New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- Many investors buy and sell stocks in a short span of time, trying to capture different market opportunities and maximise their returns. However, frequent portfolio activity does not always improve performance and may even reduce gains when investment decisions turn out to be wrong.

This is exactly what Saurabh Mukherjea, author, founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers, highlighted in a recent interview with Mint Extraclass. Citing an example, he said that a portfolio that delivered around 14% returns throughout its holding period could have earned about 15.5%, had his team simply stayed invested for longer.

"I felt I should do some buying and selling to demonstrate my skills and exer...