Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6512
    -0.0023 (-0.36%)
     
  • OIL

    82.63
    +1.28 (+1.57%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,231.50
    +18.80 (+0.85%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    108,799.34
    +942.60 (+0.87%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • AUD/EUR

    0.6019
    -0.0012 (-0.20%)
     
  • AUD/NZD

    1.0892
    +0.0012 (+0.11%)
     
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    18,280.84
    +70.30 (+0.39%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.66
    +20.68 (+0.26%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    39,760.08
    +477.75 (+1.22%)
     
  • DAX

    18,481.10
    +4.01 (+0.02%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     

Timing the Market, Is it Possible? - December 11, 2019

There is no better feeling for an investor than trusting your gut or doing your research and timing the markets correctly, right?

Even among those who don't aspire to be the perfect market timer, many think they can call a top and act accordingly. It's at these times when investors choose to sit on the sidelines and wait for a 'perceived' better opportunity to invest in the market.

Individual investors who focus their efforts on timing the market typically miss chances. For example, many investors have overlooked chances to benefit from buying the Consumer Staples stocks at the first opportunity, by attempting to buy them during a pullback only to see these stocks accomplish new unsurpassed highs: Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD), Adecoagro S.A. (AGRO), Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), New Age Beverage Corporation (NBEV), Inter Parfums, Inc. (IPAR)

Investment emotional triggers (fear and greed) can lead to costly mental mistakes by investors who typically fall into the trap of being a market follower instead of a market leader.

ADVERTISEMENT

Accomplished market timing requires three key components: 1) A dependable sign of when to get in and out of stocks. 2) The capacity to act upon signals quickly and accurately. 3) Have the stomach to act on market signals, no matter how counterintuitive the move may be.

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 small crashes - ride the storm out, or better yet, take advantage of the opportunity.

Warren Buffett has made an incredible piece of his fortune because of this basic standard. 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 noteworthy distinction between a complete market meltdown and a common 10% market correction. If the companies you own are established and successful, they are likely to return to their pre - crash price before long, making holding on the wisest decision. 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. Indeed, even a slight outperformance most likely wouldn't justify the efforts - and given that even the specialists for the most part come up short at it, market timing shouldn't be your exclusive methodology for investing, particularly when it comes to building your retirement nest egg.

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.

If you'd like to learn how to 'super-charge' your retirement assets, get our free report:

Will You Retire as a Multi-Millionaire? 7 Things You Can Do Now.


This report can help you maximize your retirement nest-egg without the high risk of attempting to successfully time the markets. Click here for free report>>
 
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Adecoagro S.A. (AGRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Inter Parfums, Inc. (IPAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
New Age Beverage Corporation (NBEV) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.