New Delhi, March 17 -- Consistency and patience tend to deliver better outcomes than constant buying and selling driven by market sentiment. Yet this is also the hardest discipline for investors to follow.

Warren Buffett once said, "The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient."

Investors often feel that, to maximize returns, they need to stay highly active-buying stocks with near-term triggers, exiting those without, or rotating into sectors riding positive news flow.

However, there is little evidence that such behaviour is rewarding. In fact, data suggests the opposite: higher portfolio churn typically leads to inferior outcomes.

The idea of common stock investing dates back to the early 17th...