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To: Nazbuster who wrote (10731)	4/3/1998 12:27:00 PM
From: mr.mark	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13925

"General question: What makes us all "fall in love" with a stock so much that we ride it way down and hold forever, but get scared out of our winners on upswings?" daniel, i'll take on the first part of your question...regarding holding forever. aside from the obvious premise that says you haven't lost money until you sell the stock, i think there may be a connection to the fact that americans love an underdog. we hope for the best from underachievers. the reality is, of course, quite the opposite. in sales, the two biggest management myths are that 1) low producers can get better, and 2) top producers cannot get better. i believe that this carries over into the stock market. as for the second part of your question, why do we get scared out of winners, i believe it can be attributed to a prevalence of negative thinking. sad to say, but most folks either expect the worse, or are conditioned to be constantly aware of the worst. it appears to be always right around the corner. how many times have you heard a friend who, upon hearing good news asks suspiciously, "what's the catch?"? hey, i'm rambling. good question you asked. in love AND scared, mr.mark

To: Nazbuster who wrote (10731)	4/3/1998 12:30:00 PM
From: DRRISK	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13925

Lack of discipline and confidence. DrRisk

To: Nazbuster who wrote (10731)	4/3/1998 1:53:00 PM
From: Vanni Resta	Respond to of 13925

Yes, a lack of discipline and confidence. I'd say DDRRISK pretty much nailed it. But I would add one more factor: an inability to admit our mistakes. This is a crucial error to avoid. Let's say a hypothetical investor's faulty investment analysis puts him in a stock X exactly at its peak, say at 28, and then the stock promptly drops to around 20 where it stays, while the markets roar ahead in one of the biggest bull rallies ever. Here is where our hypothetical investor compounds his error. Instead of freeing up his dead money to put it in one of the hundreds of stocks that is about to gain 30% to 50%, he stays with his loser, because to sell would be to admit he made a mistake. So he misses out on a huge rally when he could have participated, and then bought stock X back at more or less the same price at which he would have cut his losses, once stock X looks like it is about to perform again. The moral of the story is that at any given moment, you have to like each stock so much that you would buy more today, if you had more money to invest, or if you did not already have too much exposure to that stock. This is a hard lesson to learn, however, because it is very hard for us to admit that we have made mistakes. Happy Investing! Vanni