05-15-2019, 08:51 PM
(05-15-2019, 07:50 PM)rayray Wrote:(05-15-2019, 07:36 PM)fenders53 Wrote: I thought some of you might find this interesting...
I was talking to my fellow associate that works the electrical department the other day. We were talking HD stock. He has been there since before they went public, so a very long time. Put a lot of his early pay in company shares. He has a few hundred shares now. Something important came up long ago and he sold off the 109,000 shares he once had for a couple bucks a share split adjusted. I just wanted to puke when he told me that. He sure wouldn't need to be selling ceiling fans and circuit breakers had he kept half those shares. He is a good guy and it made me really sad to hear him share that story.
millions and millions of dollars
So far, my only regrets have been on the sell side...and this is why I don't do it--I don't sell. Of course that doesn't mean I'm out there gambling in the stock market. I figure so far my sells have cost me at least 400 to 500k so far if I didn't sell.
I'm talking about individual stocks not mutual funds...eventually all my mutual funds will be gone.
He said he'd be worth a million now. I did the quick math in my head and let it go as there was no need to add salt to the wound. He could wast a million now and still have over a million left.
I would be lying if I didn't admit I think you are right. Due to lack of interest, we liquidated our investment club port 20 years ago which was full of boring DGI stocks before it even had a name. That was a very bad sell. 75% of those stocks are up at least 300% since then. None of them went bankrupt and paid dividends all this time. Only one (Newell) is devasted, but still in business and paying a big accidental dividend. Probably be even on that train wreck. I don't even want to calculate it all out now.
All that said, please humor me and invest five minutes looking up 20 year charts for INTC, MSFT, and CSCO. They are still rock star companies but valuation at time of purchase always matters. I learned that the VERY hard way. Your buy and hold all bad ideas until eternity fails miserably here. Thankfully after a few years I gave up and invested what was left from INTC and CSCO into JNJ and XEL long ago. That worked out. I'd stil be down if I hadn't dumped them and that is not accetable after all this time. I kept my MSFT and PFE shares for 15+ years though. Sold the MSFT shares a few years ago (way too early) and still hold the PFE shares to this day which was a real bad move. Hindsight is 20/20.
BTW this account turned into my retirement fishing boat fund 5 years ago. As it turned out I need about $26K next year or two. I had it all in aggressive ETFs and it ran very hard since DEC. Lost my nerve and cashed it out two weeks ago because I thought the trade deal would be a bust and right so far. This account sitting in 100% cash now. So $23,500 that needs to be $26K soon. I think I'll be very careful here lol.