A Pox on Market Timers

Answering a question on the amount of cash he carries in his fund (7% as of the beginning of March 2003), Anton Schutz sounded off on market timers:

The only reason why I have cash, which is a great frustration to me, is the market timers. They drive me nuts. I am looking for value. When the markets are down, I want to be buying stocks, not selling. Market timers are generally redeeming when the markets are dropping, which is counter-intuitive to the way I run the fund. So in this type of environment, I have to keep a few million dollars cash on hand because of these guys. If we've caught someone doing that, say coming in on a Wednesday and redeeming on a Monday, we will contact the platform they came out of and ask them not to come back. Market timers are hurting me and other investors.