Jan 30, 2011

Markets - Bull or Brains?

01.30.11 - A good article in the Star Jan 22nd.
I am doing well in the markets these days, as i suspect you are, due to rising global markets.


I had decided, a long while ago, to go it alone without an advisor, as most advisors have hidden agendas and are not focused on my best interests.


My approach, due to my advanced age,  is short-term mutual funds and ETFs. 
Most advisors aren't interested in this approach for mutual funds. 
ETFs are ok as you control them the same as stocks and can buy/sell at will yourself.


With all elongated bull markets, investors get more risky (as i have) and reap the rewards.


To mitigate markets volatility, this article does emphasize ETF type investments as a hedge against significant downward swings, as they represent mainly specific market indexes (such as NYMEC, COMEX, S&P, MSCI, TSX, S&P/TSX, etc) which is an averaging of items within the index.
The problem with ETFs is some are bear and some are bull related. If you selected bear related ETFs, you could have lost a fair amount (except for NYMEX Natural Gas).


So far, the bull ETFs I have been emphasizing (30% of my investing) are doing well.


The trick is to fairly accurately determine timing of the next downturn. 


I am trying to reach 20% average gain before a significant downturn occurs. Regardless, my approach is to get out before the downturn.


Anyone have a good idea or tried-and-true method (specific triggers) for fairly accurately guessing the downturn timing?

1 comment:

  1. You got it right in 2008, hopefully you'll get it right thsi time. At this point I'm passive or disenchanted, whatever,

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