It's one of the best investing strategies I know... and brokers hate it.

Brokers are in the business to make money. Every time you make a trade, they collect a fee. This means they like it when you make as many trades as possible.

They don't care if you win or lose -- every time you trade in and out of stocks, they make money.

That's why you'll rarely hear Wall Street downplay or speak too critically of trading... It's far too profitable for them.

But the truth is... when you trade every day... or every week... or even every year, you might be forfeiting your chance of earning BIG returns.

Why? Because the market's greatest stocks -- not the extremely risky plays that skyrocket and crash seemingly overnight -- take years to reach their full potential.

Take technology giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) for example. Apple's been one of the hottest stocks of the past decade... it's undoubtedly been one of the market's best performers for years.

But even in the stock's best one-year period, investors made 289%. I wouldn't sneeze at a 289% gain, but anyone who bought for a year... or an even shorter time... sold themselves short.

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Since 2003, Apple has gained 5,540%. That's an average annual gain of 65% and enough to turn every $100 invested into more than $5,000 today.

Investing for a short period in a stock such as Apple is like ordering a seven-course meal and only sticking around for the appetizer. Sure you get a taste... but wouldn't you rather have the whole meal?

How long then, is the appropriate amount of time to hold a stock?

If you've read my articles regularly, then you'll know that I personally think there's no better holding period than "Forever."

Now when I say forever, I don't mean invest in a company and take those shares to your grave... I'm talking about investing in companies that you can buy, hold and forget about without losing much sleep at night.

Of course finding these stocks isn't always easy... stocks like Apple are few and far between.

And you certainly can't buy just any stock, hold it "Forever" and expect to come out ahead. The market is littered with Enrons, Worldcoms even General Motors. Holding forever didn't matter a lick with them.

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But if you know what you're looking for, then finding "Forever" stocks isn't nearly as difficult as it sounds...

All you have to do is find a handful of companies that enjoy huge (and lasting) advantages over the competition... companies that pay their investors each and every year by dishing out fat dividends... and companies buying back massive amounts of their own stock.