Exquisite Timing Isn’t Part of the Deal

The market is going for 30 percent off. Yet investors aren’t buying. It’s like that 48-inch LCD screen you’ve been dying to buy… someday. But why buy it now when you can probably buy it in December for an additional 5 to 10 percent off? Or why not wait for the post-December sale when you can buy it at an even steeper discount. Maybe you can do even better if you wait until March. Surely, stores will be desperate to clear out their old inventory by then.

But wait too long and the item will either go up in price (stealthily upgraded while you waited) or disappear from the shelves. The lesson isn’t that you shouldn’t buy a particular item at a good price. It’s that waiting for the perfect price or the perfect moment to buy it is a little bit like waiting for Godot. It’ll never arrive.

If you like a stock and it’s really cheap, buy it. If you think a stock is going for 25 percent off its true value, for example, your gain will be 25 percent once its true value is recognized. Don’t let a possible 5-15 percent detour down stop you.

[Ed. Note: The economy may look bleak right now. But you still have opportunities to prosper – if you look in the right places. ETR Investment Director Andrew Gordon has pinpointed a method – which has been accurate 92% of the time – that you can use to make money on stocks as they fall. It all begins with a “red flag announcement.”]