Commentary 
Many advisors promote passive investment strategies by pointing to studies showing investors fail at “market timing.” Such was a point made recently by Ralph Wakerly. To wit:
“So-called experts are telling us about the coming uber-bear or why the bull market will continue. Yet the data show that predicting the market’s direction to time buys and sells is the wrong approach to investing.
“Data from the last seven bear markets show that many losses and gains happen in concise periods, requiring timers to have uncanny accuracy and resolve. Investors are better served to ignore market calls and follow the time-tested practice of holding well-diversified portfolios that meet their goals across long market cycles.”…