Fraud Notice

It’s possible that you will never have to make any financial decisions more important than those relating to your retirement plans. These are likely to involve the consideration of a number of important factors, including the following:

• Your present and future cashflow needs
• Whether you wish to create a legacy for family or charity
• Your level of risk-tolerance
• Whether you wish to simply protect or to grow your wealth
• An assessment of market conditions
• Your personal goals

It is easy to see why many retirement investors may be tempted by the prospect of timing the market: imagine if you could ensure that you only ever invested in stocks at the time when the market was rising and only ever sold at the time when it was cresting like a wave that is about to crash.

However, your chances of timing your trading to perfection are, in reality, likely to be comparable to predicting the jackpot numbers in the lottery and chancing your retirement savings in such a way is likely to be at best a risky proposition and at worst, a catastrophe.

The reality is that there is no scientific way to time the market. This is not to say that there are no strategies you can utilise in order to protect and grow your wealth, only that these are going to be less about timing and more about foresighted planning, i.e. investing early in order to enjoy long-term gains and having a well-diversified portfolio of retirement assets that is able to withstand the inevitable volatilities of the market.