It is always amazing to me, how much of an emphasis most market participants put on market timing and newsletters promoting market timing. This is highly damaging to long-term investment returns and is a primary reason why most market participants generally underperform the market averages. There are reasons why most newsletter publishers are not billionaires, yet many long-term value investors are. Below are two of my favorite quotes on market timing:
1) “There will always be someone predicting disaster and someone predicting great fortune. At one time or another, each will be closer to correct than the other. But it won’t matter to you if you understand this and have invested responsibly. You have a long-term plan; stick with it.” Peter Lynch
2) “The market timer’s Hall of Fame is an empty room.” Jane Bryant Quinn
Even Gartman in this article acknowledges how futile it is to practice market timing yet he has made a whole career in doing so, because people are willing to pay in the “hope” that the newsletter will improve results! Below is his quote and the rest of the article.
“It’s so silly for me to think I can call a correction.” Mr. Gartman said. “The market will correct when it corrects. That’s what I’ve learned in my 40 years in the business.”
Unfortunately, I’d imagine that is what most paying subscribers to these types of newsletter have found as well.
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/05/27/dennis-gartman-we-were-wrong-calling-for-a-correction/?mod=trending_now_3