There was once a woman who prayed every day for 20 years that she'd win the lottery. Every single day. Finally, in despair, she said, "God, I've been a true and faithful servant and have lived an exemplary life. Why won't you grant me this one thing?"

"Look," said God, "at least meet me half way – and buy a lottery ticket."

Buy the ticket
Similarly, in order to take advantage of the greatest long-term wealth-building machine available to individual investors, you haveto be in the market. And if the current craziness is keeping you away because you fear another huge drop, you're ignoring the advice of some of history's top investors.

In the latest edition of his book Stocks for the Long Run, Jeremy Siegel charted returns for a hypothetical unlucky investor who happened to invest at the absolute top of six major 20th-century market peaks. After 30 years, this investor actually accumulated four times more wealth in stocks than he would have in bonds, and five times more than in T-bills. For a 20-year period, he doubled the bonds return.

There's more where that came from
Consider John Templeton, founder of Templeton Growth Fund and widely regarded as one of the best investors of his generation. His advice about getting into the market is simple: "The best time to invest is when you have money. This is because history suggests it is not timingwhich matters, it is time."

Our own David and Tom Gardner, who've beaten the market by a tremendous amount in Motley Fool Stock Advisor, also eschew timing the market. "The best time to invest was yesterday," says Tom. "The next best time is today."

So even though the tongue-in-cheek title of this article implies you've missed your bestchance, you can see that you really haven't. If you've got money you won't need for five years or more, just get in the game as soon as you can.

Still need convincing? I looked back 15 years, specifically searching for companies that had been up 25% or more in one year. Surely many investors back then were worried that stocks were too rich and ready for a great fall. Well, a gnarly bear market did start up a few years later, and yes, these stocks fell. And yet despite their tremendous prior one-year gains, and despite two great bear markets, their returns were magnificent for those who held for the long term.

Company

10/9/93-
10/9/94

10/9/94 -
10/9/09

EMC (NYSE: EMC)

27%

647%

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ)

30%

321%

United Health Group (NYSE: UNH)

57%

263%

IBM (NYSE: IBM)

61%

588% Continued...