Two sides of the story

Timing the market comes down to a simple choice between value and momentum investing - both have their promoters and detractors and at the end of the day it may boil down to a simple matter of personality

I hate to be a purveyor of psychobabble, but self-knowledge really is required to play markets successfully. When you cut through all the obfuscation there are just two approaches to the investment challenge: “value” and “momentum”. Neither is particularly intellectually demanding – and don’t let the “smooth-tongued wizards” (Kipling’s disdainful description of investment professionals) persuade you otherwise. Both work, but each requires different emotional wiring. Good momentum players are often lousy value investors and vice versa. You need to know which you are. To help, Ben Gr...