I don't have a good methodology for deciding when to sell a stock. I usually base the decision on vibes or locking in a certain percentage of gains. Unfortunately, this approach sometimes causes me to miss out on big gains as described in Panic Selling Winners Reduced My Investment Returns. I tend to sell my winners, for small gains, especially after they have dipped significantly.
My spouse tends to ignore the volatility and just hodl. As a result, she has up to 1800% gains on GOOGL which she has held since 2013. On the other hand, I probably sold at 20 to 30% gains and never bought back in. The difference is she held through all the dips instead of panicking and selling later.
That's what is difficult for me, holding after a big dip. I have had some stocks go up 500-1000% which then go down 50% or more and never rise again. Psychologically, I am afraid that will happen with any stock that rises and then dips. So I settle for locking in profits at much lower gains.
I've only kept one profitable stock long term, stock from the company I worked for and retired from. That stock is in my profit sharing retirement account, which was contributed 100% by the company. I've held it partly because of NUA tax benefits, partly because of inertia of transferring the shares, and partly because it is a good company. The shares are up 2700%. Woohoo.
If only I was able to do that reproduce by not selling and hodling stocks like AAPL, GOOGL and AMZN. Ah, hindsight is 20/20.
This is not financial, stock selling, nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.
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