--- title: "What would happen if you bought at the Nasdaq's highest point every year for 20 consecutive years?" type: "Topics" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/42221318.md" description: "When many people buy index funds, the most agonizing question is: Is now the peak? Should I wait for a pullback? What if I buy at the top and get stuck? This concern is very normal. After all, no one wants to buy at the peak. So let's think with a worst-case scenario mindset: If someone has unbelievably bad luck, buying at the Nasdaq's annual peak every year for 20 consecutive years, what would be the result? Assuming an annual investment of $20,000, continuously invested for 20 years. The total principal is $400,000. The buying rule is extremely "unlucky": not buying at the annual low, not buying at the annual average price, nor using monthly dollar-cost averaging to smooth out costs..." datetime: "2026-06-26T02:20:47.000Z" locales: - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/42221318.md) - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/42221318.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/42221318.md) author: "[爱妻的交易员](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/17289850.md)" --- # What would happen if you bought at the Nasdaq's highest point every year for 20 consecutive years? When many people buy index funds, the most agonizing question is: Is it a high point now? Should I wait for a pullback? What if I buy at the peak and get stuck holding the bag? This worry is normal. After all, no one wants to buy at the top of the mountain. So let's think with a worst-case scenario mindset: **If someone has unbelievably bad luck, buying at the Nasdaq's annual high point every year for 20 consecutive years, what would the result be?** Assume an annual investment of $20,000, continuously invested for 20 years. The total principal is $400,000. The buying rules are extremely "unlucky": Not buying at the annual low, Not buying at the annual average price, Not dollar-cost averaging monthly to smooth out costs, But precisely buying at the year's highest point every single year. Then holding without selling. Based on the Nasdaq's general performance over the past 20 years, even with such bad luck, the $400,000 principal could potentially grow to around $2 million. In other words: Even if you buy at the high point every year, as long as you're buying a high-quality index that trends upward long-term, and you keep buying for 20 years, the result can still be very good. This illustrates one point: **In long-term investing, what truly matters isn't whether you can buy at the lowest point, but whether you can stay in the market long-term.** Many people always want to wait for a perfect entry point. As a result, while waiting, the market goes up; When it falls, they think it will keep falling and don't dare to buy; When it truly bottoms out, they think the world is ending; By the time they confirm everything is fine again, the price has already gone back up. In the end, they realize they didn't lose by buying high, but by being absent long-term. Especially for ordinary people, if you have a stable monthly cash flow, the most suitable approach isn't predicting the market, but consistently using a portion of your salary surplus to buy quality assets. For example, QQQM which tracks the Nasdaq 100. When your salary arrives, set aside enough for living expenses and emergency funds, and buy according to plan with the rest. Buy at highs, buy at lows. Don't stop when it's rising, don't panic when it's falling. In the long run, what truly creates the gap isn't a single entry point, but whether you've consistently executed the plan for 10, 20 years. Of course, this doesn't mean you should go all-in without thinking. QQQ can also crash. The Nasdaq has also experienced very dramatic drawdowns in history. If you go all-in heavily at a high point, the short-term experience will be very painful. So a more reasonable approach for ordinary people is to use cash flow to buy consistently, not to bet on direction all at once. The core principle is simple: **Don't use leverage, don't borrow money to invest, keep enough family emergency funds, don't invest money you'll need in the short term.** Then, keep buying, hold long-term. During big drops, not only should you not sell at a loss, but you should thank the market for giving you a cheaper price. Often, we think investing is very complicated. But the things that are truly effective are often not complicated. Buy quality assets. Invest consistently. Hold long-term. Don't easily interrupt compound interest. These few sentences seem simple, but very few people actually do them. What's truly important is: Can you keep buying? Can you hold on? Can you avoid being scared off during big drops? Can you let compound interest keep rolling? If the answer is yes, then many short-term highs, placed in a 20-year timeframe, might ultimately just be a small hill at the foot of the mountain. In long-term investing, what's scary isn't buying at a high point. What's scary is you're always waiting for a low point. Even scarier is, after finally buying in, you personally interrupt the compound interest just when you should be persevering. ### Related Stocks - [.IXIC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/.IXIC.US.md) - [SQQQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SQQQ.US.md) - [PSQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/PSQ.US.md) - [QQQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/QQQ.US.md) - [QQQE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/QQQE.US.md) - [TQQQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TQQQ.US.md) - [513110.CN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/513110.CN.md) - [QQQM.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/QQQM.US.md)