<prompt> Human: Hi PF, I would love this to evolve into a general discussion, but as this is personal finance, let me give you my context quickly: Im 31, earn around 140kyear net working for an international institution, no debts and recently bought a flat in a major European city worth around 300k paid cash, no mortage. I am supporting a child and paying for a dear friends university education, but even so I save at least 65 of income used to be more. Im paid in Dollars, and because I think the Euro will probably depreciate the next years, I want to keep most of the money in Dollars for now. I have around 80k in a employer-retirement account, which I cant touch until I quit this job, at which point it will be paid out as a lumpsum. I work hard and in faraway places, and so never really had the time to set up and think through an investment account, so the money has kept accumulating in cash on a no-interest current. Im sitting on around 150,000 now in addition to the employer retirement account, so I finally opened an investment account. I have a risk-averse, long-term outlook. I currently dont have to pay capital gains tax.Now: It seems to me it is a strange time to enter the market. Stocks are at all-time highs, so while one cannot time the markets, intuitively it seems that my returns to a generic stock investment would probably be undermined by an upcoming correction. I could go bonds, which I feel naturally attracted to as a risk-averse person, but with this whole Fed tapering business, interest rates will probably improve soon and I might get stuck in 2-3 bonds, when suddenly risk-free 4-5 are possible again. Of course, for me anything will be an improvement given that the 150k are sitting on a zero interest account at the moment. Even so, Im scratching my head a bit. I thought perhaps I should start with investing 50k only and leaving 100k in cash for a few more months to wait and see. Those 50k, maybe I put 10k into goldgold ETF at current lower prices, put 30k into relatively safe individual 2-3 interest bonds that expire no later than 2016 then I could re-invest at higher rates, and do long-term stock-picking with the remaining 10k e.g. I thought maybe some GermanJapanese robotics companies, and then see how it goes. However, I guess stock-picking is always a bad idea for a newbie, so perhaps better put the 10k into a generic stock-fund, and instead of individual bonds, maybe I should buy into a bond-fund instead as well? But Im new to funds and dont know where to source reliable information about them or get some comparisons. Finding and reading up about individual companies seems easier. Markets just seem to be in a bit of a twilight zone at the moment, and I wonder what would be the best move to enter.EDIT:Thanks everyone for the many comments. The point is well taken that it makes no sense to try and time the market, esp. if I have a long term horizon. In any case, being all interest free cash is certainly crazy, so I need to make a move no matter, and not waste time regretting opportunities past. I think for psychological reasons I will take the advice to cost-average in over the next 3-6 months. I will start with large non-tech US companies that pay good dividends and have a stable product McDonalds was suggsted; and maybe Ill add one or two pharmaceuticals like Novartis and LLY; also, I will try to find bonds for around 3 that expire in 201516 so that I can re-invest then if yields really do go up. Also, Ill dump a bit into a mutual fund... some semi-conservative Vanguard maybe. I guess I wont become a overnight millionaire that way, but at least I wont be a total idiot anymore giving free money to banks. Thanks again.Assistant: Here a chart of the Dow 30 since 1900: Stocks being at an all time high is a very common occurrence. Deciding not to invest because stocks are at an all time high is usually a very bad idea. Human: Thanks for the perspective. I guess a valuable piece of feedback Im already getting from the comments is that despite having read the dont time mantra, my post apparently still showed a strong, irrational desire to time the market. I guess it is very hard to resist the temptation of trying.So I guess I should get off that approach completely; pick a reliable, low fees stock and bond fund, put the money in and watch for a bit.  <response>: I think its natural to say, well damn, the SP just ran up 25-30 last year, its due for a correction.However, look at the historical SP average priceearnings ratio. You can check that out here: It typically fluctuates between 10-25. Although, its a little high considering 2 years ago it was 14, it isnt out of line with historical norms. Now if the PE ratio was closer to 25-30, Id probably trim some stocks and move to bonds.The key is most companies are growing earnings year over year, so the stock market doesnt have to become overvalued based on historical PE if it keeps going up as long as companies are growing earnings. 