This was in the days when I didn't know how important the word "sell" actually was in terms of capital preservation and knowing when the risks greatly outweigh the rewards.
Great example Ward. In the short time I have been investing (about 1 1/2 years), an inability to sell and hope of a better day kills a portfolio. When you make a bad choice and start to lose money, don't average down and don't hold and hope for the best. I figure 95% of the time, holding is the worst thing you can do. This is why day trading and short term trading appeals to me so much, after seeing my "buy and hold" strategy cause my portfolio to be down over 80%. I'd rather have sold when the market was selling or around 15-20% loss, and looked for another opportunity. I would be up a lot of money right now had I not "fallen in love" with the stories of companies that started to suffer, and IR reassured me that all was well. Every single one of those companies went down, and down, and down.
I still have a little trouble on the "sell trigger" but am learning to take profits as they come. It's not often you get a second chance at taking profit. Since I have been participating in this thread, I have really learned a lot about the "emotionless" buy and sell. It takes some work, and discipline but it will benefit me and whomever else decides to approach the market in this fashion. I have learned a lot from every single one of you, and am glad Keith started this thread. Since this thread was created I haven't lost money, and am now starting to make some. I enjoy talking about personal experiences, wherever relevant, so we can all learn.
Regards, Wisam |
