Exactly. It feels like we've swung way too far to the side of "put your money into the market and forget about it". We have no way of knowing what the future looks like. The average bear market wipes ~35% or ~4.5 years worth of gains from your portfolio. Avoiding even a bit of that can have a substantial effect on your savings in the long run.
Of course, timing the market isn't easy, and I'm not giving any advice on buying or selling. But the idea that these peaks and valleys don't matter simply isn't true. They matter, a lot.
Yes, and having winning lottery tickets matters, a lot. You might as well advise people to just avoid all of the days where the market goes down since that will make a massive difference to their returns.
Timing the market is just throwing the dice. Go down that path and you’ll be entering the world of gambling with all of the bad psychology that ensues.
Exactly. It feels like we've swung way too far to the side of "put your money into the market and forget about it". We have no way of knowing what the future looks like. The average bear market wipes ~35% or ~4.5 years worth of gains from your portfolio. Avoiding even a bit of that can have a substantial effect on your savings in the long run.
Of course, timing the market isn't easy, and I'm not giving any advice on buying or selling. But the idea that these peaks and valleys don't matter simply isn't true. They matter, a lot.