"A long term investment is a short term investment…

“A long term investment is a short term investment that failed” means that something went wrong and it will take the trader/investor longer to get his/her money back. This is semingly a Wall Street proverb, but many of the citations (starting from 2000) are from London.

Google Groups: misc.invest.mutual-funds
Newsgroups: misc.invest.mutual-funds
From: “Dave”
Date: 2000/01/03
Subject: Re: Fabian anyone?

The “buy and hold” approach reminds me of what I heard once: “A long term investment is a short term investment that went bust.”

30 April 2001, Evening Standard (London), ‘Resist the temptation to cast around a bargain” by William Davis:
You are no doubt familiar with the old joke that a long-term investment is a short-term investment that failed.

Google Books
The Global-Investor Book of Investing Rules:
Invaluable advice from 150 master investors
By Philip Jenks and Stephen Eckett
New York, NY: Financial Times/Prentice Hall
2002
Pg. 236:
A long term investment is a short term investment which has gone wrong.
This is a trader’s dictum, not an investor’s, but it is still useful.

Google Books
Andrew McHattie on Covered Warrants:
New Opportunities in an Exciting New Market
By Andrew McHattie
Harriman House
2002
Pg. 89:
One stockmarket maxim which brings a wry smile to the mouths of most experienced investors is “a long-term investment is a short-term investment gone wrong.”

Google Books
Asymmetric Returns:
The future of active asset management
By Alexander M. Ineichen
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
2007
Pg. 306:
Once we overheard a cynic saying that “a long-term investment is a short-term investment that went wrong.”

House Price Crash forum
#1 on West side
Mar 9 2007, 03:20 PM
P.S. Definition of Long Term Investment : a failed short term investment!

Hedge Against Speculation
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A LONG TERM INVESTMENT IS A FAILED SHORT TERM INVESTMENT
A long term investment is a short term investment that has failed. Keep that in mind these next few days if you are going long.

investEd
02bsure
05-09-2008, 04:38 PM
The definition of a ‘long term investment’ is a short term investment gone bad.

Tough Times Never Last
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Stock Market Proverbs
(...)
Sometime, A long term investment is actually a short term investment that failed.

World of Timepass
Stock Market Jokes | Investing Jokes
By admin • November 7, 2008
(...)
A long term investment is a short term investment that failed.

Google Finance: Hemispherx BioPharma, Inc.
From: James

Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:59:24 -0700 (PDT)
Local: Tues, Jun 30 2009 7:59 am
Subject: To pass the time

A long term investment is a short term investment that failed.