If your plan is "throw my money into a pit" that is not a good strategy, even if you stick to it. So no, we would not agree.

You ignore Nejat Seyhun's 1994 paper "Stock Market Extremes and Portfolio Performance" [0] which says:

> For the 1963-1993 time frame, the findings were similar. The index gained at an average annual rate of 11.83%, for a cumulative return on $1.00 of $23.30 over 31 years. If the best 90 trading days, or 1.2% of the 7,802 trading days, are set aside, the annual return tumbles to 3.28% and the cumulative gain falls to $1.10.

And from ARWDWS [1]:

> The past history of stock prices cannot be used to predict the future in any meaningful way. Technical strategies are usually amusing, often comforting, but of no real value.

Further:

> Using technical analysis for market timing is especially dangerous. Because there is a long-term uptrend in the stock market, it can be very risky to be in cash. An investor who frequently caries a large cash position to avoid periods of market decline is very likely to be out of the market during some periods where it rallies smartly.

[0] https://www.stayingrich.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Towne...

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...

I'd start with a couple of great books you should be able to get from the library:

   * The Four Pillars of Investing: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portfolio-ebook/dp/B0041842TW    * Are You a Stock or a Bond: https://www.amazon.com/Are-You-Stock-Bond-Financial/dp/0133115291    * A Random Walk Down Wall Street: https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/0393358380 

All of these point to fundamentals about investing:

   * The first step is to identify your risk tolerance and goals. That's way more important that the specific vehicles of investing.    * Unless you are a professional investor, it is highly unlikely you'll beat the professionals (and not likely even then) so broad diversification is a good idea.

Read "A Random Walk Down Wall Street"

https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/13240...

I wish I had read it already at your age :)

> over the past 60 days

is not year over year

> doing ok

You can be doing okay, you can even be beating the S&P 500 in the short term; but if you're beating the S&P 500 over the long term you are beating almost every professional team of fund managers.

https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/13240...

per A Random Walk Down Wall Street (https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...) 99+% of people are best off not picking individual stocks and just investing in index funds.

I liked "A Random Walk Down Wall Street". That was the one that convinced me: https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...

This book taught me the fundamentals of passive investing (https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...) and this website is THE online community for Bogle-style, passive investors (https://www.bogleheads.org/), once you understand the basics.

Related to a lot of discussion comments, I highly recommend "A Random Walk Down Wallstreet" by Burton Malkiel. https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...

Agreed - came to this thread specifically to mention this book. This book is enormously valuable to me, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone (friends, family, colleagues). In fact, the related forum (http://www.bogleheads.org/) is one of the most helpful, welcoming, professional, and well-moderated forums I have come across, and is a great "next step" after reading the book, and developing/executing a plan. I know there are several HN frequenters there as well.

I also recommend accompanying Bogleheads Guide it with A Random Walk Down Wall Street (http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/039333...). It ranks with me as another "life changing" book. Enjoy.

Sounds like a good time to pull out A Random Walk Down Wall Street again, for the uninitiated: http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/039333...

I wonder how well tulip bulbs are doing these days.

revised edition: http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/039333...