Buy a good cross section of an economy and you should do well over the long term. The market wil be high in 10 to 20 years, and significantly higher in 30. It's almost impossible for a company with no debt to go bankrupt. the U.S. is about 50% of the global market place, Pay yourself first. It's time in the market, not timing the market. last year I invested 100 grand in the S&P 500/ an allocation fund (with the help of my Financial Advisor Rita Lynn Evans of course) and made 370k, but guess what? I put it back and traded with her again and now I’m rounding up close to a million.