A Variation on Buying Low and Selling High

Credit: Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that the key to success in the stock market is buying low and selling high. From a strictly value investing strategy standpoint, I tend to agree. From an overall investment strategy standpoint, however, College GameDay’s Lee Corso comes to mind; "Not so fast my friend!"

The reason I’m a little cautious to blindly endorse buying low and selling high is because it can teeter right on the brink of an evil term called market timing. I say evil because market timing is often what gets investors in trouble when they repeatedly or completely buy into and sell out of the stock market. The problem with someone trying to time the market is that they are assuming that they know what direction the market is going in the short term, and, to be honest, I haven’t met many people who do. To make matters worse, if someone is going to buy low and sell high successfully and not leave any possible gains on the table, they will need to successfully time the market twice. Twice because they will need to know when a particular stock has gone as low as it is going to so they can buy it, and again when that same stock has hit its near-term peak so they can sell it. If a market timer is wrong, they can miss out on income and market movement, but they are also punished by incurring unnecessary transaction fees, expenses, and possibly taxes. Please believe me when I tell you that correct market timing is really hard once; it’s darn near impossible twice!

As I alluded to earlier, I really do like the idea of buying low and selling high, but within reason. So instead of making one-way, all-or-nothing bets that can be largely influenced by chance, I would propose you consider two, subtle but profound variations:

1. Stay invested and just periodically rebalance your investments by selling parts of your “winners” and reallocating the proceeds to other areas to bring your portfolio back in line with your long-term investment strategy.
2. Go ahead and try to time your withdrawals and deposits as best you can. In essence, deposit when the market is low and withdraw when the market is high.

Some of you may disagree with my tips, and that’s fine. There are times when there are tactical opportunities when it may make sense to totally enter and exit particular stocks, industries, and asset classes, but I believe that is more of an exception than a rule. I personally find comfort in thinking that I have about 60 – 70 years left in this crazy world, and I expect the stock market will be higher then, than it is now. Something about these historical stock market charts just gives me comfort…

 

A lot of investment managers I’m familiar with make money by buying low and selling high, but they do it by trimming their exposure as their holdings have gone up, not by timing the market. A lot of investors I know have made good financial decisions by sticking with their long-term, prudently diversified investment strategies and periodically rebalancing, not by timing the market.

 

Don’t try to time the market. Try to make your deposits and take your withdrawals strategically.

 

-Tom