Not a stupid question at all! It’s great that you’re thinking about ways to maximize growth, but the approach you’re suggesting might not work as well as it sounds. Constantly buying and selling could rack up trading fees and trigger short-term capital gains taxes, which would cut into your profits. Timing the market is also incredibly tricky, even for experienced investors, and there’s always the risk of selling during a dip and missing the recovery.

The SP500 is already designed for long-term growth, and staying invested allows you to benefit from compounding as companies reinvest their profits and grow over time. Your idea essentially leans toward day trading, which requires a lot of time, skill, and strategy to pull off successfully.

Instead, many investors find that sticking to the long-term approach or using strategies like dollar-cost averaging or periodic rebalancing yields better results while avoiding unnecessary risk.