00:00 Speaker A
Everyone says they’re a long-term investor. That is until the market drops 5%, and then they’re refreshing their portfolio every 10 minutes. Let’s be clear. Long-term investing is not a slogan. It’s a mindset. And most people completely misunderstand what it actually means. Long-term investing doesn’t mean buying and holding forever, no matter what. It doesn’t mean ignoring risk or blindly trusting the market will come back at some point. What it means is you have a clear plan, a disciplined process, and the patience to let time, not emotion, do all the heavy lifting. Being a long-term investor means you’re focused on the fundamentals, earnings, growth potential, market position, leadership, not headlines or hype. It means you’re not reacting to every dip or rotation. You’re not chasing performance. You’re thinking in years, not quarters. And it also means knowing when the long-term thesis has changed. Long-term doesn’t mean stubborn. It means you hold as long as the reason you bought the asset is still holding up. If it doesn’t, it’s time to move on. No ego, no emotion. The reason long-term investing works is because time smooths out the volatility. Markets go up, they go down, but over time, it’s always quality that wins. Dividends compound, strong businesses grow, and disciplined investors, the ones who can stay in the game, always come out ahead. The bottom line? Long-term investing isn’t about ignoring the noise. It’s about knowing which noise to ignore. And that takes more than just patience. It takes conviction, clarity, and a whole lot of discipline.