I looked through nearly 40 years of annual return data for Nasdaq, and it’s quite interesting.

Some have calculated that when you look at the ups and downs over these decades, you'll realize the market has never moved in a straight line upward. There are indeed years with impressive gains, but there are also many years with losses, and some years even with significant losses.

But what's fascinating is that if you extend the timeframe to ten or twenty years, those short-term fluctuations seem less significant. The people who really make money are often not those constantly watching the market to buy low and sell high, but those who hold steady and wait patiently.

In simple terms, investing isn’t about who’s smarter, but about who’s more patient. Markets go through cycles, emotions fluctuate, but time filters out a lot of noise. If you can’t wait several years, then long-term investing might not be suitable for you.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should buy blindly without doing your homework. It’s about giving your decisions some time to prove themselves. After all, with compound interest, the biggest risk is getting off the train too early.