Market Timing is way too complicated and no fun. Investing should be entertaining, not just about money. Whether you are buying a house and fixing it up, raising kids, starting a company, or owning shares, if it interests you then you are guaranteed a return on entertainment (ROE), even if you don’t get an ROI.

It also means you get to know your investments over time and can be smarter than the market who doesn’t know the investment. (I’m smarter about kids than I’ve ever been!)

My current strategy is to invest in known brands that fluctuate. I buy when they are artificially low (usually because of something in the news), and I know they can go up. I sell somewhere on the way up when I make 35% or more. I don’t worry about short or long term. I don’t try to get greedy and make more than 50% (anymore.)

I only invest in companies that I continuously read about and preferably experience their products as a consumer. This has worked for me with Intuit, Apple, ETrade, and Dell. I hope it is going to work with Microsoft and Home Depot. It did not work very well with 3COM who just melted down. I got out when the bad news stayed bad. I did not lose much because I only try to buy low.

What I’m banking on is that these stocks have more volatility because they are well known brands who create a lot of news which the media overhypes (in both directions.) Because so many consumers are directly investing now the market is more easily influenced by the hype.

“I can’t figure out what is going on with the market,” one of our board of directors told us in a meeting. “Prices go up and down when it doesn’t make sense.”

I’m banking on that, and so far it has worked pretty well.