Forget what these talking heads on TV and the internet are saying - BUY STOCKS, SELL STOCKS, BUY GOLD, THE SKY IS FALLING, GET OUT NOW, blah, blah, blah ....
***To win over the long-term as in investor = get a CFP professional, use proper asset allocation, manager selection, stay invested during downturns, stay disciplined, and use technology.
The average investor over the last 20 years earned 2.1% annually. S&P 500=8.2%. REITS=10.9%. Why so badly for the average investor? Because they naturally do the wrong thing at the wrong time. They buy high & sell out low. They want to cut their own hair and it usually ends up a mess. Having a good CFP can avoid all this and provide much higher long-term, risk adjusted returns for investors.
That’s what I did back in 2007. I got started working with a CFP firm. I have a single CFP who I’ve always worked with. I have his direct number and email and can contact him any time with questions and concerns. We have a regular meeting every 6 months and I get monthly emails and updates on the health of the market and my accounts. He helped me work out a ‘roadmap’ towards my eventual retirement. Part of this roadmap is on maximizing as much return each year as possible which involves buying, holding, and selling. They even have their own in-house monitoring trend that watches for signs in the markets that can signal a downturn and they have plans in place with how to handle it. Back in 2008, their system indicated a downturn event may be coming so they basically moved everything I had into cash (getting out the market). Less than a month later at end of September, the market crashed. They keep everything in cash for a couple months until the trend moved in the positive direction and then put the money back into the market.