This year, my portfolio summary was 3 pages! Information Overload - Timing the market makes you a slave to the news. The investors who succeed timing the market, (very few have succeeded) devote their life to market timing. Unless you have twelve hours a day to spare, you're better off with a passive investment strategy. You Have To Be Right Twice - Market timing involves buying AND selling a security at the right time.
There Are No Formulas - I have to admit, I enjoy watching infomercials that advertise a "proven system" to investing. If I had a secret, powerful, proven system email list to make millions of dollars, the first thing I would do is sell my system for not $500, not $400, not even $300, but 3 payments of $99.99. Don't kid yourself, successful market timing doesn't involve you sitting at the beach, sipping a cocktail.
It's a full-time job, with no guarantee of success. Miss Market Jumps - Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book The Black Swan explains that the S&P, (the S&P 500 is the general benchmark for market returns) with reinvested dividends has returned about 9.5% over the past 30 years. However, if you were not invested during the 50 highest returning days, your total return is less than 1% for over 30 years!