1/ A short (real-life) story on investing for the long term.

In 1999, a Hedge Fund Manager paid $150,000 to buy a painting by Ed Ruscha titled "Sunset to Pico". Around 2015, he wanted to retire and decided to sell the painting.

2/ He talked to some appraisers and they told him it could potentially be worth $1 M. So he set up an auction to sell it. When the gavel went down for the last time, he had found someone willing to take it off his hands for $2.3 M, a 153x over his original purchase price.

3/ Later he narrated the story to Christopher W. Mayer, the author of the best-seller "100 Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1", telling him how he made 153x over 16 Years. The first thing Chris Mayer responded was "If it had been a stock, you'd never have held it that long."

4/ If someone had stood outside the Fund Manager's house every day and quoted a price for the painting, he would have probably sold it when it made 2x, 5x or at the most a 10x. He'd have never gotten to 153x.

5/ Saying "Invest in good companies and hold for a long time" is very easy. Implementing it in real life is tricky because we are constantly bombarded with information that makes us think we should probably sell. As Warren Buffett put it, investing is simple, but not easy.

END/ Sources

"100 Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1" by Chris Mayer: https://www.amazon.in/100-Baggers-Stocks-100-1/dp/1621291650/ref=sr_1_1?crid=20EHJM9PW6ZV5&dchild=1&keywords=100+baggers&qid=1596548834&sprefix=100+Baggers%2Caps%2C577&sr=8-1

"Chris Mayer on 100-Baggers" Presentation:

"Sunset to Pico" by Ed Ruscha (High Quality image): http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/contemporary-art-day-auction-n09421/lot.207.html

Correction: 15.33x