Is Timing The Market Really A Thing? Adrian Bates
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n the field of property investment, there is probably not a more controversial topic than timing. There are some divergent views and opinions on the possibility of timing the market as some school of thought holds that it is impossible while another school of thought believes that it is something that can be done. Timing the market is an intriguing concept as it sees investors actively seek means to game the market so that they can avoid losses on their investment portfolios. Understanding timing the market Timing the market, also known as countercyclical investing, means when an investor or an individual seeks to predict the future of their investment on whether it would become profitable or incur a loss. To put it in simpler words, timing the market follows the concept that investors can forecast when to buy and sell their investment that it would yield an enormous amount of profit for them.
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But, over time, the market has shown that it can’t be timed, which leaves one wondering how the concept of timing the market was able to gain root in the mind of many investors. Successful investors in the property industry know that wealth can be created at any time during a cycle especially when it is done with a lot of intelligence and due diligence, as every investor can create his own “perfect timing.” Why you can’t time the market The following reasons are why you would most likely be unable to time the market. • The market can sometimes be very unpredictable and volatile Robert Shiller, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, carried out a survey to study why the international stock market, including the United States of America, recorded over a 20% fall in one day in October 1987 and discovered that the fall did not have any external causative factor instead, the psychology of investors caused it.
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