Has the market bottomed? Are we headed for another bear? What’s next for stocks? These are the burning questions dominating the volatile equity landscape right now, and the constant barrage of information and conflicting viewpoints actually is giving me a gigantic headache.

These days, everything seems so complicated. There’s a 24-hour business news cycle featuring numerous cable TV, satellite, radio and Internet sources spewing forth a whole lot of extraneous garbage. And while there are many great sources of information available these days, I think the sheer amount of information out there tends to obscure an investor’s objective view.

Back in the mid-1970s, my father, Dick Fabian, developed a system that allowed investors to evaluate the market objectively in about 10 minutes per week. That method of essentially looking where the current price of the major averages are in relation to their long-term, 200-day moving average was -- and still is -- the best way to know if the market is ripe for investment, or whether the risk of holding stocks is too high.

As you can see by the chart here of the S&P 500 Index, risk is certainly quite high right now. The broad measure of the domestic equity markets trades well below its 200-day moving average (red line), and that means that things are too risky right now. When the market trades below this level, investors shouldn’t be putting their serious money -- i.e., the money that will fund your retirement -- in jeopardy.

Now, I know that in today’s current climate of high-frequency trading and programmed trading by institutions, everyone is trying to be first in and first out of a winning trade. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s something the individual investor shouldn’t spend time dealing with. You see, when it comes to your serious money, the simple approach is far better, and far more effective. 

Learn how to invest your money based on the movement of the long-term, 200-day moving average, and you’ll be in firm control of your own financial destiny. It’s just that simple.

If you want to find out how our subscribers used the 200-day average to get out of stocks before the August market meltdown, then I invite you to check out my Successful Investing advisory service today.