The empowerment of the individual investor in recent years has led to a number of myths. One of these myths is that, with the use of "limit" orders, an investor has ultimate control over buy and/or sell prices.

A limit order allows an investor to specify the exact price at which he or she is willing to buy and sell a stock - not a penny more.

Many investors believe limit orders empower investors to buy stock at the "perfect" price.

Actually, limit orders only provide the illusion of control. In fact, I maintain that investors who try to "micro" time their investment purchases via limit orders are doing themselves more harm than good.

I know when I've used limit orders, it usually cost me money in lost opportunities. What happens is that the stock falls to one-quarter or one-eighth above my buy price and than skyrockets. By "saving" 25 cents per share, I may lose thousands of dollars in potential profits.

I no longer use limit orders.

For long-term investors, it makes little difference whether you pay one eighth or one quarter more for a share of stock. If you plan to hold for 10 years or more, paying the extra pennies won't make a bit of difference.

I think one of the benefits of buying stock via BUYandHOLD is that investors cannot use limit orders when buying or selling stock. That's a plus, since it forces investors to focus on long-term investing, which may be the best approach to making money, in my opinion. Besides, the twice-daily purchases of BUYandHOLD should provide ample opportunities to buy the stock in a timely fashion without "micro" timing your purchases.

Bottom Line: Don't worry so much about "overpaying" by a quarter or an eighth to buy a stock. If it is a quality company, ten years from now you may be happy you purchased those shares.