Buy and Hold

There is an investment strategy that I really believe in, and that is buy and hold. Investopedia.com defines buy and hold as:

A passive investment strategy in which an investor buys stocks and holds them for a long period of time, regardless of fluctuations in the market. An investor who employs a buy-and-hold strategy actively selects stocks, but once in a position, is not concerned with short-term price movements and technical indicators.

Buy what you know, buy what you see and use everyday. I buy gas from BP, so I bought some BP stock. So you know what? Everytime I walk into that store I feel a sense of pride. I am a shareholder in this company what happens here matters to me, I own a little bit of every BP in the world and that is something special. I like controling my own financial destiny. But buy and hold is not for everyone it is what I do and what I enjoy. If you don't feel comfortable investing in stocks then invest in stock mutual funds and let the professional money managers decide on which stocks to invest in.


INVEST!! INVEST!! INVEST!! INVEST!!
-THATS THE FINAL WORD-CPD-

To put your odds of buy-and-hold success into perspective, consider these statistics, published by the Forum for Investor Advice:

Odds that you’ll win the lottery: 1 in 4,000,000
Odds that you’ll be dealt a royal flush: 1 in 650,000
Odds that Earth will be struck by a meteor during your lifetime: 1 in 9,000
Odds that you’ll be robbed this year: 1 in 500
Odds that the airlines will lose your luggage: 1 in 186
Odds that you’ll be audited by the IRS: 1 in 100
Odds that you’ll get snake eyes when rolling the dice: 1 in 36
Odds that you’ll go to Disney World this year: 1 in 10
Odds that the next bottled water you buy will be nothing more than tap water: 2 in 10
Odds that you’ll eat out today: 5 in 10
Odds that an investment in stocks will make money in any given year: 7 in 10

That’s right, over the past 100 years, the stock market has made money 70% of the time. The fact that it didn’t in 2000, or in 2001, is both uncommon and irrelevant to your long-term planning. Therefore, you should not let this recent performance affect your long-term investment strategy.

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