I have a 2-car garage. There are nice shelves on one side and a good practical workbench with a vice on the other side. Plenty of room for 2 cars yet I have to be careful when I pull in so I won't run over stuff stacked on each side. Sound familiar?
Kinda reminds me of the investment portfolio of many people. Full of junk. If I threw out almost all of that stuff I really wouldn't miss it. For whatever crazy reason I still have a stock certificate of 100 shares for a copper mine in Cuba. You know how much that is worth. Fortunately, I don't have any of those now defunct dot.com company shares.
Oh, I did own a lot of technology issues in 1999 and into 2000, but when they started down I put in my stop-loss orders and someone bought them from me. I sure hope he still doesn't have them. Some have no value at all now and others are worth less than 10% of their high prices. I remember Priceline.com when it went to $104 and then took a nosedive to $2.00. I even made a nice profit in the mutual fund Janus 20 that took off from $40 and went to $93. Today it is $37. The Buy and Hold crowd have become the Buy and Prey people. Needless to say your broker did not call you to sell out with a profit. No, he said, "Don't worry the market always comes back". Maybe not in your lifetime.
I have not been very careful about keeping the junk out of my garage, but I have not collected many pretty stock certificates that have no value. Once each month I have taken about 15 minutes to see what is going on with my money. That is what is supposed to take care of me when I do not choose to work any more and I know Social Security is not going to be enough.
When that bull market was raging I made sure that I was not going to give back the profits I made. I placed following loss limits on each of my securities every month. You really should do it weekly, but I did not seem to have the time. A good friend of mine taught me to place what is called Good 'Til Cancelled Stop-Loss Orders. The are also called GTC stop orders. This has been the difference in my having more money in my retirement account today. If I had not done this I would have less than half of what I have now. Don't let that happen to you.
If you have a lot of worthless securities or those that are still going down I think you should give serious consideration to cleaning out that portfolio and putting those funds in a cash money market account until you can find something that will make you some money.
You can live with a messy garage, but you can't live with no money in your retirement account. Clean out the weak ones now before they become worthless.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
Copyright 2005
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com; 1-888-345-7870
Batchtown Chicago prom limo .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareWhen we go to the circus we see a trapeze... Read More
Maximizing a stock market investmentThere are several factors an investor... Read More
During our travel down life's path we come to many... Read More
You remember (they show it on TV every year) the... Read More
The stock market has not been very kind to your... Read More
Disclaimer: Please note that I do not necessarily purchase, own,... Read More
You read and hear a lot about hedge funds. Unfortunately,... Read More
In one of my previous articles (Investing in the stock... Read More
Being wrong is OK, but let's not carry it to... Read More
Mutual funds by definition are a mixed bag of stocks,... Read More
Sometimes the best way of lowering exposure to risk is... Read More
The Dow Theorycharles h. dowcharles h.... Read More
People are constantly asking me why is the stock market... Read More
Let's go into the details of why non-indexed mutual funds... Read More
How many times have you said to yourself, "I'd like... Read More
One Saturday morning, while he was sitting at his computer... Read More
Duck! No I don't mean a quack, quack. I meant... Read More
Dollar cost averaging is one of the most popular ideas... Read More
Recently I was invited to appear on a live CNNfn... Read More
Do you have a nest egg? You know, a place... Read More
With over 6,000 mutual funds available, it may be tempting... Read More
There can't be many traders who haven't at least considered... Read More
Wall Street has been preaching the doctrine of Buy and... Read More
Because you don't feel too sure about which stock or... Read More
Do you own any mutual funds? In an IRA or... Read More
shuttle from Midway Munster are ..Just about everything you have been told about Social Security... Read More
We all know the expression, "My country, right or wrong",... Read More
Mutual funds were created with the idea that one person... Read More
∙ Make every investment in the stock market a long-term... Read More
Who are the successful investors?There are those who follow the... Read More
Buy high and sell low -- It's not a typo.Millions... Read More
Money: the most charged word in the planet. It means... Read More
How many times has this happened to you? You're at... Read More
We've all heard of the stock market and probably have... Read More
Duck! No I don't mean a quack, quack. I meant... Read More
Options trading can increase the profits you make when trading... Read More
Question: How does it get better when it gets worse?Last... Read More
Disclaimer: Please note that I do not necessarily purchase, own,... Read More
No, this is not a symbol for some Latin number.... Read More
I continually hear from economists, talking heads, other market letter... Read More
Because you don't feel too sure about which stock or... Read More
A colleague of mine just returned from a scuba diving... Read More
It is difficult to make money in a bull market,... Read More
I have a 2-car garage. There are nice shelves on... Read More
The stock market has not been very kind to your... Read More
I know there are a lot of you out there... Read More
Let's hope you did not have any of the Enron... Read More
Someday you may want to retire and continue to live... Read More
What are you thinking when it comes to your no... Read More
People are constantly asking me why is the stock market... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |