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Actually if there's any one lesson to be learned from the last dozen years of the stock market's swings, it is that "buy and hold" is dead as a useful investmen
by tygorius 16y ago
Actually if there's any one lesson to be learned from the last dozen years of the stock market's swings, it is that "buy and hold" is dead as a useful investment strategy.
As to gambling vs. trading, there's a whole industry of people who train traders in eliminating the gambling psychology that can destroy equity so quickly. A short time frame only exacerbates the psychological weakness.
Oddly enough successful day traders, that is, those who hold their positions for mere minutes and close out all positions by the close of the trading day, are about as far from gamblers (in a psychological sense) as you can get.
- noelchurchill 16y agoActually if there's any one lesson to be learned from the last dozen years of the stock market's swings, it is that "buy and hold" is dead as a useful investment strategy. I might have misused the term buy and hold. I meant to ignore the intraday swings and keep your eyes on the overlying trends. I certainly don't think you can blindly hold an index fund these days and plan on retiring on it.
- me_again 16y agoMy 401K's in a 'LifePath' fund- more-or-less an index tracker which shifts more weight from a stock index funds into bonds as your nominal retirement day approaches. It's quite possible I'll come to regret it, but I can't think of a safer approach.
- ghshephard 16y agoLook back over the last ninety years - "Buy and Hold" hasn't been that great a strategy either. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110102-metrics-graphic.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/business/20110...