By Scott Ronalds

Long term. À long terme. A largo plazo. Langfristig. However you say it, it’s one of the most widely used terms in investing. It’s also one of the most vague. Long term means different things to different people. To some investors, it’s a few years. To Warren Buffett, it’s forever.

There’s no explicit number of years that constitutes a long time frame, but it has to be long enough to include a number of events. Stocks will get beaten up and boosted up. There will be periods of doom and gloom, and stretches of euphoria and exuberance. Three recessions will be predicted for every one that occurs (and there will be more than one). Interest rates will rise and fall. Bubbles will form and pop. Gold will be cherished and scorned. Trends will come and go. The pundits will claim it’s different this time. And markets will eventually revert to their historic averages. Stocks will beat bonds and bonds will beat cash.

The longer the time frame, the more this holds true.

Are you in for the long haul?