As the market declines, some investors have tried to take advantage by "buying dipping sauce".
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"' Should I invest in the stock market now?' A lot of people say this in my comments and they're just waiting and hope I start applauding them."
However, Sethi doesn't think that investing additional investments in the market downturn is always recommended, and many should save that money - that's why.
Buying extra stocks when prices are low seems like a savvy move, but Sisi doesn't see that.
“You’re just timed in the market,” he said. “You’re just buying and not selling, but you’re a market timer, which is not a good move.”
Sisi said we need more context to understand why we do this.
"First of all, we don't know what the market is going to do tomorrow," he said. "It could grow 15%. In this case, it's great. It could go down - being a market timer isn't that good for you. That's why market timing isn't a good move."
Instead, Sethi recommends regular investments of consistent amounts.
“The best move to invest is just to set automatically, and every month, no matter what happens in the market, your money will make money,” he said. “That’s the real investment.”
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Despite the decline in stock prices, Sethi notes that savings aren't actually that good if you look at long-term data.
"Even if the market is down - it's already drastically reduced due to these stupid tariffs - if you look at the overall rankings for the past 15 years, it's not a particularly huge amazing deal," he said. "So I hope you put it in context."
While it's easy to invest when prices are low, paying extra money to save is a better move for many, says Sisi.
"What if you immediately sit an extra $5,000 in your savings account and put it on the market and then drop it three months from now on?" he asked. "The extra money for 30 years from now will be trivial compared to the value in an emergency fund - so don't try to over-optimize. Now, in a savings account, this money is worth a lot."
The general rule of thumb is to keep three to six months of living expenses in a savings account as an emergency fund, but few Americans have that much.
A recent Gobankingrates study found that half of Americans saved less than $500, with 39% savings savings of $250. In a savings account, only 25% of $2,000 or more. That's why saving is usually a smarter choice for most Americans than investing now.
"If you have the largest savings account, go (invest)" says Sisi. "Do what you want to do. But don't be a market timer in general."
More information from Gobankingrates
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This article originally appeared on gobankingrates.com: Ramit Sesi