Generally the advice is to not try to time the market; set it up to be automatic and forget about it. You're investing for (presumably) 40-60 years, so a 5% move now shouldn't be that big a deal. The bigger thing is to just keep contributing even in down markets (when you might otherwise be reluctant), because by putting in the same amount every month, you buy a larger number of shares when prices are depressed.
However, I always wait until the end of the tax year to contribute (due to laziness) or do it at the beginning of the year (because I have extra cash then).
Comments
Generally the advice is to not try to time the market; set it up to be automatic and forget about it. You're investing for (presumably) 40-60 years, so a 5% move now shouldn't be that big a deal. The bigger thing is to just keep contributing even in down markets (when you might otherwise be reluctant), because by putting in the same amount every month, you buy a larger number of shares when prices are depressed.
However, I always wait until the end of the tax year to contribute (due to laziness) or do it at the beginning of the year (because I have extra cash then).