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Old 10-21-2009, 11:52 AM
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Yeah, I sorta agree with him and sorta don't. Actually, if you ante up now (or preferably 1 year ago). . .buying and holding may not be a bad idea, if you are 10+ years out.

Where I think it has been bad is where it became "non-contrarian" - in the early/mid 90's where "buy and hold" was the mantra of the day. I don't think that has proven to be an exceptional strategy the last 15 years, esp. now if you need your money locked down in bonds/cash because you are near retirement.

I mean, think about it. . .what if you were 60 y.o. and had 40% of your money in stocks in 2006? And even that other 60% in bonds took a small hit. Now. . .you have to start assessing downside risk of even being 20-30% in stocks as you start to near 65 y.o.

I realize though this goes against the mainstream advice given out here to newbie investors - put 10% of your takehome in stocks/bonds/mutual funds and forget about it.

(or rebalance every so often but mostly forget about it)

Not trying to change anyone's strategy - if DS, BA and/or KTP want to continue to b&h, that's fine. I lean more towards agreeing with him than disagreeing with him. I don't think that means you have to necessarily day trade. . .but I don't like the idea of "buying and forgeddabout it".
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