Lesson learned: timing the market is better than time in the market. Buffet’s guidance is nonsense — he’s not following his own advice.

The idea of time in the market is based on the concept that the market will “eventually” go up. Not only that may not work because you can’t realistically know that that will happen or when you will need the money (you imagine you do), but it’s also based on the assumption that US economy will always be strong. The potential isolation from tariff can end this.

Before Nikkei crashed, the idea of a weak stock market didn’t cross the mind of Japanese. Read about how big of a cultural change investing in stocks did to them during the prosperous stock market times until the big crash.

Looking at Buffet (again), he’s not following his own advice. First, he doesn’t buy stocks like we do. He also updates his portfolio every year. I wouldn’t call that time in the market… that’s more of analyzing the market. Then his biggest cash out lately tells it all (he’s been always sitting on piles of cash — which is also not trusting the market).

Just to be clear, I hope that the market recovers. Times like these make one rethinks about the principles they’re following and adjust. Timing the market is impossible, I know. Just calling out the advice and comparing it to the behavior of the advisor.