Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of September 20, 2011?

Article Excerpt

Last week I wrote about the risk of trying to sell stocks at an uncertain time like the present, in hopes of buying them back at a lower price. If that’s something you are tempted to do, here are a couple of time-honoured concepts to keep in mind. The four-year rule. I’ve written about this at length many times over the years, because it is the single most helpful rule I’ve ever come across. Here’s the short version: an attractive buying opportunity appears in North American stocks about every four years, usually within a few months of the U.S. mid-term election (the last one of these took place in November 2010). Investors who buy around this time tend to make substantial profits over the next couple of years. To put it another way, most North American market gains occur in the second half of the four-year U.S. presidential term. Big gains can occur at other times, of course, but this is…