Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat's commentary for the week of April 10, 2012?

Article Excerpt

Last week in this space, I said that if you want to add value to your investing, one of the least productive things to do is to try to “time” the market. By that, I meant attempting to sell good stocks at what looks to you like a price peak, in hopes of buying them back at lower prices. Investors do sometimes sell an IBM or a BCE or a CP or an Apple at a peak in the market, then buy it back 20% cheaper. But a neat outcome like that is extremely rare. It’s more common for something to go wrong with a market-timing plan. The stock may keep rising and not drop at all—or it may only begin dropping after you’ve bought it back at a higher price. Or, it may drop just 5% or 10%, then quickly turn around and rise 50% or 100%. It may never get back into your buyback range, in other words. Or, the…