<prompt> Human: I set myself a moderately aggressive goal to get 10 returns per year, and in my primary retirement account, I have just hit the target for 2017.Im wondering if I should push everything into a bond fund for the remainder of the year in order to capture those gains and then pick up again next year? Or continue to ride the market?I equate this to how I act in a casino... if Im doing well at the blackjack table, every time I manage to get a green 25 chip, I put it in my pocket so that I dont continue to play with my winningsprofit.  <response>: If you think you can time the market, youre probably wrong. Between now and when you retire, the market will go up, and the market will go down. Thats about all the assurance you can have. If you want to rebalance your portfolio a bit, you could do that, but I wouldnt go from mostly stocks to 100 bonds in an effort to time the market.The problem with the casino analogy is that the cost of a game keeps changing. You might pull out your winnings, but when you want to play again, a game costs 25 more, so you cant play as many times. Or, you might get lucky and a game might cost 25 less. But its still out of your control and relies on you thinking you can beat the house. 