My wife and I always max the 401k and ROTH Conversions.
Investment properties mortgage is purposely not paid off to take advantage of taxes and make more money in the market with that ~4% loan chunk cost.
I try to buy on red days. Since it's impossible to time the market....even when you put money to work at the top before a fall, no big deal, as it eventually goes up again above purchase price in a few months (happened to me with my fresh money IRA investment into biotech this year, after 1.5 months, I'm above water). Count yourself fortunate and lucky to stumble into a bottom to a rise. Don't expect it though.
They key is to be IN the market and not letting that money sit idle in a savings account leaking value with ~2% inflation. Banks are investing your "dead" savings money in the market so why shouldn't you use that capital to invest yourself? It's a no-brainer.
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Another bit of advice, is not to trade in and out of positions as you'll likely lose versus just staying put. A survey showed that 1/3 of investors LOST money the last 2 years. LOL! I don't even know how that's even possible if one stayed put in a dummy S&P500 index fund. Shows you that noob traders shouldn't play with fire and just respect the market volatility.....away from the Trade Key.
Other advice about the 401k. See if your plan allows to get your money out of their dogshit menu of funds and into a trading account. Most plans have this ability nowadays, but you have to apply for it within the plan. Case in point, Fidelity 401k allows to have that cash moved out of the company 401k funds and into a cash account or automatically into free Fidelity Funds like the monstrously performing FBIOX or free ETFs that Fidelity offers. Performance and fund costs should easily trounce most any fund within a company plan.