What 2 or 3 indicators should the uninitiated keep an eye on?
I work a 9 to 5 corporate job, put money into a 401k and into an index fund each paycheck, and hope for the best. I'm not a complete idiot (others opinions may vary) but I don't have any education or insight into how to tell if the market is strong or not, and find it hard to tell which news sources (if any) are trustworthy.
I'm not prone to panic or freaking out, but I would say my faith in current world leaders is low, and I'm concerned about the impact on my finances if they were to do something stupid like, oh, i don't know, disrupt the worlds oil market on a whim.
Are there 1-3 indicators that I could keep an eye on to maybe have some heads up that its time to move money into bonds or other low risk options? The opposite of a get rich quick scheme, a "don't go broke quick" scheme.
Is there some other, smarter approach someone unfamiliar with the ins and outs of global finance should take?
Any and all advice welcome, thanks in advance.