Published July 12, 2019
The vast majority of investment advisors and brokers preach the wonders of buy-and-hold. It is industry doctrine and much print is devoted to convincing clients that buy-and-hold is the only rational approach to investing. As trend-timers we have largely rejected the buy-and-hold mantra of the investment industry. But why do we reject it?
This week, we’ll explore some of the more common arguments presented to support the buy-and-hold investment approach and our contrarian view of those arguments.
Buy-and-hold argument 1: despite the ups and downs, the stock market generates a significantly positive return over time. Investors should stay invested for the long-term and take advantage of this natural tendency for stocks to go up as the economy grows.
This is certainly true. Stocks DO tend to go up over long periods of time. The chart below shows that over the past 100 years, stocks have generated an average annual return of about 10%. The chart also shows the variation in returns over various rolling periods of time. For example, over any 10-year period, stocks have almost always delivered a positive return with some 10-year periods offering almost a 20% return. Of course, stocks just concluded a rare “lost decade” where the return was negative. Over any 20-year period, stocks have never given a negative return. Hopefully, that statistic continues.
Chart 1: Range of Stock Market (Dow) Returns (for holding periods from 1 to 100 yrs)
If an investor is now 20-30 years old and has decades of investing ahead of them, perhaps there is some comfort to be taken in these long-term averages. However, if an investor is recently retired without enough resources to last, they can ill afford a 10-20 year period of single digit annual returns. In summary, the stock market delivers a solid return over long periods of time. But those returns can vary dramatically over shorter periods of time, even to the point of being negative for entire 10-year periods. Having just gone through such a “lost decade”, it seems highly unlikely such performance will be repeated, however.
Buy-and-hold argument 2: missing the 10 best days in stocks dramatically reduces returns. Thus, investors must stay the course in order to be present for these critical days.
This argument is trotted out frequently to support buy-and-hold. And the data can look pretty compelling. To whet our appetite for buy-and-hold riches even more, let’s take the most recent secular bull market from 1984-2000, a period where stocks offered an enormous 17.89% annual return. $100 invested at the beginning of 1984 would have grown by almost 14x by the end of 1999. So, what’s the impact of missing the biggest up days? Table 1 below shows the impact of missing not only the best 10 days; but extends that to the impact of missing the best 20 days, best 30, and 40 days. The effect is dramatic. We obviously cannot afford to miss those key days.
Table 1: Missing best days impact
|
Number of Trading |
Miss the
Best Days |
“Lost”
Annual Return |
|
0 days
|
17.89%
|
None
|
|
10 days
|
14.24%
|
-3.65%
|
|
20 days
|
11.99%
|
-5.90%
|
|
30 days
|
10.01%
|
-7.88%
|
|
40 days
|
8.23%
|
-9.66%
|
Okay, it’s obvious that missing large up days damages returns. What is usually missing in this argument is the other side of the coin: What if you miss the WORST days? It turns out the impact is far more dramatic than missing the best days.
Table 2: Missing best days versus missing worst days
|
Number of Trading |
Miss the
Best Days |
Miss the
Worst Days |
|
10 days
|
14.24%
|
24.17%
|
|
20 days
|
11.99%
|
27.04%
|
|
30 days
|
10.01%
|
29.45%
|
|
40 days
|
8.23%
|
31.66%
|
Chart 2: Growth of $100 from 1984-2000
Almost every investor has heard the story of missing the 10 best days. How many have heard about missing the 10 worst days? And the data above was during the longest running Bull market of our generation. A period when buy-and-hold generated outstanding returns. Even during this stellar stock market period, the benefit of avoiding losses to preserve capital for future gains is abundantly clear.
Buy-and-hold argument 3: You can’t time the market. Just look at the dismal performance of professional mutual fund managers! As a group, they under-perform the market over any extended period of time. If the best minds in the investing world cannot beat the market, why would you, Mr/Mrs Individual Investor, think that YOU can do it?
This one we won’t spend much time on. Many of the articles espousing this view focus on timing the market from one day to the next, which misses the point. Timing the market on a given day is not what any trend following strategy attempts to achieve. We think it’s ludicrous to believe you cannot time markets. We acknowledge that it’s impossible to consistently call the tops or the bottoms. But that’s never our intent. We simply argue that taking a passive buy-and-hold approach to investing is a disaster in a secular bear market such as we are in. The data above shows that, while not a disaster, being mindful of avoiding losses even during a strong secular bull period can improve results handsomely. We feel that our results speak for themselves, and offer a very strong endorsement for the benefits of preserving capital and building wealth through a trend timing philosophy. Our Knowledge Base and our blog publications are filled with tips, pointers, and methods for successfully implementing and making the most of our approach to investing.
Buy-and-hold has its place for investors who do not have the knowledge, capability, or resources available to pursue any other strategy. But with the advent of discount brokers and the vast information available on the internet, excuses are far fewer than they once were. Spread the word: there are better ways to invest! You need not rely completely on the generous spirit of market forces to deliver your returns. After all, we have seen that the market can be anything but generous.
Market Update
Following a strong employment report the previous Friday, investors backed off expectations of a hefty interest rate cut at the upcoming meeting of the Federal Reserve sending stocks down -0.5% in Monday’s trade. Stocks ran in place Tuesday awaiting Wednesday’s Congressional testimony from Fed Chair Powell. The first day of the testimony gave investors the rate cut optimism they were looking for. Stocks rose +0.5% as a result, also boosted by a +5% increase in oil prices. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both hit key milestones Thursday as the Fed Chair wrapped up his testimony. Interestingly, rates rose both days of the testimony with the 10-year U.S. Treasury rising back above 2%. Stocks closed the week with a +0.5% gain and at fresh all-time highs with investors seemingly focused on pushing the S&P 500 above the 3000 level.
For the week the S&P 500 added +0.73% while the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) rose +1.30%. Small-cap stocks continued to under-perform with a -0.36% dip on the week.
Warm wishes and until next week.