Should I Buy XEQT Now?

If you have money sitting in savings and you are wondering whether now is the right time to buy XEQT, here is the short answer: yes — if the money is for 10 or more years from now. The right question is not whether XEQT is up or down this month. It is whether you have a decade to let compounding do its work.

XEQT is a globally diversified, all-equity ETF. It goes up most years and down some years, and nobody — not analysts, not the people posting charts on Reddit, not you or me — can reliably tell you which kind of year comes next. What we can do is look at what happens over time horizons that actually matter, and what waiting costs you.

What $18,000 Becomes

Say you have $18,000 sitting in a savings account right now. Here is what it becomes if you invest it in XEQT and leave it alone, using the 7% planning return — and the cautious 5% case for comparison:

Every year that $18,000 sits in a savings account earning 2–3% instead of invested, it misses roughly $1,260 of growth in the first year alone at 7% — and the gap compounds from there. Waiting does not make the money safer. It makes the eventual outcome smaller.

What If You Buy Right Before a Drop?

This is the fear behind the question, so let us test it against XEQT’s actual history. The worst timing in XEQT’s short life would have been buying at the start of 2022 — right before its worst year. Here is what happened to $18,000 bought on January 1, 2022, using XEQT’s actual yearly returns:

You bought at the worst possible moment, watched your money drop 11% in year one — and four years later you were up about 44%. That is the whole argument in one table: bad timing hurts for a year or two, then the average takes over. The only way timing actually ruins the outcome is if a drop scares you into selling. If you stay invested, the entry point matters far less than the time horizon.

All at Once, or Spread It Out?

If you have the full $18,000 now, you have two ways to put it in: all at once (lump sum) or a bit each month (dollar-cost averaging, or DCA). Our full lump sum vs DCA framework comes down to this:

• If you can tolerate volatility, lump sum is simpler. Your money starts compounding on the full amount immediately.
• If investing it all at once makes you hesitate or panic, DCA improves follow-through. A plan you actually execute beats a better plan you keep delaying.
• The best strategy is the one you can execute consistently.

To put a number on the tradeoff: spreading $18,000 over 12 months at $1,500 a month, with a steady 7% return, leaves you with about $18,600 after a year — versus about $19,300 if you had invested it all on day one. That ~$670 is the price of the smoother ride. For some people it is money well spent, because it is what gets them invested at all. A reasonable middle ground is a 3–6 month DCA plan: pre-schedule the buys, automate them, and do not change the plan based on headlines.

The mistake is not choosing DCA over lump sum. The mistake is choosing neither and waiting for a “better time” that never announces itself.

What If You Don’t Have $18,000 Yet?

Most people asking this question do not have a lump sum at all — they have a paycheque and a monthly amount they can invest. That is the normal way to buy XEQT, and it works the same way: every contribution starts its own compounding clock.

$500 a month at 7% grows to about $260,000 in 20 years — on $120,000 of your own contributions. Run your own numbers in the XEQT calculator with 7% as your annual return, then again at 5% as a stress test. And if you want to see how fast it doubles, the Rule of 72 calculator shows your doubling timeline at any return rate.

When Waiting IS the Right Call

Buying now is the right answer for long-term money. It is the wrong answer in three cases:

• You need the money within five years — a house down payment, tuition, a car. That money should not be in XEQT at all, because a 2022-style drop right when you need it would be a real loss, not a paper one.
• You have high-interest debt — a credit card at 20% costs you more than XEQT can reasonably earn. Clear that first.
• You have no emergency fund — if a surprise expense would force you to sell XEQT at whatever price it happens to be, build the cushion first.

If none of those apply, waiting is just delay dressed up as caution.

How to Buy

The mechanics take about 15 minutes: open a commission-free brokerage account, transfer the money in, and buy XEQT. Our start-here guide walks through the exact steps. Once you are in, set up automatic recurring purchases so the decision makes itself every paycheque — that is how the monthly-contribution math above actually happens.

The Bottom Line

• Should you buy XEQT now? Yes, if the money is for 10+ years away.
• What if it drops right after you buy? History says you recover within a few years — the 2022 buyer was up 44% by the end of 2025.
• Lump sum or DCA? Lump sum if you can stomach it; DCA over 3–6 months if that is what gets you invested. Either beats waiting.
• What if you only have a monthly amount? Start with that. $500 a month at 7% is about $260,000 in 20 years.

The market will give you a reason to wait every single month. It gave the same reasons in 2020, 2022, and every year since — and every one of those “bad times to buy” looks like a good time now.

Important disclaimer: The figures on this page are approximate illustrations based on XEQT’s published history and long-run global equity returns, and are intended for educational purposes only. Your actual returns will differ depending on when you buy, whether you reinvest distributions, and what markets do. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This is not financial advice.

Related Reading

• What Return Should I Assume for XEQT?
• Lump Sum vs DCA for XEQT in Canada: Decision Framework
• XEQT Compound Interest Calculator
• Rule of 72 Calculator: How Fast Will Your Money Double?
• When is a Good Time to Buy XEQT? The Answer Might Surprise You
• How to Buy XEQT in Canada: Start Here

Some articles were generated using artificial intelligence. While we strive for accuracy, AI can occasionally produce errors or outdated information. Please independently verify critical details.