# Buy and Hold Strategy Lacks Best Days

> Missing 30 market days can cut returns by 84%.
- Title: Buy and Hold Strategy Lacks Best Days · Kiplinger | Shortify
- Summary: Missing 30 market days can cut returns by 84%. A buy-and-hold investor misses 84% of wealth by skipping the market's 30 best days.
- Keywords: s&p 500, buy and hold, market drawdown, gamma road capital partners, jordan rizzuto, annualized return, stock market, Buy, Hold, Strategy, Lacks, Best
- Source: Kiplinger — https://kiplinger.com/investing/is-buy-and-hold-really-the-best-investing-strategy
- Published: 2026-10-01T14:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: s&p 500, buy and hold, market drawdown, gamma road capital partners, jordan rizzuto, annualized return, stock market
## Investors hear a common refrain
Investors hear a common refrain year after year: "It's better to buy and hold and ride out the downturns. Missing only the 30 best days of market returns can meaningfully lower your portfolio value."

> It's better to buy and hold and ride out the downturns. Missing only the 30 best days of market returns can meaningfully lower your portfolio value
## GammaRoad tests buy-and-hold strategy
Using the S&P 500 Total Return Index since January 4, 1988, a buy-and-hold investor earned an 11.46% annualized return through July 31, 2026, turning $1 into $65.48.
## Missing best days cuts returns
Missing only the market's 30 best days over that same span cuts the annualized return to 6.32%, leaving that $1 at just $10.60. That's a loss of roughly 84% of the wealth a buy-and-hold investor would have built.
## Worst days yield higher returns
Run the same exercise on the market's 30 worst days instead, and a $1 investment that avoided them would have delivered a 17.41% annualized return and grown to $487.56. That's more than seven times what buy-and-hold produced.
## Best and worst days cluster
Since 1988, a best or worst day has occurred within 21 trading days of another best or worst day more than 70% of the time. The single most common gap between them was one day.
## Worst days happen during bear markets
Nearly all of these days showed up during bear markets: On average, the S&P 500 had already fallen 29.17% from its prior peak by the time one of these best or worst days occurred.
## Drawdowns require large recoveries
A -10% drawdown requires an +11.11% rally to get back to even, a -25% drawdown requires a +33.33% rally, a -40% drawdown requires a +66.67% rally, and a -50% drawdown requires a +100% rally just to break even.
## Time matters for investors
For an investor with a real deadline, retirement in five years, a child's tuition bill, a home purchase, the amount of time it takes to recover from these drawdowns presents material consequences for their lives.
## Key takeaway

A buy-and-hold investor misses 84% of wealth by skipping the market's 30 best days.