Is buying & holding less stressful?

The world of investing offers a range of strategies as diverse as the investors who use them.

From the fast-paced excitement of day trading to the meticulous analysis of value investing, each approach carries its unique benefits & challenges. However, amid the whirlwind of charts and trends, one strategy stands out for its simplicity and relative tranquility: Buy and hold.

Buy and hold investing is like planting a tree. You carefully choose a sapling (stock) that you believe has potential.
You plant it (invest), provide it with the necessary nutrients (reinvestment of dividends), and you wait.
You wait for it to grow, to weather the storms and endure the seasons, knowing that over time, it will become a strong, towering entity.

Now, the question beckons, is this buy and hold strategy less stressful than its counterparts? Let’s dive into it.

There are many benefits of the buy & hold method that make it a superior style of portfolio management

1. Minimal Daily Stress

Unlike day or swing trading, which involves constant buying and selling and glued-to-the-screen monitoring, the buy and hold strategy lets you breathe. There’s no need to keep a hawk-eye on daily market fluctuations or lose sleep over short-term dips. You’re in it for the long haul, after all. This hands-off approach can significantly reduce daily stress, allowing you to enjoy your life outside the trading screens.

2. Lower Transaction Costs

Day trading can rack up significant transaction costs, including brokerage fees and taxes, which can eat into your profits. With a buy and hold strategy, you make fewer trades, which means fewer fees.

3. The Power of Compounding

Time is a powerful ally in investing, and the buy and hold strategy lets you harness this power fully. The longer you hold your investments, the more you can benefit from the magic of compounding, where your earnings generate even more earnings. Seeing your investments grow over time can be immensely satisfying and way less stressful than trying to time the market.

4. Less Susceptible to Emotional Trading

The buy and hold strategy can safeguard you against emotional trading. Since you’re not trying to capitalize on short-term market movements, you’re less likely to make impulsive trades driven by fear or greed. Instead, you can make rational decisions based on long-term growth prospects, which can result in a more balanced emotional state.

5. Historical Market Trends

Historically, despite numerous downturns, the stock market has shown a steady upward trend over the long term. This trend supports the buy and hold strategy, as it implies that even if your investments take a hit in the short term, they’re likely to recover and grow over the long run. Knowing this can provide a sense of security and lower stress levels.

However, as calming as the buy and hold strategy may sound, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires patience, resilience, and belief in your chosen investments. It’s essential to remember that even with a long-term perspective, thorough research and regular portfolio reviews are crucial to ensure your investments remain aligned with your financial goals.

Despite the benefits and tranquility that a buy and hold strategy can offer, it does not come without its fair share of challenges:

1. Market Rotations

Market conditions are constantly changing, with different sectors falling in and out of favor. What’s hot today may be cold tomorrow. A classic example of this is the rotation from growth to value stocks or from technology to cyclical stocks, depending on economic cycles. If you’re locked into a buy and hold strategy, you might miss opportunities to capitalize on these market rotations.

2. Leaving Money on the Table

While buy and hold can lead to substantial gains in the long run, it can also mean missing out on short-term profit opportunities. The market is full of peaks and troughs, and by holding onto a stock through these fluctuations, you may leave money on the table that could have been made from tactical trading.

3. Lower Liquidity

The buy and hold strategy ties up your capital for a longer period. This lack of liquidity can be stressful if you need to access funds for an emergency or an unexpected opportunity. Your money is effectively locked away in your investments, which can limit your financial flexibility.

4. Deep Research

Before settling into the comfort of buy and hold, you need to do your homework. This process involves in-depth analysis of the company’s financial health, competitive positioning, growth prospects, and the competence and integrity of its management.

Moreover, it’s not enough to study these factors at one point in time. As companies and market conditions evolve, you should regularly reassess your investments to make sure they still deserve a place in your portfolio. This is not day-to-day micromanaging, but rather occasional check-ups to ensure your investment thesis still holds water.

The biggest test of a buy and hold investor comes during market corrections. When prices plummet, it’s easy to doubt your investment decisions if you aren’t confident in them. This is where initial research pays off. If you’ve thoroughly vetted your investments, you’ll have the confidence to weather these storms, knowing that your choices are sturdy

In conclusion, buying and holding is one of — if not the strongest strategies when it comes to portfolio management. It can offer many significant benefits, from reduced stress to astounding compounding effects — but it also takes a considerable amount of research to wholly trust your investments and know that your money is in the right places.

Whether you’re buying & holding, trading, or anything in between automating your investments with Surmount makes it easier than ever. Surmount allows you to execute your investing strategy seamlessly, eliminating human error and emotion from the equation.

You can also automate more than just your strategy — you can offload some of the most important aspects of portfolio management such as rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, and more, allowing to participate in market rotations, capture short-term opportunities without leaving money on the table, and maintain liquidity according to your needs. Surmount allows you to be as hands-on or hands-off as you like, always ensuring your investment strategy is executed consistently and without emotional interference.

In essence, Surmount can make the ride smoother, whether you’re on the long, winding road of buy and hold or navigating the bustling streets of tactical trading. It’s like having a GPS that adapts to traffic conditions in real-time, ensuring you always take the most efficient route towards your financial destination.