The simplest and least stressful way to invest is to do what is known as dollar cost averaging (DCA). The textbook definition for dollar cost averaging is the following: an investment strategy that aims to reduce the impact of volatility on large purchases of financial assets such as equities.
Basically what dollar cost averaging is - every certain period of time, you put in a set amount of money into an asset. For example, let’s say every 30th day of the month you purchase $200 dollars worth of the stock $SPY, no matter what - doesn’t matter if the stock is up or if the stock is down. This is known as dollar cost averaging.
The benefit of dollar cost averaging is that it significantly reduces the amount of risk that comes with purchasing and owning a stock or other assets. The reason behind this is because over the long term, the value of assets tend to rise. In the near term, stocks are volatile - they tend to move around a lot, up or down. Because of this, it is hard to time the best moment to buy a stock or asset. To buy at the perfect moment, requires time and resources to do so; and even so, you may not always be right. Instead, dollar cost averaging significantly reduces that risk and allows you to not worry so much about the timing - giving you more time back in your life while reducing the amount of worrying.
Because you are buying for a set amount no matter the price of the stock, when the price of the stock or other asset is down, you buy more shares, and when the price of the stock is up, you buy less shares. This infographic below is from JP. Morgan does a good job displaying this:
In the infographic above, you have $6000 to invest. If you invested all at once and the stock price was at $10, you would have bought 600 shares. But because the stock is relatively volatile in the near term, if you had invested $1000 dollars every month for 6 months, after 6 months you would have owned 678 shares at an average stock price of $8.85 - a much better deal then if you were to dump the $6000 initially.
You may be using the dollar cost averaging method without even knowing it if you have a 401k. Every time you allocate money monthly, or by pay-check to a 401k, the money is being dollar cost averaged into an asset - an example of how proven the dollar cost averaging method is given that there are millions and millions of 401k accounts out there. The most common stocks that are dollar cost averaged are stocks that represent the same trend as index funds like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones. Some examples of these stocks are $SPY and $DIA - these types of stocks are usually the least risky. Combine these stocks with dollar cost averaging and you are doing risk management pretty well.
Dollar cost averaging is a simple concept that can be an effective way to mitigate the amount of risk when purchasing a stock and is always quite carefree. The method applies to many different assets, not just stocks. Consistency is key in this when dollar cost averaging and it can definitely pay off in the long term.