Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTManali Pradhan, CFA, The Motley FoolWed, September 9, 2026 at 6:48 PM GMT+2 4 min readThe U.S. stock market is giving investors multiple reasons to remain cautious. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) closed at 7,718.41 on Sept. 4, just 1% below its record high on Aug. 13. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at around 4.78%. Wall Street now sees roughly 60% probability of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates in this month.Despite these challenges, if I had cash already set aside for long-term investing, I would make one move right now. I would put it into a low-cost S&P 500 index fund instead of waiting for the next market correction.Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »Image source: Getty Images.History favors early investingThe case for investing now does not depend on predicting where stocks will move this month. In a 2023 study, Vanguard compared investing a lump sum immediately with spreading the same investment over three months. Using MSCI World Index data from 1976 through 2022, Vanguard found that the lump-sum strategy outperformed the gradual investing approach 68% of the time over the following year.Waiting for a market correction is also a form of market timing. Vanguard found that from 1976 through 2022, U.S. stocks outperformed cash in 76% of one-year periods. Hence, keeping money in cash while waiting for a better entry point can also mean giving up potential market returns.Investing near record highs has also worked well historically. Dimensional analyzed more than 1,000 monthly closing levels for the S&P 500 index from 1926 through 2022. The research publication found that 30% of those levels were new market highs. Yet the index was higher one year later 81% of the time and five years later 86% of the time.According to Fidelity Investments, the S&P 500 has generated an average total return of 12.7% in the 12 months following an all-time high, compared with 12.6% during other 12-month periods from 1950 to 2024. Hence, waiting simply because stocks are near record highs has historically offered little advantage.Waiting for a correction has a hidden problemThe S&P 500 has fallen at least 10% in 48% of calendar years from 1980 to 2025. Yet waiting for that drop does not guarantee a cheaper entry. For example, if a stock first rises 20% and then falls 10%, it will still trade 8% above the starting level.A Coutts study reinforces this point. Using S&P 500 total returns from 1990 through 2024, investing on the first trading day of each year produced an average 12.1% return, versus 6.6% for waiting for a 10% correction. And only about half of those 35 years produced such a sell-off.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info