The market has been relatively flat the last 3 months. I'm trying to time the market. I know, impossible. Any ideas from the more knowledgeable investors in what are keeping indexes flat and a prediction as to when indexes will begin a trend upward?

no one knows. my guess is its correction time and a lot of volatility. Most stocks are heavily overvalued currently.

Dirt, I'm not a fiduciary but I have been in the markets for almost 50 years. No one knows what will happen when or why of markets ups and downs. The one advice I can give you is getting in as soon as you can. Markets are down now and is as good of time to jump in today. Staying out of the markets at any time is not your friend.

The markets have been bad this week particular as of late. You buy today the markets will go up and stay in the markets and don't let down times discourage you.

Follow Nancy Pelosis trades. She seems to "time" buying and selling just right.

We personally do not own more than 15% of our securities as stocks. We own mostly mutural funds. As to timing the market, I never did much of that nor did I feel I was very good at it. We set up an interest account in the earlly 80s and roughly quarterly we invested in stocks or funds. We did that until 2013 when I retired for the last time. I think the market, (business) would like to move ahead but there is a lot of national and international uncertainty right now and we don't know if or when that lessens. The USA is a 70 plus service related economy and consumer confidence has been falling and quite sharply for the short term. We moved our bi annual meeting with our main fund manager up from late April to next week to furthr discuss outlook and options. We turned over about 50% of our securities to their managed fund managers and accounts 4 years ago. To date their returns have been above the market average and enough to cover their managed cost fees and more.

Bryce

Regulatory issues are causing a drag right now. If the tariff war continues things wont pick up for a while. If Trump wins it, things might break out.

I would expect more volatility for the near future. At least, until the market figures out the effects of the tariffs. Nobody can time the market and it really, doesn't make sense to try to time the market if you are going to invest in an index fund. At any given time, a stock in the index could be at an all-time high or an all-time low regardless of how the broader market is performing. If you are really nervous about the market declining after you invest your money, maybe plan to invest once a month over the next several months instead of dumping it all in now.

Markets don’t like uncertainty,,,,,

Trumpster came out guns blazing with tariffs,,,creating a lot of uncertainty

If the uncertainty continues till the midterms??? People will lose elections

My prediction is that the uncertainty lasts at least 6 months,,,, but less than a 1 1/2 years

My opinion only

This is not a long term investment. Hence, why I'm trying to time the market. The person I'm investing for is 84 years old and needs to earn so much a year to cover assisted living care. IMHO her portfolio is too heavy towards fixed investments now, which I think will steadily drop if they keep lowering interest rates. I'm trying to earn a little more by investing in the market?

Wanted to add

European markets have been down for awhile, but have turned hot,,,,,especially European defense(Ukraine peace deal/increase defense spending)

When one market is flat/down another is making up the difference

pullback is healthy

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This is not a long term investment. Hence, why I'm trying to time the market. The person I'm investing for is 84 years old and needs to earn so much a year to cover assisted living care. IMHO her portfolio is too heavy towards fixed investments now, which I think will steadily drop if they keep lowering interest rates. I'm trying to earn a little more by investing in the market?[/quote]

Reads like the person should look into the yield max etfs

If they’re looking for a monthly dividend to cover expenses,,,,,,short term

Not financial advice

The safer ones seem to be like bond funds? ^^^^^^^^^^^

Dirt: What % must the person's investments earn in order to cover the annual expenses ? Given the principal available.......is that even probable ?

Fixed income investments.....usually bond funds........SHOULD appreciate slightly if the Fed reduces rates. Remember.......bond prices move inversely to bond yields.

If you are just looking for short term investments that are safe.....I would consider simple US Treasuries . You can easily manage those online through Treasury Direct dot com.

With a bond fund..........one of the issues is management fees......treasury direct costs nothing.
Also with bond funds.......those bonds never mature so you have "duration risk"................... you can avoid that with treasury direct because you are buying actual bills, notes or bonds that actually do mature.

The convenience of a bond fund may be attractive because you can access all your funds within a day or so if you need them right away. With Treasury direct you may have to wait until your maturity date OR...have those investments transferred to a brokerage account and sold there.

There is also the possibility of a money market account. Very liquid and fairly competitive interest rates......that will fall if the fed cuts rates.

If the money is already in a brokerage account there is also the possibility of " brokered CD's" or purchasing treasuries in that account. The downside there is that there will be costs associated with those transactions.......but they can be done with a click or two.

X 10 on what spjones stated things are so uncertain now business sector and market managers dont know what to do given this administration, safe bet is what White stated.

I live a wonderful life in retirement for one major reason. I invested in low fee index funds throughout my working life. It's that simple. I've never talked to an advisor. I did it all through Fidelity and Vanguard. Now, at 61 years old, I do what I want. I tell young people all the time... start early and do it your whole working life. It's not hard. It just takes discipline.

Buy Nividia.

Serious bad time to try timing the market.

Sorry for the longer horizon post. Did not know it was that short term. What we are doing for the short term say 1-3-4 years is taking out what we feel we will want or need from investments and putting in as high yielding fixed investments that are acccessible w/o pelnalty and then leaving the rest of the securities in our longer term planning horizon. When funds are needed short term in my my mind volitility is not what I care to deal with.

Bryce

Dirt Only thing I can or will add is if you are looking at brokered CD. LPL financial only charges 5 dollar fee regardless of amount /time/ or interest rates. I checked today they have several 4.25-4.5 for 6-18 months. That's no loss risk.

I suggest you purchase a S&P500 no-load stock index fund and stagger your purchases over a six-month time period. This is called dollar cost averaging.

Timing the market is nearly impossible.

This info is not intended to replace advice provided by your financial advisor.