When is the right time to buy a home, invest in stocks, get married, have children? Realtors and stockbrokers will tell you the time to buy is NOW! However, they will profit from the transaction immediately while yours may be delayed or your investment will lose value. When is the right time to get married? Fifty years ago it was in your late teens-mid-twenties, now couples are putting off marriage till late thirties or even their forties. But waiting isn't the best strategy in the long run. You may be ready, but your partner or the markets may not. Then, when conditions improve, you may have health or career problems so the time isn't right for you.
What's the answer, you ask, can't I buy a crystal ball on e-bay and use it to guide my decisions?
The answer is that timing and luck are bound together, and the only way to win is to stay at the table and keep rolling the dice. Another strategy is to shoot for reasonable goals rather than the big, life-changing win. Most dramatic, life-changing events are bad for those concerned, the spot on the X-ray scan, the arrest on false charges, the divorces and layoffs and betrayals the lie before us on the perilous journey to the end. Using the baseball analogy, if you swing for the fences, you're going to strike out a lot. Get on base and move it along, savor the little victories and treasure them when life knocks you to the ground and puts its ugly, toe-jam-smelling foot on your neck.
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