The year is 1984.  You can either invest $1000 in the Dow and hold it until 2012, or buy $1000 worth of Optimus Prime trucks and put them in the basement until 2012.  Which should you chose?

Answer - Optimus Prime trucks.  They would be worth about $60k, while the buy-and-hold plan of investing would be worth about $20k.

This is why I don't like the buy-and-hold mentality:  the downside of every wave kills your returns.  Take 2012 for example.  We are 6 months in and the Dow is barely in the positive after this big sell off.  The RUM wave issued a "sell" recommendation before the decline, avoiding a 10% hit to my followers' portfolios.  (Granted that was before I started the blog, but you'll just have to trust me until I have time to prove the method in the public forum) Are we playing a market timing game?.. yes.  Does it work?.. yes.

No one should accept just barely beating the market.  You can do better!

Check back tomorrow for an update on the wave status!

Thanks for reading!