You see - a Buy, Hold & Pray investor is an investor who buys a random stock based on minimal research or tips and then “Prays” for the stock to go up. You may have done this in the past - I know I have.

The problem with this is that you never know when your investment is going to go up. What amazes me the most is that “traders” always thing that EVERY stock they get into will go up.

Rubbish.

Even every stock Warren Buffett and George Soros get into don’t go up. So do they consistently make money?

They develop “Age Old Systems and Strategies”. And then they just simply APPLY them.

Just look at this chart of the S&P 500 from 1985 to 2009. But I especially want you to look at the period between 1997 and 2009. The market went all the way up to 1,500+ TWICE and ended back at LOWER than the initial price in 1997.

So for those that have been holding onto stock for this whole period the market has gone up, come down, gone up again and come down again. Through this period you would have been paying:

1. Interest Costs (if you used borrowed money)
2. Trading Costs

Where do these come from?

What most “Traders” see in this is that they haven’t lost money as long as the market doesn’t go down further than the initial point of purchase. However, an “Investor” would see that these costs need to be paid and when an asset is not generating a return - the costs are constituted as losses.

Don’t be a buy hold and pray investor. Manage your money, don’t let your money manage you.

http://www.CashForLifeInvesting.com