Invest long term, invest the 'Arsenal Way'

I often use sport analogies to describe investment principles. The smart and common sense investor should pick quality companies and invest long term, ignoring the short termism that is rampant in both the sporting, particularly football and financial universe. Football clubs panic when results go against them and there is a knee jerk reaction to change the manager. Arsenal have kept faith with Arsene Wenger, built a solid foundation and strong finances, developed an attractive playing style, constructed an envious stadium and will go into the future to achieve success. The investor should develop such psychology to withstand short term panic when the prices of quality companies are pulled down in a market downturn. These periods should instead be seen as an opportunity to buy at depressed prices.