This is the #1 advice I give young people who ask me about investing:

Try to spend as little time as possible thinking about investing.

If you're in your 20s or early 30s and spending hours trading, stock picking, and obsessing over markets… in my experience, you're probably better off spending that time elsewhere.

The beauty of investing today is that you can buy the entire global stock market in a single ETF, reinvest the dividends, and stay invested through the ups and downs.

Investing still involves risk, including possible loss of principal, but time in the market, not timing the market, is what tends to work.

That means your time is often better spent on:

• Building valuable skills
• Raising your savings rate
• Increasing your earning potential
• Starting a business or advancing your career

Here's the logic:

Even someone who manages to beat the market a bit ends up giving a good chunk of that edge back to taxes and trading costs. Meanwhile, someone who just holds the index (and puts their time into growing their income and savings rate instead) is compounding two things at once: their portfolio, and their contributions to it.

Over a couple of decades, a higher, more consistent savings rate typically outweighs a small edge in returns.

In your early decades, contributions matter more than returns.

A slightly higher return won't change your life.

A higher income and savings rate will.

Your career is your biggest asset in your 20s and 30s. I'd rather see you invest in that, and let a simple, diversified portfolio compound quietly in the background.

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Quantitative Financial Strategies, LLC is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This material is for educational purposes only and is not tax, legal or investment advice. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.