughts

Overall, you have to start investing today. Not tomorrow or next week, but today. Life is hectic. If you put it off for a day, chances are the day will turn into a week, then a month, then 10 years. Next thing you know, you are knocking on the retirement doorstep without any savings. Do not wake up to this all too common reality. Start investing today. For every day you wait, you are robbing your future self.