TwoBear - I see the pride/shame ratio as a subset of the emotional aspect to be considered in investing. And, in spite of efforts (especially by analytical types or formulaic investors) to remove, minimize or deny the emotions from the buy decision (and from the sell decision which is even more emotional), it is not possible to remove or even overcome the emotional aspect. It can only be dealt with or buried. If buried, it sometimes returns in financially harmful ways. These ways could involve, for example: setting inappropriate arbitrary stop orders to prevent (minimize) stock losses; having excessive, perhaps exclusive, reliance on TA; or buying high pride stocks exclusively.
Paul S.
(And I do not mean to imply I'm better than anybody else when it comes to this aspect. For example, I am either denying my emotions with SKO (or dealing with it - I can't tell -g-) by figuring that SKO is another rote investment for me - it has a very low relative price, very low p/bv, very low p/sales, low pe - it fits my model, ergo, I'm buying a small quantity. Perhaps the "small quantity" aspect lets me avoid coming to grips with the difficult emotional aspects of buying, holding, understanding SKO if it made up say 8% of my portfolio. |
