MW 'The S&P 500 seems to be doing particularly well': I'm 66. Is this a good time to invest $100,000 in the stock market?
By Quentin Fottrell
'I own my home and I have no debt'
"I have 50% of my portfolio in the S&P." (Photo subject is a model.)
Dear Quentin,
The S&P 500 seems to be doing particularly well. Is this a good time to park some money in S&P 500 SPX index funds - and let it ride for about five to seven years? For context, I do have other funds to live on. I own my home and I have no debt. I'm a healthy 66-year-old woman. I consulted with my financial adviser at a major brokerage firm, and she said yes.
I need to be cautious and at my age. I couldn't handle a 40% drop because I wouldn't have another 10-20 years to wait. I have 50% of my portfolio in the S&P 500. Thanks for your input. Of course, my adviser is not likely to say no since she wants me to keep my money invested. Any reasonable advice would be greatly appreciated.
Retail Investor
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You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions at qfottrell@marketwatch.com. The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.
At your age, 50% of your total portfolio in stocks would be a moderate stance.
Dear Investor,
You are spoiled for choice.
If yesterday was a good time to invest in the stock market, chances are Thursday will be as good a time as a random date in the future. The longer time you have to invest your $100,000, the more likely you won't be hamstrung by a correction. There are no guarantees, but history tells you that it's a good bet for the optimistic, if not for the faint of heart.
Most people your age (in your mid- to late-60s) are recalibrating and focusing on estate and tax planning and/or distribution rather than accumulation. That means planning Roth conversions in that window between retirement and when you first take Social Security while your income is lower and you are in a more attractive tax bracket.
Your question addresses your own risk tolerance as well as market risk. If a 40% decline would cause you to panic, lose sleep or sell investments at the wrong time, then you probably don't want to invest all of this $100,000. However, the less dependent you are on this money for near-term living expenses, the more risk you can reasonably afford to take.
If you're comfortable with 50% S&P exposure, good for you. You could choose an S&P 500 fund, which tracks the S&P, or a total market fund, which tracks thousands of large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks. They are both good bets historically, although the former has benefited, as you imply, by the surge in tech stocks and the AI boom in recent years.
Avoid having to dip into investments during a down market, especially in the early years of retirement.
What you want to avoid: having to dip into your investments in five to seven years during a down market. If that happened, you would be robbing yourself of future returns. At your age, 50% of your total portfolio in stocks would be a moderate stance (although everybody's definition of moderate or conservative depends on your own risk tolerance).
Wednesday was another marquee day on Wall Street with three of the four major U.S. stock indexes finishing at fresh record highs as traders hoped there was an end in sight to the Iran war. Bond yields and oil prices fell as the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA exited correction territory, and both the S&P and Nasdaq COMP popped.
The financial services firm StoneX described a "euphoria" on Wall Street on Wednesday, with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 trading at new all-time highs and the Dow also rising. But it noted other headwinds, not least a weakness in crude oil triggering a broader selloff in the commodity sector, and mortgage rates at a four-week high.
The latest exuberance in equities did not reflect as broad and generous a market bounce as it might appear at first glance. The S&P's semiconductor and semiconductor-equipment sector accounted for more than 37% of the $8.64 trillion market-cap increase since lows reached in March, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
There are no guarantees
Dollar-cost averaging involves investing a fixed amount of money over a period of time. It's also smart to diversify your investments with both U.S. and international blue-chip stocks. Assuming a historical 7% annual return, after accounting inflation, all of the above options should beat your high-yield savings accounts and CDs.
You're not wrong about the S&P 500, although there are no guarantees that past success predicts future success, as the past few years of the index illustrates. To give you some perspective, it fell 18% in 2022, gained 26% in 2023, rose another 25% in 2024 and increased again by nearly 18% last year, including dividends.
But take heart: Historical data shows that, over the past century, bear markets have accounted for just over 20% of those years. Bear markets happen roughly every three to five years, and there have been around 27 bear markets since 1929. They typically last for approximately 10 months, or so. A bear market is a 20% fall from a recent peak.
Alternatively, invest in a balanced or dividend-growth fund like the Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund VWINX, which will invest 60%-65% of its assets in investment-grade fixed-income securities and the rest in dividend-paying common stocks. It's a popular choice for conservative investors seeking income and moderate returns.
The less reliant you are on the $100,000 for immediate income, the more reason you have to invest it.
Similar options include the T. Rowe Price Retirement Balanced Fund TRRIX , an actively managed fund that invests in a portfolio consisting of around 40% stocks and 60% bonds, and the American Funds Conservative Growth and Income Portfolio INPAX, which has around 49% in U.S. and non-U.S. equities, 45.9% in bonds, plus cash and equivalents.
For a more restful investment experience (and one with lower returns) you can choose between CDs and high-yield savings accounts $(HYSA)$. CDs have set interest rates for a period of time that attract people looking for a safe haven for their cash. High-yield savings accounts are more liquid, so you can take out your money more easily.
Answers to these questions should help answer whether you invest $100,000 at 66. Are you still working? When will you take Social Security or have you done so already? What about your RMDs? What percentage of your total portfolio does this $100,000 make up - 10% or 50% or? The less reliant you are on these funds, the more reason you have to invest.
The truth is we are living in extremely unpredictable times as far as geopolitical events are concerned. President Donald Trump is redrawing America's postwar alliance with our traditional Western allies, and the Iran war is not over yet. If the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for one-fifth of the world's supply of crude oil, is officially reopened?
Expect another nice bounce.
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-Quentin Fottrell
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May 07, 2026 05:15 ET (09:15 GMT)
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