-VBG-. Yeah, that's gotta hurt. I have relatives who know I'm into the stock market, and a few of them have asked me for picks now and then. I'm VERY reluctant to make recommendations, particularly to family. The discomfort to a bad call is much worse than the good feelings of making a good recommendation. However, I did recommend QNTM this past summer, and one cousin got in at $19, and another cousin and his wife got in at $22. Within a couple of months the stock was at $43, and I was looking like a hero. Next they asked if they should sell, and I told them there would certainly be nothing wrong with selling; that it certainly would never be construed as a mistake to take a 100% profit (slightly more in the one case, slightly less in the other). But I added that if they wanted to stay fully invested in a stock, I didn't have any other picks at the moment, so by Spring of '98, the stock could be even higher. None of them sold, and now QNTM is back down in the $23-24 range. :-(. But at least none of them that got into QNTM are losing money yet, and I'm fairly confident that they won't.
That's the downside to making stock recommendations to family. Getting them in at a good price is only half the battle, you have to get them out at a profit also.
DK |
