Ben Carlson, Columnist

Seven Strategies for Investing at Market Peaks

One of these peaks will be the peak, but predicting that ahead of time is not easy.

August 17, 2017 at 2:00 PM UTC

Ben Carlson is director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is the author of "Organizational Alpha: How to Add Value in Institutional Asset Management."

Markets are making new highs more often.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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The S&P 500 Index has recorded more than 150 new all-time highs since eclipsing its previous peak in late March of 2013. In 2017 alone, there have been 30 new record highs through the end of last week. To put this into perspective, there were only 13 new highs for the entire decade of the 2000s.

When you combine a stock market that continues to see so many new highs with above-average valuations, investors get worried. One of these peaks will be the peak, but predicting that ahead of time is not easy. Life would be much easier if there were more bargains available and higher interest rates, but we have to invest in the markets as they are, not as we wish they could be.