Will there be a stock market crash?

[GreenLunchBox]

I shouldn't read stuff like this on Twitter but there's lots of talk on there of an imminent stock market crash. The market is at record highs and there's rising taxes and inflation to come, so consumers will feel poorer and spend less. It's not a leap to say companies won't be making amazing profits going forward

What do you think?

I understand, investing a lump sum all at once is a bit scary! You could try dividing it into 12 and drip-feeding it into several diversified funds. I've heard about vanguard ready made portfolios, I don't know if they have one that is suited to your requirements though.
You might set up a bank account and a DD to deposit 1/12th of the total into the investments. That way would average out in terms of worrying about buying high?

You could even split it and put a half into something like premium bonds and invest the other half over 12 months, then in a year's time review and decide whether to invest the remainder on a monthly or lump sum basis

[quote Amboseli]@TiddleTaddleTat it's not a huge amount, not 6 figures and I'm around 10 years from retirement but won't really need the money from this pension when I do retire.

I just want to put it somewhere and leave it but feel I'm duplicating what I've already got if I put it in the global equity index.[/quote]
Have you looked at the Vanguard target retirement funds?

@TiddleTaddleTat, I've taken the plunge and invested the whole lump sum in one go. Thanks for your suggestions re drip feeding over 12 months.

I considered that. But then read that it's time in the market not timing the market that counts especially if investing for long term. I also read that in some cases the total gains are made during certain key days in a year and if you miss those days you miss the top gains altogether. So I thought better to be in the market than out so just put it all in.

Hope I did the right thing! I'll leave it for at least 10-15 years so hopefully should be ok. I am going to adjust some of my other investments around to diversify a bit more.

@Sweetchocolatecandy

I hope not as I’ve just started investing

That's a brilliant thing for you then .. because your early purchases will be cheaper ... always in it for the long haul!

Crash = sale for early stages investors

There will probably be a crash. But no-one knows for sure, even less when, how much, how it will affect different markets and if / how they will recover afterwards.

The problem is, all assets are inflated and might (or might not) crash, so if you don't invest on the stock market where do you put your savings? You could keep cash and avoid the risk of an asset value crash, but inflation is high so you lose 5% annually. This is better if asset values crash and worse if they don't, and no-one knows which it will be.

If asset values didn't look so much like a bubble, or inflation was low it would be less risky. But unfortunately ....

Yes at some point...could be now, 5, 10 years

There was a crash in March 2020...Covid. I jumped in and bought. My other investments all recovered and more. My investments from when lockdown started are all 40% up.

There are no guarantees but look at the long term. Mine consistently on average return 8% PA

I think that there are reasons to think that the market is fine.

news.yahoo.com/the-bull-market-will-continue-in-2022-goldman-sachs-115009438.html

Particularly for industries currently held back by the semiconductor shortage.

markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-2022-outlook-nasdaq-chip-shortage-eases-bull-cycle-2021-11

Crash = sale for early stages investors

Word. We bought Amazon and Apple shares in 2009 when the market was in the loo because of the great recession. I think we're up about 1200% on each.

I also think the outlook is better for US equities than UK or European ones. You should be able to buy an S&P 500 tracker. I know that Vanguard offers one in the UK. Most of those companies operate globally (Apple, Amazon, Ford, etc.) so it's not purely a US investment.