We have written in past blogs but it bears repeating the often referred to, but rarely adhered to, cliché above in light of all of the recent market volatility as well as the "experts" calling for the "great rotation" out of tech or the long-awaited market collapse.

My firm, LCM Capital Management, has always believed this is the best way to manage client’s money and as my partner for 37 years often tells prospective clients, "facts are stubborn things." 

So here are the facts for 2025:

Additional facts: there were 252 days when you could trade stocks in 2025. Out of 252 trading days, missing the top four days means you were out of the market for just 1.5% of the year and the result – a return of almost 18% turns to zero.

I know some of you are saying its only one year and that’s true, so let’s look at that the facts for last 30 years. Now that’s 7500 trading days roughly and if you were out of the market for the best 30 days, or 0.5% of the time, your return went from 8.4% annually to just 2.1%, an over 80% difference. Facts are indeed stubborn.

Now don’t get me wrong, my firm will sell a stock. We have always believed that if the reasons we bought a stock have changed and no longer apply, then it probably makes sense for us to sell it. Have we always been correct? Not a chance. Also, there is difference between a bad company and a bad stock; just because the stock isn’t going up does not mean the company is bad. Look no further than Intel (INTC). Leading up to 2026, the stock basically flatlined for five years. As of July 31^st, the stock was up 140% YTD. Full disclosure:  my firm does own Intel for clients.

Also, in our 37 years of managing client’s assets, we have occasionally reduced clients’ stock holdings. We do this to rebalance their portfolios when they become overweighted in equities, or to align with an updated risk tolerance. We build and manage portfolios to match our client’s risk profile, making adjustments whenever their investments drift out of balance.

Now this is very different than market timing. Market timing is when you or your broker think stocks are going to go up or down sooner rather than later based on a gut feeling, or an analyst’s prediction. We remind our clients of this often, that journalists know no more that you or I when it comes to guessing where the markets are going. I intentionally bolded that word so as to remind everyone that’s all it ever is, a guess.

So stop guessing or have your broker stop guessing or listening to their firm’s economist or market strategist guesses – the world is too interconnected for anyone to know what will happen next and as I hope the aforementioned facts show, time in the market does in fact (pun intended) beat timing the market.

There is a better Way!

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.