Madharry. Well, I'm not so sure I can even define the purpose of investing (which is different from a definition of investing, such as B. Graham's p. 1 of: "an investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative."
Basically, I want my portfolios to increase in value. And I want that to happen whilst I consider risk too. (When the S&P 500 is up 15% or more, we might have a discussion here again whether one ought to at least attempt to beat the S&P bogey or just buy mutual funds -g-) I'll even live with some of my stocks going nowhere or even going bankrupt if the ones that go up, go up enough to push up the portfolios' values.
I try to hold stock until I see fair value. Sometimes though I get shaken out and I sell. Like today, with homebuilder Standard Pacific. -- It's in limbo land -- imo -- too expensive to buy, too early yet (below fair value) to sell. But it's up strongly about 3 to a new high, so I sold about 10% of my position.
We can argue about technical analysis, benefits of following insiders in their buying/selling, cash flow, EVA, concentration vs. diversification, etc. etc. But I always want to ask, "So, are you making any money?" (I mostly try to infer this from posters -- don't usually want to confront anybody.) Maybe that's why I'll just settle (wrongly so perhaps) for a definition of success in discussions as stocks that go up beyond their purchase price. |
