Let the Party Continue?

The Nasdaq just set a major stock-market milestone - MarketWatch

In 1976, three men founded a small company in California called Apple Computer.

Steve Jobs was 21, Steve Wozniak 25, and the third—slightly older, more cautious—was named Ronald Wayne.

Wayne was the “responsible adult” of the group: he had experience, knew about contracts, and helped draft the company’s first agreements. In return, he received a a 10% stake in Apple.

But just twelve days later, the vertigo of entrepreneurship made him doubt. Jobs and Wozniak were young, risk-taking, and Wayne feared ending up in debt if things went wrong. So he decided sell his share for $800.

It goes without saying that although many startups fail in their ventures, Wayne would today be one of the richest men in the world if he had kept his stake.

Wayne never became a millionaire, and in later interviews he admitted he didn’t entirely regret it… although many suspect that from time to time he must have wondered: “What if I had stayed a little longer?”

That question, deep down, is the same one many investors ask themselves.

Because even though the reasons change—a recession, an alarming headline, an election year, or simply the feeling that “it’s already gone up too much”—the pattern is the same: doubt takes hold of the mind just before history rewards those who were patient.

As financial advisors, we’ve seen it more than once— in 2020 with COVID, or more recently with the tariff noise in early 2025— when markets get shaken and fear seems to take over everything.

In those moments, the temptation to “get out” can be strong, and many end up selling right when they shouldn’t. (See article about long-term investing ).

But if selling in a panic is a mistake, what about the other extreme?

What if we decide to sell when everything is at its peak?

At the end of the day, isn’t it about buying low and selling high?

Investing at all-time highs sounds bad… but history says otherwise

At first glance, investing when the market is at its peak sounds crazy.

After all, paying a price no one has ever paid before seems like a sure recipe for regret.

But if we look at the data, the story is different.

Since 1950, the S&P 500 has closed at all-time highs on about 7% of trading days, and in many cases those peaks marked the beginning of new growth phases.

In 2024 alone, the index recorded 57 record highs, and so far in 2025 it already has more than 28.

According to J.P. Morgan, around a third of those levels become new support points, from which the market never again fell by more than 5%.

In other words: Unless you have a crystal ball (we still haven’t found one), selling at market highs is usually not a good idea.

If you had followed a strategy of selling every time the market hits an “all-time high” and then buying back in later, your returns over the last 100 years would have been pathetically low compared with simply staying invested.

Ok, but… is the market expensive?

Yes, it's at high valuations, but not stretched.

Today the S&P 500 is trading around 23 times projected earnings (Forward P/E ratio), which is above the historical average, though not out of control.

In other words: expensive, but not irrational.

Giants like Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft are trading at lofty levels because the market sees them as the big winners of the new technology wave driven by artificial intelligence.

And unlike the year 2000, when companies were worth fortunes without generating profits, these are indeed showing impressive results.

That’s why, although many compare this moment to the “.com” bubble, we don’t agree: today there are fundamentals behind prices.

Meanwhile, more traditional sectors continue with more reasonable valuations, moderate growth, and less shine, but more stability.

At the end of the day, the market is still betting on the future—only this time it’s doing so on firmer footing.

So… is it worth investing now?

Yes, but not everything is valued the same. (consult your personal situation with your financial advisor)

A good example is Zoom Communications.

We all used it and it changed the way we work, but in 2020 the company came to be worth $160B temporarily surpassing companies like ExxonMobil.

Today Zoom has a market capitalization of ~$25 Bn) and barring another miracle (or global tragedy), it probably won’t return to those levels.

The lesson: even a great company can be a bad investment if the price doesn’t make sense.

That’s why, even if the overall market looks “expensive,” there are still sectors, regions, and assets with reasonable valuations.

And that’s where the old advice that never goes out of style comes in: diversify.

Investing isn’t a matter of luck, but of method

The key isn’t to guess the best moment, but to have a process.

The dollar-cost averaging, for example, involves investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals, regardless of whether the market goes up or down.

In the long run, this strategy reduces the risk of entering at exactly the worst time and turns volatility into an ally.

Investing when everything is going up is not the same as investing because everything is going up.

The first is strategy. The second is impulse.

And in markets, that difference usually comes at a high price.

Timeless best practices

1. Invest gradually

Dollar-cost averaging is advisable. Investing little by little allows you to take advantage of both rises and falls, and build your position without relying on a single specific moment. It also lets you speed up or slow down your investing pace when markets are at extreme levels.

2. Be selective

In bull markets, everything seems like an opportunity. But not everything that glitters deserves a place in your portfolio.

Focus on companies with clear fundamentals, stable revenue, and sustainable business models.

3. Diversify

Combining stocks, bonds, and alternative investments remains the most effective way to balance risk and stability.

When stocks fall, bonds often provide a safe haven. That mix, along with alternative investments, is key to staying on course.

4. Thinking long term

Five or ten years out, the exact entry point matters much less than it seems.

What really matters is staying invested and letting compound interest do its work.

In investing, patience often pays off in the long run

No one can predict the next peak or the next correction. Staying invested methodically, diversifying wisely, and having a clear plan usually matters more than any attempt to guess the perfect timing.

That’s where the real value of advice comes in: investing well isn’t about knowing exactly when to enter or exit, but about having the conviction to stay the course even when you think the odds aren’t in your favor.

Article written by Michael Marciano and edited by Roberto Vainrub and Santiago Lossada

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