Planning Simplified: Timing the Market vs Time in the Market

Two ideas enter, one principle leaves.

Timing the Market:

1.72% 15-year return of investors in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index fund

Time in the Market:

6.13% 15-year return of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index

Winner = Time in the Market

Source: Morningstar.com data for the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index fund (VTSMX) through 8/31/2010