The answer: as long as we want, but as long as possible.

Does timing matter? To some extent, yes. But if we are investing for the long term, it is not something that can be measured in hours or days. Whether we bought a stock on a Monday or a Friday is not what makes the difference. What matters is the value we bought and the price we paid for it.

There is an interesting statistic about stock holding periods that can also be found in Benjamin Graham’s book The Intelligent Investor. In 1973, the typical stockholder held their shares for an average of around five years before selling. By 2002, this had dropped to just 11.4 months. The same trend could be seen among professional fund managers: while they held stocks for roughly three years on average in 1973, by 2002 the average holding period had fallen to only 10.9 months. Estimates suggest that today the average holding period for a stock may be around six months.

This naturally raises the question: when someone calls themselves an investor, do they really understand the difference between speculation and investing? Or has Wall Street simply been so successful over the years at blurring the line between the two concepts? What exactly are we hoping to achieve in six months? Are we so confident that we believe we can predict the direction of the markets and generate extraordinary returns? Or is it the adrenaline and excitement that drives people?

Based on my experience, I believe that if we truly see ourselves as investors and act accordingly, our own transactions should help push these average holding periods higher. In other words, we will not sell a stock within a year just because its price has moved this way or that way. An investor does not concern themselves with six-month or one-year price movements in the first place. In fact, after carefully selecting and buying a stock, the best approach is often to avoid checking the current price too frequently — perhaps only once every few months — so that we do not even feel tempted to make unnecessary moves in the market.