Don’t sell your investments this May, whatever the old adage says

Conventional wisdom suggests now might be time to cash out, but none of us can know what share prices will look like at the end of the year, writes Hamish McRae

The timing of getting back into the market may be difficult. Last year saw a massive sell-off of shares, but also the swiftest-ever bounce back (AP)

Should you “Sell in May and Go Away”, as the long-standing bit of popular investment wisdom holds? That advice has been given some impetus this month, with the rapid rise in share prices worldwide since the beginning of the year and the sharp sell-off, particularly of tech stocks, in the past few days.

Timing the end of a bull market is notoriously difficult, but maybe investors are wondering whether this might be the time to take profits, and wait and see what the summer brings.

The idea of selling in May apparently stems from the practice of rich Britons leaving London in the spring and heading off to their estates in the country. While they were out of town they could not attend to business matters so it was better to avoid any financial risks. This spread to the US, where the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day became the time when the wealthy avoided the city heat and headed to their summer retreats. But does it work?