Is the Buy and Hold Strategy Still a Valid Investment Strategy?
In the last few weeks I’ve heard several commentators say that the buy and hold strategy is no longer an effective strategy in today’s markets because it’s purely a trader’s market. So is this true or is this an ill-informed opinion? Well my own view is that yes the volatility in today’s markets certainly throws up plenty of short-term trading opportunities. You can go long and short via spread-betting companies or through trading options and futures, and you can rack up big gains (and big losses) in as little as a few hours. In fact it’s not uncommon for certain stocks to go up or down 10-20% in a day which is incredible when you consider that most investors would settle for those sorts of gains in a year. These are volatile times but that’s not to say that you can’t make substantial profits through the tried and tested buy and hold strategy. You only have to look at Warren Buffett, the greatest buy and hold investor of them all. He’s still buying shares in good quality companies and
