The Stock Market Is Once Again Making New Highs. Here's the Lesson for Investors in 2024.

"There are substantial rewards for adopting a regular routine of investing and following it no matter what, and additional rewards for buying more shares when most investors are scared into selling."-Peter Lynch

The streak is over. For the first time in more than 24 months, the S&P 500 has closed at a record high.

Yet, while much of Wall Street is in party mode, some investors may still feel down in the dumps -- and with cause. That's because while the formal bear market has ended, many portfolios took a serious hit over the last two years. Indeed, some investors might feel that a new all-time high is no time to buy stocks -- it's time to sell them. So, what's an investor to do?

My advice to investors: Ignore the noise. Instead, let's explore what's happened in the market, how some stocks remain in bear market territory, and what investors should be focused on in 2024.

Time to get started.

What should investors do about it in 2024?

In short, follow Peter Lynch's advice: Keep on investing.

Here's one trick that could help: Say you're bullish on Tesla but discouraged that your shares have declined in value since you bought them at their peak in 2021. By thinking of the current price as a discount or a sale, you may find it easier to double down on your investment. Every share bought today will cost roughly half of what it did in 2021. Better still, buying shares at today's prices will lower your cost basis -- in effect, your purchase price. By dollar-cost averaging, you can set a schedule to accumulate shares over the course of several weeks, months, or years.

That, in a nutshell, is following Lynch's advice about "adopting a regular routine of investing and following it no matter what."

Now, perhaps you're no longer bullish on Tesla or PayPal -- and maybe you never were. In that case, take another piece of advice from Lynch and find a company whose products you like and enjoy, do some research, and if you like what you see, start investing there. Because there's almost never a wrong time to invest in a great company.

Furthermore, as study after study has shown, trying to time the market doesn't work. What does work is regular investing -- rain or shine, bull market or bear market.

So, to sum up, 2024 has seen the birth of a new bull market -- which is something to celebrate. But investors shouldn't let that change their overall investment strategy. Rather, it's time to stick to a "regular routine of investing and [follow] it no matter what." Because that's a winning strategy in any market.

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Jake Lerch has positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short March 2024 $67.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Stock Market Is Once Again Making New Highs. Here's the Lesson for Investors in 2024. was originally published by The Motley Fool