so i'm obviously not very good at this stock market thing... i haven't invested my life savings or anything, but i thought i would throw some money and learn something. managed to swing between +/- 10% for about a year and now i'm at my lowest ever over the last few weeks. what should i do? am i quitting at the bottom? does it matter since i'm not doing anything right?

 

my answer would be determined by the time horizon before I need the money.

But right now my answer is hold money as short term cash at a couple percent for a while then dump it all in when the news starts to report positvie news across many different sectors. But since "think long" is the closest to that I guess that is what I will pick.

 

In my experience of holding dogs, right when I finally think it's time to unload them is the exact point I should be buying more.

never make that mistake again. Impulse buy and sells will be the death of a new inexperienced trader/investor.

don't let emotion get involved in your decision making or you are doomed in the investing world. Do some due diligence and base your actions on reason, not emotion.

 

This market is in one of its worst periods for "long" investing... ever. I think everyone has to judge their own patience and risk tolerance. I wouldn't let the past 12 months sour you on active stock investing. I would just get a little more conservative.

I'm cutting losses on positions I don't have absolute conviction in and forcing patience on the ones I keep. For example, I'm not convinced fertilizer stock prices will come back so I sold my SQM on a healthy bear-bounce. Did the same for XLF. But I AM convinced in the strength of MRK so I'm just holding on to my small loss there (and collecting a nice dividend). Do you LOVE everything you own?

Another thing I'm doing in the current market is not letting my winners run. I took about a 7% gain in T when it touched $33 a few days ago and left the building. Normally I'd have been looking for much more gain (based on where I bought it) but the market is so rough I figure I need to start taking more base hits rather than looking for bigger wins. It is cycling back to where I might buy T again!

And last, I'm not calling any bottoms. I really want to own some oil/nat gas stocks like CHK, XTO, RIG, SII and others. But I'm just waiting for the market to settle. I'm willing to give up some of the (inevitable for these stocks) gains to avoid possible big drops in the near future.

 

it's all pretty disheartening...considering i started investing right at the peak last year ~ sep/oct..i thought i was doing ok but its been tough lately. i might throw some more in there but i'm going to be stretching the limits of what i can afford soon if we keep heading down.

coulda had a ridiculous s2k by now

 

This market isn't for long term holding yet. Myself I have done quite well trading my stocks buying lows and selling higher. If you have noticed, the market goes up 200+ and down -300 points everyday like a roller coaster.

YTD I am pretty much flat now but still above water. One point I was up 15% in my portfolio. I would suggest you to buy some more solid stocks for long term while they are still cheap. In Jan AAPL dropped 35% within 2 weeks and I took advantage of it to buy more. That point I was down over 15k just AAPL lone.

What you are doing wrong is that you buying Highs and hoping it'll go Higher. What you should be doing is buying stocks when everyone is scared and they end of the world is coming that's when you buy.

Also Canadian banks are offering 6% dividends and didn't have much money into the sub prime crap.

 

DOW 14,000 to DOW 11,000. If you don't need to sell and you are careful [not active, active for most people means over trading and over analyzing] you will be OK.

A more enlightening answer would be if you post up your biggest loses and explain why. If you just hide your mistakes with "i suck at this' it's impossible to get better. It might be time for a reality check that you need a better investing strategy or the ability to stick to it. That might mean cutting losses after 10% no matter what and never buying more then 33% of a position at one time or in one week, no matter what.

 

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...=605337&st=625

You guys need to see this chart again

 

"coulda had a ridiculous s2k by now"

that's cool, but will that help you retire when your 60?

No

Keep putting money into low cost/fee index funds as fast as you can, while you can buy them so cheap, and hold on for decades. Your s2k won't last nearly as long and make you nearly as happy in retirement.

 

Depends. It sounds like you're a little impatient. Did you have a plan when you started?