Probably the best thing to do is start whenever you are ready and plan to switch to a December or January cycle the first or second time you renew. Otherwise, you can hold the stocks for another year like you would in a taxable account. If your portfolio will be subject to capital gains taxes, you want to be sure to hold your stocks for at least a year and a day. In that case, simply plan to hold your first batch of Foolish Four stocks through the end of the first year until the second December rolls around. We have no idea, actually.
Every year is different.
But statistically speaking, a longer holding period doesn't seem to hurt the annualized returns very much at all. Most of these companies, once they get turned around, tend to keep going that way for more than a year. A shorter holding period is actually more dangerous to your final return since most of these stocks take time to get turned around. Holding periods of less than one year tend to give lower annualized returns than holding periods of between one and two years. Our official Foolish Four portfolio was started on December 24, 1998.