If you're investing for the long run — whether it's to fund retirement, create generational wealth or simply protect your savings from the corrosive effects of inflation — one strategy stands out from the rest: owning equities and staying invested.
While markets are full of noise, short-term volatility and headlines designed to spark emotion, long-term investing is about something simpler and more powerful: compounding real business growth over time.
Equities, unlike cash or bonds, give you ownership in the future — a claim on the earnings, innovation and productivity of real companies.
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Kiplinger's Adviser Intel, formerly known as Building Wealth, is a curated network of trusted financial professionals who share expert insights on wealth building and preservation. Contributors, including fiduciary financial planners, wealth managers, CEOs and attorneys, provide actionable advice about retirement planning, estate planning, tax strategies and more. Experts are invited to contribute and do not pay to be included, so you can trust their advice is honest and valuable.
Below are five timeless principles that have guided successful investors for decades.
Whether you're managing your own portfolio or just beginning your investment journey, understanding these concepts can help you build lasting, inflation-beating wealth.
1. Equities can outpace inflation like nothing else
Inflation is one of the most underestimated threats to wealth. It may not feel dramatic in any given year, but over a decade or two, it's relentless.
What you can buy for $1 today might cost $2 or more (much more) in the future. If your money isn't growing faster than inflation, you're effectively losing ground.
This is where equities shine. Stocks represent ownership in real companies — businesses that can raise prices, improve productivity, innovate and expand. Over time, this growth translates into rising revenues, earnings and, ultimately, share prices.
Many companies also return cash to shareholders in the form of dividends, which contribute to total returns.
Compare that to cash, which loses purchasing power year after year, or bonds, which may offer stability but often fail to beat inflation after taxes.
Equities may be volatile in the short run, but over the long run, they've proven to be the most effective way to stay ahead of inflation and grow real wealth.
Key insight: If you want your money to keep its value — and grow in value — over the long term, equities aren't a luxury; they're a necessity.
2. Never invest without a margin of safety
All investments carry risk — but not all risks are equal. One of the smartest ways to manage that risk is to buy with a margin of safety: purchasing stocks or funds when their prices are reasonable or below their intrinsic value.
This doesn't mean waiting for a crash or trying to time the bottom. It means focusing on companies with a strong balance sheet, consistent earnings, competitive advantages and sustainable growth — and buying their stock when it's not overpriced.
For broad index investors, it means continuing to invest regularly, especially during market pullbacks.
The margin of safety acts as a buffer. If markets dip, you're less likely to suffer permanent losses. And if your instinct and research were right, you've set yourself up for solid long-term gains with lower risk.
Key insight: Great investing isn't about predicting the future — it's about reducing downside risk and letting time work for you.
3. Time in the market beats timing the market
Trying to guess the perfect time to buy or sell is one of the most common — and costly — mistakes that investors make. The market can rise or fall on headlines, interest rates, economic data or even pure sentiment.
Missing just a few of the best-performing days over a decade can have a massive impact on your overall return.
On the other hand, staying invested — even during turbulent times — allows you to capture the full benefit of market growth.
Historically, the market has recovered from every correction, crash and recession. Those who have stayed invested through those periods have eventually been rewarded.
This is where dollar-cost averaging — investing consistently over time — becomes powerful. By regularly contributing to your portfolio regardless of market conditions, you eliminate the need to "guess right" and ensure you're always participating in the market's long-term trajectory.
Key insight: You don't need perfect timing — just consistent participation. Long-term investing rewards the patient, not the lucky.
4. Your emotions are the greatest risk
When things are going well, investors feel invincible and take on more risk. When markets fall, fear takes over — and many people sell at the worst possible time. This cycle of emotional investing is one of the biggest destroyers of wealth.
The key to overcoming this common investing blunder? Emotional discipline. Having a clear investment plan and sticking to it regardless of short-term market movements is critical. This means avoiding reactionary decisions based on fear, greed or media hype.
It also means understanding that volatility is normal, that corrections are inevitable and that downturns can often provide opportunities.
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Here's a metaphor I like: View your portfolio like a farm. You don't sell the farm because of a bad harvest season — you plant, water and wait for things to turn around.
In the same way, successful investing means staying calm and rational when others aren't.
Key insight: Your behavior during downturns matters more than the downturn itself. The disciplined investor will come out ahead.
5. Dividends and compounding are the quiet engines of growth
It's easy to focus on stock prices and overlook one of the most powerful components of long-term returns: dividends. These regular payouts may seem small in the beginning, but when reinvested, they contribute significantly to portfolio growth.
Reinvested dividends allow you to buy more shares, which can then generate more dividends — creating a compounding effect that snowballs over time.
Some of the most successful long-term investors didn't get there by chasing fast-growing stocks; they built wealth by owning dividend-paying companies and letting compounding do its work.
Key insight: Price appreciation may get all the attention, but dividends and compounding quietly build lasting wealth.
Bottom line: Invest with patience, not perfection
The most successful investors aren't necessarily the ones with the highest IQ or the most complex strategies. They're the ones who stay consistent, think long term and trust the process. They understand that markets will rise and fall — and that over decades, markets have an upward trajectory.
Here's a reminder I keep close: It's not about predicting the future; it's about preparing for it.
And the best preparation, in my opinion, is to:
- Own high-quality equities
- Reinvest dividends
- Avoid emotional decisions
- Keep contributing
- Stay the course
Because, in the end, long-term wealth doesn't come from timing the market — it comes from time in the market.
Kim Franke-Folstad contributed to this article.
The appearances in Kiplinger were obtained through a PR program. The columnist received assistance from a public relations firm in preparing this piece for submission to Kiplinger.com. Kiplinger was not compensated in any way.
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