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I think the criteria being applied here to determine who is a "long-term investor" are utterly unrealistic. Continuing to hold the same position for ten or twenty or however many years the authors of this study deem necessary is not proof one is a long-term investor, it is proof that one is either a member of a core control group or that one is indexed, and that this particular index constituent has remained in the benchmark for the entire time. Investing for the long term means evaluating the long-term prospects of a company and holding a position which meets those criteria for as long as they are appropriately discounted in the present share price. If the price significantly exceeds those bounds, the position should be sold, and not repurchased, until and unless the share price returns to less than the long-term discounted value of that company using reasonable investment criteria. Similarly, if the long-term prospects of the company change for the worse, the position should be re-evaluated and sold, if it appears that the price is no longer justified. IT DOES NOT MEAN that the active long-term investor should hold onto the position through thick and thin no matter what, until death do them part.

A long-term investor factors into valuations both sustainability criteria (which may indicate that one company should be sold, as well as that another ought be held), and the potential discounted value of projects which might not ripen for five or even ten years. It is neither a marriage nor a suicide pact.

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