It is strangely comforting in an age when the response time of the Stock Exchange computers is down to four milliseconds and the system can handle more than 5,000 trades at once, that even now the best investments, like the best wine, can take years to reach perfection.

It is even more comforting to know that while whole armies of people are engaged in trying to second-guess each other about the movement of markets and shares between now and lunchtime, the numbers willing to take a longer-term view are far fewer. The interaction of lightning fast communication, massive computing power and universal information has transformed investor attitudes and attention spans so that everything is of the moment.
These days a week is a long time in portfolios.

Liontrust’s Jeremy Lang is one of these. He runs a fund to rules that force him to take a five-year view, allow him to deal only once a year and direct him towards shares that are unloved by everyone else. That is where he goes looking for deep value – and his reward
has been a fund that, in spite of a few bumps on the way, has delivered an average total return of 11 per cent a year since inception.

There are lessons here for everyone, but lessons that have got lost in the marketing frenzy of league tables, star fund managers, and claims for performance that seem to offer an effortless path to instant riches provided you buy now while stocks last. It was not always so. Only a generation ago investment was more measured and with good reasons, though even then the matter was debated.

Indeed, seeking to resolve the argument, an investment trust company at that time ran an internal experiment between one of their hot-shot investment managers, who wanted to buy and sell on a weekly basis, and a traditionalist, who moved only after much deliberation and liked to buy and hold. Both were given a notional £1m and for three years they went nead-to-head to see which style would deliver the best results.

It was no contest. The investment whizz kids at that time were nicknamed gunslingers and this one was despatched straight to Boot Hill. He picked as many losers as winners and his dealing costs ate up most of the little money he did make. He was so comprehensively defeated it ended the debate.