Questioning the Buy-and-Hold Strategy

To buy and hold or not to buy and hold (apologies to the Bard)? Unfortunately, that's not really the right question to be asking.

Planners Stick to Buy-and-Hold Guns -- Unless You Aren't Diversified

Buy and Hold -- Until Your Reason for Holding Is Gone

Smarter Money: Tough Love for Your Portfolio

Why the Fund Firms Tell You to Buy and Hold

Got the Buy-and-Hold Blues? Don't Feel Bad, It's the American Way

Questioning the Buy-and-Hold Strategy

Is Your Buy-and-Hold Stock Now a Sell?

Some investors scorched by the tech sector's ongoing free fall are no doubt questioning the buy-and-hold strategy that left them hanging on to growth and tech funds that have been folding for more than a year. But in most cases, the culprit is what was bought, not how. The concept of buying fund shares and hanging on to them for years has merit, but only if you're planning to buy and hold a well-diversified portfolio. A portfolio dominated by the tech-heavy growth funds investors bought in record droves during the past few years -- the equivalent of taking a home-run swing -- doesn't typically fit that bill.

Let's look at how the buy-and-hold strategy should work, how it can backfire and a couple of portfolios that might suit it. ...