Depends on how soon you are planning to buy. The usual rule of thumb for a big purchase (house, car, etc) is that if you’re planning on it occurring in 3-5 years, put money in a savings account. Otherwise, yeah you should probably invest it.
I agree there is a time and place for it. 5 years is a bit long IMO. The S&P500 is up 250% in the last 5 years, while savings would have netted maybe 10% growth in that time. I imagine some sort of hedge would be appropriate, but have definitely been burnt by taking money out of the market too soon.
Im just shocked that some people think stock is some SV alternate reality. I grew up in a rural community before the internet, and even then, nobody I knew was long term saving for houses or retirement with a savings account.
Yeah agree, I think it's really about personal risk tolerance.
I do agree 5 years is a while, but it's also easy to say that right now based on the last 5 years. It's not terribly difficult to find 5 year periods where returns aren't very good or flat out bad (e.g. starting investing in 2000).
