The accumulation phase

[fenders53]

(10-17-2020, 08:02 PM)ken-do-nim Wrote:

(10-16-2020, 03:39 PM)EricL Wrote: I've found that finding great stocks isn't hard, but actually buying them and holding onto them is.

I was long MNST and CMG back around 2008 and sold both with 100% gains only to watch them go higher by another 1000%.

I hang my head in shame here.  Bought Apple at $20 when the first iPod came out, sold at $30.  Made a nice profit right?  

Similarly, years ago my portfolio consisted of Netflix, Amazon, and Tesla (among a few others).  But at the time the prices weren't moving, so I got impatient and sold them for a dividend producer.  

I'm an idiot.  Or was.

Or just a normal investor.  I have also sold stocks I thought were headed for BK, and in fact that's how it ended.  We tend to remember the bad ones because they haunt us.  For me, selling decisions are infinitely more difficult than buys.  The past few years, I try to trim a winner rather than cash out, and it tends to be a better plan.  For my losers I try to avoid denial.  Patience in equity investing is absolutely required, but after years of severe underperformance you have to accept your initial investment thesis was flawed and move on.  I've sat on blue chips that didn't find a path to returned growth in a decade.  That's too long IMO.