In his column "The Intelligent Investor" in the latest issue of Money Magazine, Jason Zweig offers some great tips for investors to "Stop worrying and stay invested" in the presence of a volatile markets. He also gives one of the best pieces of advice for trading that I have ever seen: "Wait for the bell. If the market is open, your portfolio should be closed. Later you can be more objective."
Don't worry about missing opportunities: All the research shows that frequent trading kills performance. Trading during the day will trick you into making impulsive investments, and make your regimen more gambler than cerebral. This also goes nicely with one of the best investing quotes of the year, from John Bogle's interview with the same magazine in March: "The stock market turns out to be a giant distraction from the reality of owning businesses, which is what investing really is. In the short run, expectations seem to drive the market, but in the long run nearly 100% of the returns on stocks come from the real market - the sum of dividend yield and earnings growth."
Zweig's advice is certainly something I plan to incorporate into my own investing. For more great insight from Zweig, buy the most recent edition of Benjamin Graham's classic book The Intelligent Investor, which has timely commentary from Zweig following each chapter.
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