<prompt> Human: My wife and I are 26 and looking at moving about 10K into two seperate ROTH IRAs, 5k each before the tax season comes to a close. With the Dow being at record highs is there any reason not to do this? I plan on doing this again in next year and every year until retirement.If it matters, the ROTHs will serve as a form of emergency fund since contribution withdraws are penalty free.  <response>: You cant time the market. The Dow is at an all time high literally means nothing. Past performance is not indicative of future results. On the other hand, I would not put a very large, if any percentage of my emergency fund in equities. The reason we say youre young you can afford the risk is because if you dont need the money, you dont need to withdraw it so one or two years of a down market has no effect on you. Edit: You can also read this Unfortunately forecasters have a terrible record of predicting downturns. The running joke is that forecasters have predicted 9 of the last 5 recessions! Although a forecaster doesnt have to be perfect, they still have to be right. And that is very rare. 