How Woodward "Timed The Market"

Flashback to April 2, 2025, the global markets are reacting to the Liberation Day tariffs and are at the start of, what we now know was, a drop of $10 TRILLION in global market value. Undoubtedly, investors responded in many ways including the common tactic of closing their eyes, covering their ears, and vocalizing “la, la, la, la” in hopes that their portfolio value would recover quickly.

Due to the magnitude of the market changes, your team at Woodward Financial Advisors assembled quickly and decided it was time to review all client portfolios for trading and rebalancing opportunities. So, I ask a simple question that I encourage you to briefly consider before reading on; did WFA engage in marketing timing?

For posterity, here is what the US stock market (represented by the Russell 3000) has looked like so far in 2025.

FINRA defines market timing as an active investment strategy where an investor shifts money in and out of the market or from one investment to another in an attempt to exploit anticipated short-term price movements (https://www.finra.org/investors/insights/market-timing). While this may sound like the actions taken by our team, the key difference is “anticipation.”

Don’t get me wrong, we knew a drop was coming – we just didn’t know when, or the magnitude, or how long it would last. Since 1974, we’ve averaged a market correction, defined as a decline in market values by 10-20% from the recent market high, every other year (https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/market-correction-what-does-it-mean).

So, what exactly did we do if it wasn’t market timing?

Our team acted not on a prediction of where the market was headed next, but on what had already happened. We reviewed portfolios to ensure they were still aligned with each client’s financial plan, and we took advantage of opportunities that naturally arise in periods of volatility such as:

• Rebalancing portfolios to maintain the right mix of stocks and bonds through buying what was now lower in price and selling what was relatively higher (buy low, sell high)
• Tax-loss harvesting where possible, creating potential future tax benefits.

These are disciplined, rules-based actions—not speculative moves based on a hunch. We responded to the market, but we didn’t try to outguess it. After all, we’ll be the first to say, with conviction, “you cannot time the market and expect to win.”

The difference may seem subtle, but it’s critical. Market timing relies on predicting both when to get out and when to get back in. Even the most seasoned professionals rarely get both right consistently. Instead, our focus remains on helping you stay disciplined and invested, harnessing the power of the market, while being opportunistic when the market hands us chances to improve outcomes.

As we look ahead, we’ll continue to lean on the same principles that have guided successful investors for decades: maintain diversification, control what we can (i.e., costs and taxes), and resist the temptation to react emotionally to short-term noise.

At Woodward Financial Advisors, we believe we can’t (and won’t) try to predict the market’s next move. What we can do is help you navigate uncertainty with clarity, discipline, and confidence in the long-term plan we’ve built together.