Rande--Profit often, not too often, but often enough. :)
I have cashed out positions equal to my initial cash base when I first started paying attention here last Fall and I am still about 2/3 invested. Love taking those profits. Going to actually put some of it to use paying off some long-term debt. That way, if everything falls apart some day, I will still be ahead. I am using the Kevin Shea free-shares philosophy. After cashing in, all of my holdings are free shares.
What amazes me is the rose-colored glasses attitude, seemingly forgetting that there is always a risk to investing. Bob Martin ( no offense, I have you bookmarked Bob because I respect you) worrying about a couple of percent when he is cashing in hundreds of percent profits. Steve Finkel ( again no offense, thanks for FBCE etc.)not really noticing the downside risk to warrants. (BTW I have been playing ONSSW and played LPTHU. You don't need much cash to play. But w's are intrinsically worthless, so the risk is very high. You have to be willing to lose large percentages of your principal. Even the best bet can surprise you to the downside. Plus the spreads are usually huge making it hard to get in and out.)
There is a downside to the market. There is no downside to cash unless things really fall apart. The higher you get the further you have to fall if you just keep rolling that money back in. Never be afraid to take some of that money off of the table and put it to use. Yesterday was a good day for me and I wondered why my profits were relatively low. It was because I am no longer fully invested. So??? My risk has been greatly reduced.
I am sure that everyone knows all of the above, but I think that people are losing sight of it. IMHO, the harder it is to make a profit, the less I am going to play. What is the upside here? What is the downside? Still plenty in the market but I have plenty in my money market too. Waiting for some nice entry points, playing some rats, ignoring my core holdings. Even sold 1/3 of my LPTHA at 62. First time I have sold some of that sacred cow and my holding is still four times as large as my initial buy. That is how much I still like it. |
