I’m 66, have a paid-off house and $100K sitting in cash. Would this be a good time to invest it all in the S&P 500?

Rebecca Holland

Tue, May 19, 2026 at 11:25 AM EDT 10 min read

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Consider Patricia, 66, who is in a good position for her golden years. She’s retired from her full-time job, but still does some consulting work on the side to bring in extra cash. She’s paid off her house, doesn’t have any debts, has plenty of savings and is in good health.

She also has about $100,000 in cash sitting in a high-yield savings account, which she used as an emergency fund for many years. Now, she’s wondering if she should move that money into S&P 500 index funds, which have been surging in the past months.

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The S&P 500 hit an all-time record high of 7,501.39 on May 14 (1) — though it has since retreated (2), fueling some concerns that the party can’t last forever.

At the moment, the daily ups and downs of the stock market don’t worry Patricia too much, as she doesn’t need the money right away. She’s planning to take her Social Security benefit at her full retirement age of 67, and in the meantime, she’s living off her savings and bringing in extra cash through her part-time consulting work.

Patricia’s more concerned about the long term. Her worry about investing her $100,000 is that she doesn’t want to risk losing it all if the market crashes. Is she right to be worried?

What’s happening with the stock market

The S&P 500 has been rallying since the end of March — despite a war with Iran and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that’s led to the largest oil-supply disruption in history, sending oil prices through the roof.

The U.S. stock index initially fell during the first few weeks of the war, which began Feb. 28. But stocks have since rallied, now trading near all-time highs based on optimism about the near-term future.

“The stock market isn’t trying to price what’s happening today,” Joe Seydl, senior markets economist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, told CNBC (3). “The stock market is always trying to price what the world is going to look like six to 12 months from now.”

In spite of the latest proposal from Iran to end the conflict getting a solid “no” from the White House, along with its temporary impact on the markets (4), investors are betting that the Iran conflict will be short-lived.