bball123h

If you're constantly watching the market, reading up, etc., then I understand. If you're not someone who really has time to devote to it, I wouldn't mess around with that. I just constantly contribute right now. And yes, it is nice to buy at the bottom, but what is the bottom? Where is the top? Is this a one day move, or a signal of a longer-term trend? All difficult answers for a passive investor.

I'll second ETFs, while noting that I would, generally speaking, set them and forget them. The fact they are easy to buy and sell can be enticing to try and time the market... Don't do that! I have my ETFs at Vanguard, which didn't have any minimums and allows you to buy/sell their ETFs for free (or so has been my experience). There may be fees if you cross a certain number of transactions, but I haven't been charged any transaction fees yet. I'm guessing Schwab/Fidelity/etc have similar setups.