Valuation-Informed Indexing #473: The Widespread Rejection of Market Timing Rules Out Consideration of Even the Modest Use of Price Discipline

I’ve posted Entry #473 to my weekly Valuation-Informed Indexing column at the Value Walk site. It’s called The Widespread Rejection of Market Timing Rules Out Consideration of Even the Modest Use of Price Discipline.

Juicy Excerpt: The trouble is that dogmatic Buy-and-Holders are able to sense where things will go once discussion of possibilities other than the good old 4.0 percent number are permitted. The 4.0 percent number has been around for a long time. And it has been promoted as a number that is the product of science. Scientific investigations are supposed to be hard and objective. If the number can change, it really wasn’t the product of science. And, if the number is not the product of science, then it can be almost anything. If the number is not obviously 4.0 percent, it could possibly even be something crazy like 1.6 percent. Buy-and-Holders cannot bear the thought that large numbers of investors will begin to think along these lines, so they do what they can to cut off debate before it produces any good fruit.