TheChartologist

[LG]

To Buy and Hold or Not

After reading and responding to an email this evening, it made me stop to think about what my recommendations have been over the years regarding buying and holding.

For me the answer has always been to time the market. However realistically, few are capable of timing the market well and many just don’t have the time or inclination to put in the due diligence needed to time the market even if capable.

So what do you do?

Since I have never had a lot of faith in the talking heads or pundits, it has always been my advice to recommend dollar cost averaging into a good growth and income fund as long as you are expecting to hold the investment for a significant period of time, say ten and even better fifteen years are longer. The income helps offset down turns and keeps the fund growing during consolidation periods. You must put money into the fund on a regular basis, every week or every month like clock work.

The best time to begin dollar cost averaging into a good growth and income fund is right about now, after the market has taken a significant tumble, which would be much better than beginning the process near last October’s highs…gg

Good trading, good investing and most of all...good luck!

Regards,
LG