Do retail investors really stay invested for the long term? Although equities are meant for long-term investing, not many investors stay beyond a year or two. But things seem to be slowly improving. As per AMFI, more retail investors are staying invested in equity MFs for more than two years. In 2020, just 55.4 percent of the total retail investments was held for more than two years. That has gone up to 57.2 percent in 2022. Although equities never guarantee returns or capital protection, the probability of making losses go down as your investment horizon goes up. Historically, people who stay invested in equity funds for 7 years and more get good pay offs.