Stock Market - Whither the Buy and Hold Strategy?

I have been a small-time investor for quite a number of years and I have had losses and gains and in general I have gained. I do not like the word "playing the stock-market" because of its gambling connotations. My initial intention of going into the market was to buy and hold and grow with the company, thriving on its regular  dividends. A noble and somewhat naive concept in countries like Malaysia.

Some years ago I did stay with the company "Kemayan Corporation"... now where is it? Still not able to come out of its lapsed PN4 status. I learnt a hard lesson. The blinking owner it seemed sold off all his assets around the time of the Asian Financial Crisis 1998. Heck! Even the Wall St juggernaut, the Lehman Brothers was also wiped off the face of the earth during the global financial crash in October 2008!

Gone are the days of the fabulously wealthy Warren Buffet, the master investor  who buys and holds stocks for years on end and has benefited from the growth in fundamentals and in shares. As the savvy financial blogger at Malaysia-Finance Blogspot says, qoute " Investing in stocks nowadays is no longer a buy and hold strategy. We must be prepared to consider the timing of waves and major breaks. Not just in Malaysia, now almost every markets are trend driven markets because of the sheer force and size of leveraged funds and big trading prop computer models". He appears to be  promoting the use of charts to somewhat "time" the market.

For the life of me, I can understand statistics but those stock charts often baffle me. Come to think of it, the charts are actually a graphic reflection of herd behaviour of investors, big or small, institutional or individuals. But I can easily tell you, as you have already known, the movers and the shakers are the institutional guys. So what do small time participant like me do? To be with it, we need to follow the trend closely and read, read and read. The other activity is monitor, monitor and monitor. I will look at charts for market trends but  I am also aware that they are not the only indicators.

The "Buy and hold" strategy may still be relevant in some instances. I bought SIME when it almost bottomed out at 6.00  in late 2008 and held it till it touched  9.00 over two years. Had I sold it earlier by looking at the trend, my gain would not have been  as substantial. Anyway I still have another 50% left and am monitoring for the next upside?

Investing is fun and this is the main reason I come in as I want to see how my money grow and how it helps in an infinitesimal way, drive the economy of the country.  Stock market's  performance is an indicator of the state of the economy and how industrious the people of the country are. I am not savvy at all but I am learning all the time. And so far investing has kept me alert and looking forward to each day with anticipation.

Remember,  the only constant thing in  stock markets is their cyclical nature!