How to Money · Friday, August 14, 2026
A Fidelity study indicates that investing $5,000 annually for 40 years, even with the worst timing, yields significantly more than holding cash. The study shows that best-case timing could result in $5.6 million, worst-case timing $4.3 million, while holding cash over the same period would only yield $350,000.
“If you had the absolute best timing every single year, your portfolio size after about forty years would be five point six million dollars. And you're like, really nice, that's great, that's solid. Right. If you had the worst timing in the world, your portfolio would only be four point three million, and you're thinking, who you know, big gap? Yeah, big gap. More than a million less.”
“If you held onto cash that entire period of time, your portfolio would have been devastated because you would only have three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“So it goes from best timing in the world five point six worst timing in the world, still invested for point three not invested at all, sitting in cash, parked in the bank, hiding the money in your mattress, bearing it out in the field, taking it to like biblical text there three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”