Time in the market vs Timing the market

[ghchua]

Looks like buy and hold strategy also involves a lot of qualitative evaluation

There is no need for them. Just buy a portfolio of these small and mid cap stocks and hold them for long term. Eventually, quite a few will turn out to be good, most not doing anything and some will be zero.

But since the outperformers will contribute most of the gains and the most you can lose in one stock is 100% of your investment, you will do ok in the long term.

The key is to stay disciplined and re-invest your dividends and income consistently back into the portfolio, regardless of market conditions.

[Ben]

Weijian has so beautifully said something like this; that Buy and Hold is an approach, not a method (sorry, I can not remember the exact words he used, but the meaning is such), and I 100% agreed to it and have been practicing it all the time. I always buy a stock with the intention to hold LT (my approach), but my subsequent actions towards the stock (buy/sell) will depend on circumstances (my method).

This investing style may not serve me best, but certainly serves me well.

[weijian]

Weijian has so beautifully said something like this; that Buy and Hold is an approach, not a method (sorry, I can not remember the exact words he used, but the meaning is such), and I 100% agreed to it and have been practicing it all the time. I always buy a stock with the intention to hold LT (my approach), but my subsequent actions towards the stock (buy/sell) will depend on circumstances (my method).

This investing style may not serve me best, but certainly serves me well.

Hi Ben,

I think I probably tried to differentiate between principles and methods.

Principles are timeless and enduring.

Methods are 2nd order derivatives as a result of the principles we subscribe to.

So yes, arguing about methods is pretty much futile because all of us adopt different principles according to our temperament. It is my firm belief that each of us have our own temperament (for us to discover), and based on our temperament, we instil our principles and hold onto them dearly. When all these foundation firmly built, we can look at all the methods (and there are so many!) and use them accordingly.