Tis the Season

...for corporate profit reports. But, what does that really mean? To most analysts and avid Wall Street watchers, corporate profit reports generally indicate the productivity and growth of the overall economy. They are also frequently used to try and determine why the markets acted the way they did (i.e the market was up or down). Just take a look at popular news media like MSN Money http://www.msn.comwhere they give in-depth coverage of daily and weekly market reports. While earning reports may be one part of the plethora of economic data available to surmise economic health, it really has little to do with us, the individual investors. Those who have seasoned the ups and downs of the market for many years, know that trying to guess when the market is going to be up or down in any given day, week, or year even is futile. The best recipe for success, experience and data both clearly show, is to stay the course and to not worry about short-term events and media-driven hype of where the market may or may not be going. Avoid worrying about the short-term prospects of the markets, whether they are stocks, bonds, real estate, and maintain you properly diversified portfolio. What is in favor today is likely going to be out of favor tomorrow and vise versa.