It is true. Stock returns can be unpredictable, which is why so many feel investing is like gambling — irrational, even scary. Echoing that sentiment, The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig wrote over the weekend, “There is something poignantly human about every attempt to make markets behave as we all wish they would: always rising and making us richer, never falling and inflicting pain upon us.”

For all the volatility we’ve experienced this year, stocks are basically flat to modestly up. Down 300 points one day, up 250 points the next day. Exhausting, right? Only if we focus on the daily movements in stock prices. As investors, we must be in it for the long term, buying shares of stocks we are willing to own for a lifetime. Here’s why. According to the Dalbar 2010 Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior Study, the S&P 500 returned 9.14 percent over the previous 20 years, while the average investor in equity mutual funds earned 3.83 percent. This is because individuals tend to sell based on emotions, at just the wrong time. Yielding to emotions does not yield profits.

Let’s look at it another way.  To read more please click below:  TheArizonaRepublic