If you are a Minnesota stock market investor now, you have the first part of market timing already done.

Just about every stock or stock mutual fund that you have owned over the last couple of years is up.  If you own a stock market investment that is not up, you probably should not have owned it in the first place.

Market timing gets a bad rap in the financial media.  The people that write financial media article are journalists.  The people who successfully advise their stock market clients are investment advisors.

There is a big difference in perspective.  There is even a bigger difference in investment performance.

You can practice a degree of stock market timing right now.  You already have the first step in place.  That is, you currently own stock market investments near all-time high price levels.

You have already “bought low.”  All you need to get right now is to “sell high.”

The best way now to take advantage of market timing is to analyze the lagging stock market investments that you currently own.

If you own any stock market investments that are not near all-time high price levels, it might be time to think about selling them. Take the proceeds from those sales and remain in the safety of the money market.

Preserve your recent stock market gains.  Have money to invest the next time the stock market pulls back like it did in January.

If the lagging stock market investments that you currently own are not doing well now, when will they?  The likelihood is that they will not.  Some stock market investments will always lag.

Sure, the stock market may move higher.  But it is just as likely to move lower like it did to start off 2013. Have a plan in place if it does.

Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.

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