MICHEL PIREU: Buying is pointless without a sound selling strategy
Rolling with the punches is par for the course when dealing in the market over time
The great secret to succeeding in the market may be selling, not buying. There’s only one time when selling is easy: when you’ve lost faith in your investment. If you sell when a stock is down in price, you’re taking a loss and it feels like you’re giving up on something you shouldn’t. It’s even more difficult to sell when a stock’s price is soaring. But even the staunchest of buy-and-hold investors needs to know when to sell. “We sell when things become grossly overvalued,” says Martin Whitman. “We are just not that good at selling when things are moderately overpriced. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve held securities for three years and sold them after they’ve doubled only to see them triple over the next six months. When you don’t know what you are doing, doing nothing is the best course of action.” “Any idiot can buy, but if you don’t know when or how to sell, you will never make money,” says Albert Thomas. “As a floor trader, when I took a position in anything, wha...
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