Have you ever dreamed of being that one in a million investor who has the talent to perfectly time the markets?
In fact, even among long-term investors who don't attempt to time the markets, being able to call the top of the market is a skill that many think they possess. This misguided confidence is often driving investors to sit on the sidelines and wait it out for better market opportunities.
Giving up too soon at the first sign of inconvenience often leads to missed opportunities among numerous individuals who try to trade on their own retirement. For example, many investors have forfeited immense chances waiting for the Conglomerates stocks to correct, only see the latter achieve new highs, move higher and drive the buyer markets to record levels: Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON), Barloworld Ltd. (BRRAY), China Merchants Holdings International Co. (CMHHY), Bunzl (LON:BNZL) PLC (BZLFY), Crane Company (CR)
Fear and greed often lead investors into behavioral traps since most investors are followers who react, rather than anticipate market moves.
Fruitful market timing requires three key parts: 1) A solid sign to guide you when to get in and out of stocks (or securities, gold or different kinds of investments). 2) The capacity to act on the sign accurately. 3) The control to follow up on it.
Market timing is commonly perceived as the ability to guess the exact market top or bottom and make moves accordingly. However, there is a less common, rather straightforward market timing strategy that has been utilized effectively by insightful financial specialists like Warren Buffet for a considerable length of time.
Rule 1: Never try and time tops and bottoms.
Abandoning the objective to time the tops and bottoms conclusively gives you the flexibility to profit, and extends your chance to benefit from the equity markets over the long-term whether your specific market timing calls are right or wrong.
Rule 2: Don't sell during minor crashes - instead, have the patience to weather the storm, or even better, milk the opportunity to buy low.
Warren Buffett has made his fortune based of this straightforward guideline. He cautions not to sell amid little crashes and to instead endure the temporary hardship and profit by concentrating on the long haul.
There is a key distinction between a small correction and a market crash. No matter what happens in the stock market, chances are that the stocks you own will eventually come back to their pre - crash value; hanging on to your original positions, or opportunistically averaging down, during market downs can be the shrew distraction to take. Warren Buffett takes this thought one step further by often buying outsized positions in value stocks he likes across the board when markets turn, essentially leveraging his bottoms-up analysis and stock picking acumen.
When It Comes to Trading Your Retirement, A Risk Adjusted Trading Strategy Should be Followed
It's just human that many surrender to emotions and attempt and game the framework by timing the market. But consider this: Nobel Laureate William Sharpe found in 1975 that a market timer would have to be accurate 74% of the time to beat a passive portfolio. Even a slight outperformance probably wouldn't be worth the energy - and given that even the experts generally fail at it, market timing shouldn't be your exclusive investing strategy of choice, especially using assets earmarked for your retirement.
Actively trading for alpha, outsized, short - term gains through market timing and other high - risk trading strategies is fine with a small portion of your investable assets, but for your longer - term retirement assets, a "risk -adjusted focused" investment solution generally makes more sense.
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Honeywell International Inc. (HON): Free Stock Analysis Report
Crane Company (CR): Free Stock Analysis Report
Bunzl PLC (BZLFY): Free Stock Analysis Report
China Merchants Holdings International Co. (CMHHY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Barloworld Ltd. (BRRAY): Free Stock Analysis Report
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