Is Buy and Hold Really Dead?

 For being the richest, and arguably the most successful investor in the world, not many people follow Warren Buffett's lead.  People are constantly saying things like, "buy and hold is dead," or "you need to play the market short term."  First of all, anyone that "plays" the market are the type of investors that cause the flux we're seeing in the markets these days.  It's not a game.  Second of all, everyone seems to be forgetting, once again, to learn from the past.  As the old saying goes, those who don't learn from the past are destined to repeat it.  If you take a look at some of the great investment firms these days, that can offer around a 10% return.  WOW!  Thats not bad at all!  However, I should point out that if you look at Mr. Buffetts track record, he's averaging around 21% returns on his investments.  How does he do it?  Well, there's actually a science behind the investment stratagy, however, the key ingredient leading to success?  Value investing.  He's made countless fortunes during recessions by buying large numbers of shares in solid companies during recessions just like this.  Companies like GE that are down on their luck, but have an outstanding track record in the past.  Also like the crash of '87 when Mr. Buffett bought 7% of coca cola and an outstandingly low price of between $4-5 per share.  He still owns these shares today, and it is worth nearly $50 per share.  You can make similar cases for his holdings in Geico, American Express, and countless other major investments he's made in his career.  The one thing he was consistant about, he didn't sell a company because it had a bad month, quarter, or year.  He understood that if it was a good company, it would and still can come around to make truck loads of money.  I can't complain though, the way short term sellers change stocks in their portfolio makes making money for value investors that much easier.