Title: Stock Trader or Investor?
Headings: Stock Trader or Investor?
Stock Trader or Investor?
Be Both a Short-Term Trader and a Long-Term Investor

Content: Therefore, the manager may have to buy large quantities of stock when he would prefer to be selling. In other words, the behavior of individual investors (investing when stocks are high and selling when they are low) has a significant negative impact on the performance of fund managers who could do a much better job if investors would simply stay put instead of trying to “time the market.” Timing the market is an activity for which most investors are poorly equipped. The managers are being forced to behave like the amateurs who invest in their funds. Managers therefore admonish investors to hold for the long-term. They repeat it in every TV interview and in every financial publication where they are quoted: “ do not be a trader, hold for the long term; that is the only way to invest wisely.” Managers are simply saying, “stay put and let us do our job.” The fund managers are right.