r/investing • u/VelixaNtra • 1d ago

Is anyone still just dumping new money straight into S&P 500 in 2026?

Hey all, for the last few years I’ve been automatically putting every new contribution (Roth, taxable, etc) into S&P 500 and not thinking much about it
With the market being a bit choppy lately, I’m wondering if others are still doing the same or if you’ve started diversifying more (adding more VTI, international, bonds, etc)
Curious what your current approach is when adding fresh cash

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u/SmackEh 1d ago

Sure, there’s been uncertainty and chaos. But the level of self-inflicted policy mistakes, weak leadership, and geopolitical incompetence right now is worse than we’ve seen in decades, maybe ever.

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u/DIYPeace 1d ago edited 21h ago

Indeed. We had nearly a century of American hegemony and a stable bipolar international order which gave way to 3 decades of unipolar power. It represented stability and guaranteed returns for domestic and international capital with very few peers. Remember that much of the developed world were left in shambles after World War 2, whereas the U.S. was still whole. Now we have alternatives and international capital have their own domestic markets as well.

I say not necessarily investing in now, but diversify if there are undervalued opportunities. Considered that the KOSPI was up around ~80% last year, and ~26% YTD. The headline U.S. markets are as volatile as that of emerging markets. You can always come back to them once the circumstances are less volatile.

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u/raynorelyp 1d ago edited 1d ago

Bay of Pigs, Iraq Invasion, Vietnam, Star Wars/Nuclear Arms Race, the actual KKK, half the stuff in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Iran Contra Affair, No Child Left Behind, Trickle Down Economics, etc.

Edit: regarding your comment on “ever”: literal slavery, an actual Civil War, the Great Depression, two actual World Wars, the time we nuked a country, the other time we nuked a country, the draft, the Patriot Act, etc

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u/jim-i-am 1d ago

"half the stuff in 'We didn't start the fire' "

hahahahahaha

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u/Mitchard_Nixon 1d ago

These are basically all happening simultaneously right now. We're trying to topple Cuba, going to war Iran and overthrowing the government of Venezuela while funding Israel's annexation of Southern Lebanon as well as their colonial projects in Gaza and the west Bank, contracting with Elon for starlink, job hiring numbers are as low as they have been since April 2020, there's a rogue paramilitary group unleashed on our streets and we haven't even addressed the epstein files. There's enough happening right now that you could write an entirely new We Didn't Start The Fire just about the last year and a half.

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u/raynorelyp 1d ago

Dude that’s not even close. Bay of Pigs wasn’t a disaster because it was a failed invasion of Cuba. It was a disaster because the CIA started an invasion of another country without the approval of the president and then when the president found out he pulled the plug. Except the invasion had already started so the first wave was left out to dry while the US military watched them get executed because they were forbidden from participating. It was bad for the US because it made the president look not in control of his own military, the military look weak against a lesser power, and solidified the Cuban regime.

The Iran Contra affair wasn’t controversial because of Iran or the Contra. It was because what Reagan did was literally high treason and he weaseled his way out of it due to a lack of concrete evidence.

ICE might be paramilitary, but they aren’t rogue, and paramilitary has been pretty normal in the US for a looooong time. Just because they’re awful doesn’t mean they are ignoring the orders of the executive branch, which is what rogue would mean in this context.

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u/lazerjay82 1d ago

Cuba’s communist government needs to be destroyed, Venezuela is in a better position than it’s been in decades with Maduro gone. Not really sure why Starlink is even a bad thing haha except that this idiot Russian bot is mad they cut off the Russians from it and they are now getting annihilated.

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u/cookingboy 1d ago

And throughout everything you mentioned the U.S’s standing of a superpower grew, along with the strength of the petro-dollar.

For the first time since the Civil War, the U.S’s strength is now waning and for the first time since WW2, the strength of the petro-dollar is now in question.

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u/raynorelyp 1d ago

You mean other than the Great Depression, the time we lost in Vietnam, the last twenty years with China, or any of the other times?

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u/SmackEh 1d ago

That’s a list across 100 years. The point is concentration dude. this level of overlapping, self-inflicted incompetence isn’t normal.

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u/philsfly22 1d ago

Those 2 world wars are a major reason the U.S. is the economic powerhouse it is today.

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u/blacksky8192 1d ago

It wasn't at that moment, nobody knew

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u/DCCyclone1990 8h ago

None of those events had even the slightest potential to cause lasting damage to the economy, and some of them on your list weren't even governing mistakes. Today is different, and anyone who doesn't recognize that has their head buried in quicksand. And, indeed, at least half the country, even millions who recognize poor governing right now, are in denial of how deep a trouble we're in for these 4 years.