June 8, 2026
While markets have made all-time highs this year, you may think we’re near the top and it’s time to pull back. But you can’t time the market.
Many kinds of markets cycles occur for long-term investors. When there’s intense market volatility, the urge to do something can be overpowering, especially as the financial media feeds you a nonstop loop of panic.
During such times, you may think it’s right to pull your money out and wait for the dust to settle. It’s safe and logical, right?
Wrong. History tells a completely different story.
Timing the market is practically impossible. Attempting to do it can be one of the costliest mistakes an investor can make.
My decades of experience have shown me how doing nothing can be a true superpower. The data backs this up.
Over the past 30 years, missing just the 10 best days of the market would have cut your total returns in half. If you missed the 30 best days, your returns would have been cut by 84%.
In trying to avoid the market’s bad days, you miss out on the great ones.
According to data compiled by Hartford Funds, 76% of the stock market’s best days happened during a bear market or in the first two months of a bull market (when nobody knows it’s a bull market).
So, when the market feels the most terrifying, unpredictable, and volatile is when it stages its most explosive recoveries. If you’re sitting in cash, you’ll miss the jump higher.
The search for safety is really just locking in losses and excluding yourself from the rebounds.
Daniel A. White is an investment advisory representative of and provides advisory services through CoreCap Advisors, LLC. Daniel A. White & Associates and CoreCap Advisors are separate and unaffiliated entities.