I don't have that many that where I'm still holding the original shares years later. Nestle from '03 would be one. Bought because I believed it could/would be around for 20+ more years doing good business. Stock price was relatively (to itself) low when I bought, if I recall correctly.
I have some like Big Lots (BIG) where I've held shares in the company and its predecessor companies (e.g. PicNSav) for maybe 25-30 years.
With NSRGY my plan is to just hold on.
With BIG, I've bought, sold, rebought, resold several times as the stock seemed under or over valued to me. Almost always, if not always, kept at least a stub position.
The stocks I have such as NSRGY or [t]IBM[/t] (acquired in '96) where I believe I know in advance that I'm not going to be selling or trading them, I have bought in small amounts. If I had a large position or even if it grew into a large position relative to other stocks I hold, the volatility that it would bring to the portfolio would be too difficult for me to handle. I'm not as tough as the retired lady I mentioned who apparently sleeps okay with only a few stocks that she owns.
With small positions in stocks, and if they're tucked in a diversified portfolio, I find it's easier to ride the stock's ups and downs. [t]TDW[/t], initially acquired in '01, for example, is one I've been able to do that with. An example for me of what can happen if a stock kind of gets lost in a portfolio. A double in ten years roughly, but maybe such a stock should have been culled from the portfolio, not kept in it. |
