A March 4, 2019 article from Yahoo Finance said that most investors missed the 2019 market ride up from the end-of-December lows. December 2018 saw a selloff of about 12%, while 2019 had produced gains of 12.5% through February.
It's an unfortunate contribution to what seems to persist: investors all too often exhibit inordinate sensitivity to the down cycle of equity volatility. The major consequence materializes when they decide to sell at the worst times and then wait on the sidelines as prices rebound. It's a predictable part of investors' lives who choose to self manage their portfolios.
Here at CoreTactic we emphasize the importance of understanding what securities you own and why you own them. We also educate our clients that investor emotions cause adverse behavior that plays a substantial part in long term value loss over individuals' investment horizons.
If you don't have a substantial portion of your investment assets invested all of the time, not only do you pay a steep price in lost opportunity but you also have a high probability of letting the immediate past dictate your present behavior, which, historically, is usually the exact wrong time to act.
Please read the story here.