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Old adage fails investors, expert warns
Thu, 20 Sep 2007
Investors should ignore age-old advice to sell their stocks and shares in May, an expert has warned.

UK managing director of Fidelity International Richard Wastcoat comments that trying to time the stock market is not advisable.

He states that research indicates investors who sell their assets in May and reinvest them after the summer on St Leger Day will see lower returns on their investments .

"The old adage of selling in May - which is attributed to the behaviour of aristocratic investors who preferred to dispose of their holdings so that they could enjoy the season without distraction - has no consistency," he notes.

Analysis by the company has shown the old adage that investors should sell in May and reinvest in September has failed investors for 15 out of the last 21 years.

However, the research finds that selling in May can work as a strategy but only if the investor does not incur the 1.25 per cent fee for re-entering the market.

Fidelity International announced recently that customers with complex pension needs taking out the company's Personal Pension scheme would be offered the advice of an independent financial adviser .

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