This example article also talks a lot against market timing. “It’s impossible!” As an example, the war in Ukraine and Saab are used, whose stock price jumped immediately after the war began. No one could have predicted that even a few months earlier.
Or for example, corona caused a sudden plunge, after which a considerable general rise began across stock exchanges. No one knew this would happen.
At this point, a novice investor is quite confused. If, after the war in Ukraine began, one had waited for a quick resolution and noticed it wasn’t coming, and then still calculated 1+1 for half a year before loading their pennies into Saab, they would still have caught the 150% stock price increase that occurred over the next two years.
The war will end eventually, or if an investor simply feels like cashing out today, what would have been wrong with this tactic? It seems easier to grasp this than to be able to predict a company’s actions or other market events years in advance.
I don’t claim to be able to time the markets or be wiser than professionals; quite the opposite. I just don’t seem to understand, even when it’s explained to me.