Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Buy and hold

 
Investment Dictionary: Buy And Hold

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.

Investopedia Says:
Conventional investing wisdom tells us that with a long time horizon, equities render a higher return than other asset classes such as bonds. There is, however, a debate over whether a buy-and-hold strategy is actually superior to an active investing strategy; both sides have valid arguments. A buy-and-hold strategy has tax benefits, however, because long-term investments tend to be taxed at a lower rate than short-term investments.

Related Links:
Discover tips from a long-term strategy that can help you make better short-term trades. What Can Traders Learn From Investors?
There are many strategies to help balance your portfolio. Here are a few to get you started. Choose Your Own Asset Allocation Adventure
These guiding principles will help you avoid common folly during the decision-making process. Ten Tips For The Successful Long-Term Investor
Investors would be wise to consider the impact of the government's cut on their returns. Learn ways to minimize it. A Long-Term Mindset Meets Dreaded Capital-Gains Tax
Find out what to look out for when trading during market instability. Tips For Investors In Volatile Markets
These two approaches aren't incompatible - learn how to get the best of both worlds. What Can Investors Learn From Traders?
Diversification? Optimal portfolio theory? Read this tutorial and these and other financial concepts will be made clear. Financial Concepts


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Wikipedia: Buy and hold
Top

Buy and hold is a long term investment strategy based on the view that in the long run financial markets give a good rate of return despite periods of volatility or decline. This viewpoint also holds that market timing, i.e. the concept that one can enter the market on the lows and sell on the highs, does not work for small, or unsophisticated, investors so it is better to simply buy and hold.

The antithesis of buy and hold is the concept of day trading in which money can be made in the short term if an individual tries to short on the peaks, and buy on the lows with greater money coming with greater volatility.

One of the strongest arguments for the buy and hold strategy is the efficient market hypothesis (EMH): If every security is fairly valued at all times, then there is really no point to trade. Some take the buy and hold strategy to an extreme, advocating that you should never sell a security unless you need the money [1].

Others have advocated buy and hold on purely cost-based grounds, without resort to the EMH. Costs such as brokerage and bid/offer spread are incurred on all transactions, and buy-and-hold involves the fewest transactions for a given amount invested in the market, all other things being equal. Warren Buffett is an example of a buy and hold advocate who has rejected the EMH in his writings.

See also

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Investment Dictionary. Copyright ©2000, Investopedia.com - Owned and Operated by Investopedia Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Buy and hold" Read more