Your Timing Matters More Than the Market’s Timing
Written by Tyson Ray, FORM Wealth Advisors | CFP®, CEPA®, CIMA®
Should you delay retirement, travel, or other financial goals because of market volatility? Tyson at FORM Wealth explains why financial planning around the timing of your life, not the market’s timing, can help your finances fulfill their purpose.
If you pay attention to the news for long enough, you’ll hear countless reasons why the market moves on any given day. Interest rates. Inflation. Oil prices. Elections. Global conflicts. Economic reports.
There’s never a shortage of opinions about what those current events may mean for the future. It’s understandable why investors pay attention. Markets can decline on good news and rally on bad news. There’s really no way for any of us to predict the future with absolute certainty.
What you can do is decide the timing of the things that matter most in your life regardless of what the market is doing. At FORM, we talk to you about the life you’re working toward and what would make you feel most fulfilled before we ever talk about investments.
This is purposeful. When we help you plan for the years ahead, we can prepare for the things you know are coming no matter how the market is performing. This makes your timing more important than the market’s timing.
Ask yourself when you would like to retire. Or decide what trips you hope to take soon. Is it time to complete that home improvement project? Is there gifting you’d like to do for a charitable organization, your child, or a grandchild?
You have much more control over making sure you’re satisfying what matters most when you think this way. Once your answers become clear, your investments fulfill their purpose. And we’re here to help you build a strategy around them.
Establishing your timing allows your portfolio to stay focused on long-term growth instead of becoming a source of anxiety every time the market moves. Matching your investments to when you want to use them keeps short-term market movements from derailing your long-term plans.
That doesn’t mean we ignore what’s happening in the world. It means we evaluate it from your plan’s perspective. Your FORM Life Plan and Wealth Plans remain the anchors through the market ups and downs.
The more we understand what’s changing in your world, the better we can help you prepare your financial plan for what’s ahead. In the end, successful financial planning isn’t about perfectly timing the market. It’s about thoughtfully timing the things that matter most to you. And that’s something we can predict and plan for together.
Additional Resources
- FINRA – Market Timing: The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) cautions investors about trying to time markets based on short-term events. History has shown that reacting emotionally to market swings can make it more difficult to stay focused on long-term financial goals. READ MORE
- Investor.gov – Asset Allocation and Diversification: The asset allocation that works best for you changes at different times in your life, depending on your investing timeframe or time horizon. READ MORE
