What if you had all the powers of the Amazing Kreskin,  combined with Nostradamus, and you even got a hold of that little sports book that Biff took back to the future. With all these skills at your disposal, certainly you could time the stock market right? Wrong! Let me tell you the one most honest truths of the Universe–You can’t time the Stock Market.

I was listening to a couple guys at work today talking about how they wish they got into the market sooner, or whether they should get out now..And how their “Financial Guy” needed to look over our new 401 k selections.

 You can study charts your whole life,  follow trends, watch the earnings reports, and even talk to the CEO on a daily basis…But as soon as you pull the trigger on buying the stock, some idiot 3,000 miles away can set off a car bomb and cause the market to crash….You can’t predict life.  Don’t even try–Just stay in the game–good times and bad.

 I’ve been trading stocks for about 16 years.  I’ve made 300% on some–and lost it all on others..I owned Apple at $5 a share, and sold at $15 in 1997—I thought I was the smartest guy on the planet–3 times my money! Yea, well guess what?–I would be worth over a million if I just left it alone–who knew?

 Here is the best advice on the market you will ever get in one paragraph—-Buy high quality stocks every month no matter what–Same amount every month–Set it and forget it as Ron Popeil would say…Example:

 The 500 bluest  of the blue chips are tracked through the S & P 500—500 of the big boys from every industry..No guess work–just the 500 best—Forget everything else and put a fixed amount into a mutual index fund that is based on the S & P 500 every month.  Can’t afford much?  No worries–pick a small amount and do it consistently–Skip a Starbucks a day and you freed up close to $150 a month–Find a company that lets you buy into the fund for a fixed price–(sharebuilder.com is the best) —Plug the $150 into the fund every month automatically—When the market goes down–you buy more shares–when it goes up, you buy less–every month–Consistently.

 Got a raise?  Great!  Don’t spend it–up you monthly contribution.  Paid off a loan? Great!  Put that money into your contribution–Don’t touch it–Don’t stop for even a month–Consistency is the key

 You’re done–now go worry about some real problems in the world