There are cheap FTSE 100 shares everywhere you look right now. If you’ve £5,000 to invest, or any other sum, I’d seize this moment to build your wealth for the long term.
Buying shares in the wake of a stock market crash may seem like a brave thing to do, but that isn’t the case if you are investing for the long term. If you buy top FTSE 100 companies at today’s low prices, you’re picking up bargains. All you have to do then is sit back and give them time to grow. I’m talking years, decades.
Covid-19 is dominating the headlines today, and rightly so. However, it won’t always be like this. At some point, the pandemic will recede. A vaccine may be found. People will feel brave enough to go out again.
I’d buy FTSE 100 shares today
One day, current troubles will be history. However, if you take this chance to buy a spread of cheap shares, they’ll still be with you. Too many investors focus on the short term, but it’s the long run that matters. We save for retirement over periods of 30 to 40 years. Over such a timescale, short-term volatility isn’t the threat you think it is.
In fact, it’s an opportunity. If you want to get rich and retire early, you have to seize on moments like this one. Buy FTSE 100 shares when they’re down, and wait for their prices to go up again.
We keep banging out this message on the Motley Fool, because it’s an important one. Too many investors run scared of volatile markets and miss a massive buying opportunity.
Others get greedy. They think the market will fall even lower and hold off buying until it does. The problem is, nobody knows what the market will do next. It may rise instead. Those who waited for the FTSE 100 to dip to 4,500 in March will have watched helplessly as it raced past 6,000 instead.
Get rich and retire early on shares
If the FTSE 100 had fallen to 4,500, I bet many would have got even greedier, and waited to buy until the index hit 4,000 or 3,000. The truth is, you’ll never time the absolute bottom of the market. It’ll always be elusive.
The buying opportunity is here today. Despite the rebound, the FTSE 100 is still 20% lower than before coronavirus struck. Invest £5k, £2k, £1k, or whatever you have to hand. If markets fall further, then buy more shares at the lower price.
Alternatively, set up a regular monthly contribution. That way you don’t have to think about what the market is doing at all.
You have to pick your FTSE 100 stocks carefully, as some companies may struggle to rebound from today’s crisis. However, there’ll be others that could really fly.