There are always going to be investors calling out the next 'impending' stock market crash. It's not hard to do. All you need is one statistic to make a convincing argument. For example, in the United States, the NASDAQ-100 (NASDAQ: NDX) is up 36.4% year to date.
That's an unusually large rise for the NASDAQ over just eight months or so. As such, one could reasonably argue that this gain primes this index for a market crash, or at least a correction, to bring it back to its historical average returns.
But here's the thing. You can always find a reason why markets might have a rough time of it over the near term. Even if we do have a stock market crash in 2023, you'll have 'perma-bears' telling us that it's going to get worse before it gets better, right up until the bottom of the crash is firmly in the rearview mirror.
Investing is emotionally taxing for this very reason. There is always someone out there with a negative outlook to match your positive one. You have to continually keep the faith against the onslaught of information and opinions that are out there in the ether.
Why the next stock market crash doesn't matter to me
So here's how I do it. I don't care if there's a stock market crash coming. I know that there eventually will be one, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. But I don't know when it will occur, what will cause it, how long it will last nor which ASX shares it will impact the hardest. Trying to guess these events and plan accordingly almost always ends in tears, in my experience.
What I do know is that the markets go up far more often than they go down. What's more, the ASX has never failed to exceed a previous all-time high. Not once. If you're having trouble believing this, just read this wonderful article from our chief investment officer, Scott Phillips.
By this logic, it makes more sense to invest what you can in ASX shares, as soon as you can. So I'm still buying ASX shares right now. And I will buy as many as I can, when I can.
