If you think buy-and-hold investing is dead, then you need to watch this video.
As Motley Fool contributor John Maxfield points out, a quarter-century long investment in the S&P 500 (^GSPC +1.48%), or in the longest-trading companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +1.32%), would have yielded total returns in the three to four figures. Meanwhile, the average individual investor consistently and considerably underperforms the broader market.
*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.
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It's inevitable that certain individuals and institutions will intermittently proclaim the death of buy-and-hold investing. But the reality is that it's still the only way for investors to generate consistent, long-term returns.