Wall Street is perhaps the only market in the world where merchandise becomes more sought after the more expensive it gets. Conversely, merchandise that ends up on the bargain tables may find no buyers.

One reason for this incongruity is that few investors take a long-term view. Instead, they focus on short-term performance, which means buying momentum and shunning quality stocks that may be dead money for a few months.

A huge advantage individual investors have in the investment game is time. Time to let an investment idea develop. Time to let the magic of compounding work on your investments.

And time to wait for a rebound in quality stocks that have been beaten up on Wall Street.

One of the things I like about BUYandHOLD is that the service is tailored-made for allowing investors to "step up to the plate" to buy stocks that are down. With BUYandHOLD, you can make an initial commitment in a depressed blue chip with only a little money, thus protecting yourself should you be buying when the decline is only, say, half over. Furthermore, your BUYandHOLD account provides a vehicle through which you can easily add investment dollars over time, especially if the stock dips further.

To be sure, buying depressed stocks can be dicey. Many depressed stocks are depressed for good reasons - the company's fortunes have changed for the worse, and visibility for near-term improvement is low. Thus, investors have to be selective in the types of stocks they buy on weakness.

As a rule, I try to avoid speculative, second- and third-tier stocks that don't have the financial firepower, market leadership, or technological strength to forge a sustained turnaround. Instead, I focus on industry leaders that may have been beaten up because of short-term problems but where the company's long-term prospects remain bright.