The quote below from The Social Animal by David Brooks reiterates why we do not support market timing, even in the current market environment. Although the last few months have been choppy, involving a near 10% correction in the S&P 500 Index, the overall momentum is positive. Regardless of our outlook, you should never attempt to try to time the stock market as illustrated by this example:
Between 1998 and 2001 the Firsthand Technology Value mutual fund produced an annualized total return of 16 percent. The average individual investor in this fund, however, lost 31.6 percent of his or her money over this time. Why? Because (they) thought they could get in and out of the market at the right moments. They missed the important up days and caught the devastating down ones.
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