Your portfolio hasn’t been doing well lately. Is it the general market that has been dragging down your investments, or merely your strategies or style of investing? If you think it could be the latter, then consider the following ideas that could help you to revitalize your portfolio.

Market Timing

Not many investors have perfected the art of timing the market successfully. This is not to say that investors should attempt to time the ups and downs in the overall market, but they should be aware of the existence of seasonal factors that can affect stocks and the entry and exit points in shares. (For related reading, see Capitalizing On Seasonal Effects .)

For example, there is an old saying on Wall Street that goes sell in May and go away. Essentially, this means that stocks usually take a hit while heading into the summer months. Why, you ask? Well, keep in mind the expected work-related disruptions that happen during the summer months. For example, people go on vacations, while others have abbreviated work hours. The net effect results in less research, fewer sales calls and, in the end, less stock market volume. To put it in another way, there are fewer buyers around. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be buying or owning stocks during the summer, but it does suggest that you be extra cautious about buying stocks when volume levels have waned, or when there is a sense of disinterest in the shares among other investors or Wall Street professionals.

Another time of year that can be tough is the fourth quarter. from October through December. Why? October has historically been a tough month for the stock market. And from that point on, funds and individuals often dump stocks in order to realize tax losses. This in turn leads to a lot of volatility. Unfortunately, it also makes timing an entry and an exit point extremely difficult. (To read more, see Trading Volume — Crowd Psychology .)

In short, investors can fine-tune their investment purchases and sales by at least being aware of the risks associated with seasonality in the stock market. (To read more, see Understanding Cycles — The Key To Market Timing .)

Averaging Up/Down

If you own a stock and firmly believe in its fundamentals. you should be willing to average up (or buy additional shares as the price is rising). This goes against the norm, but wouldn’t you rather buy shares in a company that is under accumulation ?

To be clear, you can use averaging down. but only in circumstances where you can be certain that the stock in question is getting hammered for something like tax-loss selling, which means that the sell off is in no way related to the company’s fundamentals. In instances like these (tax-loss selling), you might make a great deal of money from buying more shares during a temporary drop based solely on supply and demand factors. But remember, there could be a fundamental reason the stock is dropping! In this case, you don’t want to buy in on a dip, because you don’t know if the worst is over, and/or if the stock will drop further. This leads me to another old Wall Street adage: never catch a falling knife.

Again, investors can profit and improve their returns by investing during dips in stocks if there is no fundamental reason for the decline. They may also profit by averaging up into a stock that is under accumulation. (To learn more, see DCA: It Gets You In At The Bottom . Five Investing Pitfalls To Avoid, According to Investor’s Business Daily .)