In order to maximize the benefits of a buy-and-hold strategy, you can't simply buy and hold. You need to do the following:

Buy and hold . . . and buy some more.

Indeed, a buy-and-hold investment strategy is geared for the long term. Over many years, stock prices fluctuate. If you are just holding your investments and not adding to them, you are not taking advantage of these price setbacks to add to positions.

I run into people all of the time that bad-mouth a buy-and-hold strategy. "I bought XYZ Corp. and held it all the way from $40 to $20. Buy and hold doesn't work!"

For such people, I usually have two questions:

• How long have you held the investment? Usually these people have held for less than a year - hardly the "long term."
• Have you bought more of the stock? I know buying stocks that decline is hard. But that's how you buy stocks on sale. If you really, really liked the stock when you bought it at $40, and it falls to $30, you should be buying more.

Of course, buying and holding and buying more can be disastrous if you do this with a stock that goes from $50 to $2 and never recovers. That's why you need to choose your stocks wisely. I feel much more comfortable, for example, buying and holding and buying more of a blue chip, industry leading stock than I do of a third-tier Internet stock.

Bottom line: It is not enough to merely buy and hold stocks. If you truly want to reap the benefits of a buy-and-hold strategy, you need to be willing to step up to the plate and buy more when the stock declines.

Periodic Investment Plans do not assure a profit and do not protect against losses in declining markets and you should consider your financial ability to continue to purchase through periods of low price levels.