Market timing
Market timing is attempting to buy at price troughs and to sell at price peaks. Market timing captures the imagination of so many traders and investors because it sometimes appears to yield spectacular results, especially in hindsight. Market timing is used by many investment advisory newsletters and individuals managing their own funds. In practice, those attempting this investment approach often miss the lows and highs, resulting in subpar performance. That is why financial experts agree that market timing does not work in the long term.
By contrast, our asset allocation method is not based on attempting to pick price lows and highs and is thus not market timing. We simply attempt to pick the asset mix that maximizes the expected return while not exceeding a fixed maximum risk. The reason that our recommendations change with time is not that we are trying to pick price highs and lows, but that we adjust to changing market conditions.