Break your portfolio into three buckets:

1️⃣ Cash & Bonds
2️⃣ Stocks held over one year
3️⃣ Stocks held under one year

Now ask yourself these questions:

1. Cash & Bonds
Let’s say your yield was 6%. The S&P averaged 14% per year from 2020 to 2024. That’s a missed opportunity of 8% annually—or 40% total over five years. Is that level of diversification worth it?

2. Long-Term Holdings
Open your phone. Type in your stock symbol and compare it to the S&P’s 5-year performance. Chances are, 85% of your long-term holdings underperformed the market.

3. Short-Term Holdings
The average holding period? Just 6 months.

Here’s a simple formula to check your 2024 performance:

👉 (Ending balance – Starting balance – Contributions) / Starting balance

Compare that to the S&P’s 23% return in 2024. Most investors come in 5% short.

The takeaway?

You’re not really investing if you’re flipping assets every six months.

📈 Want better performance?

Just buying and holding the S&P could increase your return by 5% annually.

Or…

There’s the Stars model, which has outperformed the S&P by 19 percentage points annually over the last 14 years.

📊 Long-term thinking isn’t just wise—it’s profitable.

Are you playing the long game?