Post #162 by AdrianC on the Index Investing board

When reading posts, there are yellow stars against the names of the most respected Shrewds. The number of points in the star, starting at 3, represents the Shrewd'm-Star rating. This number is the average recommendation that the author received over the last 12 months.

- Manlobbi

Investment Strategies / Index Investing

Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (6)

Prev | Next

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!

No. of Recommendations: 2

One thing that I have reluctantly become convinced of is that for a long-term investor, trying to do timing is futile and counterproductive. Well-defined timing rule-based strategies of course, not handwaving ad-hoc untestable strategies.

All that timing does (a well-defined good strategy, that is) is to reduce the volatility and avoid the large drawdowns. But they also miss out on some of the subsequent gains. Long-term, the return is slightly reduced over buy-and-hold.

That could be important for someone living close to the edge, say pulling 4 or 5% annually. Improving the sequence of returns could be more beneficial than outright long-term performance.

Then there's the sleep-at-night factor.

Timing isn't for me but I do see the utility for some.

Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!

Print the post

Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (6)

Prev | Next

Announcements

Index Investing FAQ

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

A community forum supporting civilized, and highly helpful, self-educating investors that come together for Shrewdness and merry spirits. These message boards closely follow the look and feel of the old message boards at boards.fool.com prior to the boards redirected to discussion.fool.com. Shrewd'm is not affiliated with the comprehensive and excellent investment website, The Motley Fool (TMF), in any way. The Shrewd commmunity here has owed, and continues to owe, gratitude to The Motley Fool for nurturing a culture of jovial irreverence towards Wall St, and that tradition will continue here.