William Aldridge

William Aldridge

25, 2009 MBA candidate, the Henry B. Tippie School of Management at the University of Iowa and an analyst for the Henry Fund, the school's graduate investment fund

I began my career at Vanguard, and we are taught from the first day that excessive trading hurts returns. My Roth IRA is entirely invested in mutual funds; likewise for my traditional IRA.

I've ignored the statements, so I won't be tempted to go to cash. Also, I am keeping up the incremental investments. I really believe in what Jack Bogle has said about market timing and dollar-cost averaging.

I am positively certain that I am not smart enough to time the market in general ... let alone this market! My retirement funds are Vanguard equity funds. They are well diversified, and my investments are generally large-cap with a blend-to-value tilt. I am not going to retire for quite some time, and since I am entirely unable to call the rally, I might as well not lose any sleep about trying to do so. Staying in the well-diversified fund keeps my retirement bets much more broad.