Time to buy: any time you can

By Robyn Davis Sekula

I did something a little unusual on Friday. I swam upstream, if you will, from the way other investors were going. I bought shares in a mutual fund in my Roth IRA.

To me, a great thing to do on a down market day is BUY. I had put $5,000 each in Roth IRAs for my husband and myself through Fidelity, but simply had it sitting in cash reserves. I hadn't thought about how to invest it - but asked my financial planner (it happens to be the Family Investment Center - of course!) for a recommendation. They analyzed my portfolio and told me I could stand to go heavier in stock, given my age (upper 30s) so that's what I did. I added to it another $500 each for us for 2010, with the idea being that I'll add to it until I reach the max, $5,000, per person for the year.

In truth, I wasn't trying to time the market. I just noticed that the market was down, and that it might be a good day to buy.

When is a good day to buy? It's any day that you can set aside money for investing. It's ALWAYS a good day to invest in your 401(k), and especially your Roth IRA. It's always a good time to save. When the market goes south just a bit, it's even better.

Think of the market as having stocks/mutual funds on sale.