Originally Posted by Chuck33079

Traders are looking to buy something mis-priced and sell it quickly. You can make some money that way, but it's closer to gambling than investing. If you're always trying to hit a home run, you'll strike out a lot. If you're trying to build up a portfolio, buy things and hold them. It'll take time. Honestly, five years is just starting to be considered long-term.

Just so you know, I'm a buy-and-hold guy for the most part. There's a lot of guys in this thread that fall more on the side of short term trading. There's a lot of different viewpoints on this stuff, and none of us are right all the time.