March 5th, 2009 was a tough day for me. For the previous 8 or so trading days, I had been slowly dipping my toe in the water and buying stocks as they were plunging, as I was seeing signals that the market was ready to make a turn. However, that night, I was leaving the US for a 2 week skiing vacation in Austria, where I expected to have limited or no access to the internet. I hadn't deployed that much of my trading "dry powder" but I debated all day as to whether or not to leave my trades in place. I kicked it around with someone who's opinion I respect and we both concluded that without direct access, the potential stress wasn't worth the risk. I pulled all my positions, so I wouldn't have any financial distractions while I was away. The losses were not that great but the missed opportunity was roughly 40%, down 9% vs. up 31% had I left the money on the table. Upon returning, nearly all of the positions had run up so substantially so that it was tough to "chase them".
I did have an amazing time and the skiing was absolutely fabulous. I know the trip was much more enjoyable without worrying or wondering about the market. At that time, I didn't have anyone I could trust to track my portfolio while I was away. I still laugh about the timing of it all and, like fishing tales, the "big ones" that got away..... |
