Many people equate value investing with long-term holding, but that's a misunderstanding.

Long-term holding is just an initial idea; when buying, you indeed believe in its long-term value, but this is never a lifetime contract. The core issue isn't how long you hold, but whether—the value still exists and whether there are better options.

Don't rely on PE ratio as the decision criterion. The price-to-earnings ratio is just a static number; a high PE doesn't necessarily mean you should sell, and a low PE isn't automatically worth buying. What truly matters is how much money can be earned in the future and how much dividend can be distributed—that is, the discounted value of future cash flows. As long as this discounted value still offers a margin of safety compared to the current price, continuing to hold makes sense.

But what tests an investor the most is the trade-off of opportunity cost. After selling, where should the money go? Can the interest from bank savings beat dividends? Or should it be invested in other assets? If you can't see through it or lack confidence, you're likely to suffer even greater losses. So what is the point of selling?

The essence of investing isn't just making a profit from price differences, but allowing capital to continue appreciating in better assets. When better options are unavailable, holding might actually be the smartest decision. This is the true logic of value investing.