It means you’re out of luck for now, but it’s generally a good thing.
Consider this: If you save and invest $10,000 per year and it grows by an annual average of, say, 8% over 20 years, you’ll end up with about $494,000. If you’d started a year earlier, for a total of 21 years, you’d end up with more than $544,000 — about $50,000 more! The sooner you start, the longer your money will have to grow.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF was recently around $433 per share. If you’re investing in a taxable account, keep records for tax purposes of what you bought, when and at what price. Be sure to have an emergency fund, too; it should be able to support you for at least three, if not six, months. You never know what life will throw at you — such as a job loss, health setback or even a major car repair.The investment I’ve regretted most was made more than 20 years ago, when I bought into Boston Scientific for around $40 per share. I then watched it plummet.