Category: Stock Trading

How To Purge Your Stocks

Mike Seay

You just say, “Fuck it” and start selling everything.

Don’t wait until the perfect time. Don’t get sentimental. Just cut them loose.

Okay, well, I did wait till there was an ‘up day’ and started selling everything. But it was one day after I had decided I needed to sell it all, timing happen to be good.

I truly only started paying attention to trading a year ago, and I got my ass kicked. “Lucky” for me I am broke, so I didn’t have a lot of money to lose, but I lost money.

When you’re broke, losing money sucks even harder.

Sorry, daughter, I can’t buy you that new shirt for school, daddy bought Apple at the wrong time.

So, I was kind of pissed off at the whole thing and sold everything but five stocks. From 55 to five in two days of purging.

Then I pivoted my investing strategy.

Since I suck and I am an idiot, but still want to keep investing, I put my ego aside and went all in with ETF stocks.

Let someone else figure out what’s good, because I sure as hell don’t know what the hell I am doing (even though I thought I did).

Update: Since pivoting to a small about of ETF choices (with one ‘moon shot’ stock), I have been up the past two days of trading. Very very slightly up, but up.

Normally, I only have the occasional day that I am up. So, I might be making progress.

I will continue to post here and send out newsletters from here, and keep you updated so maybe you can learn from my good and bad choices, or at least be entertained.

-Mikey

Should I Buy Ford Stock Because I Love Mustangs?

Mike Seay
This is not the 69 Mustang that I used to have. This one is in WAY better shape than mine was

Welp, no. You should not buy because you think Mustangs are cool.

Like with every stock purchase you make, do your research and blah blah blah. And do it like a robot. Basically don’t let your heart get involved with your stock purchases.

Controlling your emotions is a big deal in investing:

But I did. I bought with emotion. I totally went with my heart when I bought some Ford stock last year after opening up my Public account.

Buying Ford stock hasn’t done much for me except give me a few cents of dividend cash. But I still have it because it makes me happy.

Before You Go

In went through my head as I wrote this post “Wait. Investing. Cars. Investing in cars. There MUST be a book!” Yep, there is a book:

Collecting Cars for Fun and Profit.

If you want to read up on how to control your emotions, try “Master Your Reality” and “The Emotional Investor” and you might not buy stock in your first car, like me.

What ‘Trimming Stocks’ Means (to me)

Mike Seay 1 Comment
Trimming stocks is a lot like trimming peach trees (duh, Mikey, that’s why they call it trimming)

This week I will be looking to sell off some stocks. But if I do, I’ll likely be taking loses – the Market sucks in August, as trading historians say.

I am looking to sell because I am spread too far out. Too many little baby holdings.

As I write this I am in on over 50 stocks and Uncle Warren says that is too many, so that is too many.

This brings me to the Trader Term Of The Day:

Trimming

Now, there are not a lot of real good definitive definitions of trimming when it comes to stocks, out there. But I know what you’re thinking, it’s kind of obvious:

Trimming your stocks means you’re selling off some of your gains (or losses) so you can get some cash out for something else, or to improve the health of your holding.

I am also using trimming to describe how I am getting the amount of stocks I hold, down to a more manageable level. Trimming stocks is also something I do when I have no money to buy stocks.

It’s so tough though. Every stock, no matter how little it is or how little I have invested, I believe in for one reason or another.

I don’t want to dump any of them. I want to keep them all. But I need to listen to people that know what they’re talking about. Warren Buffett knows what the hell he is talking about.

If he says you should be around 20, you should be around 20.

One of these that I trim, will hit at some point.

Just last week, a company I believed in had a big bump from an earnings report.

I had trimmed this one off many weeks ago so I could get some cash out. Bummer.

It sucks but we gotta treat this like a business, and trimming stocks seems like good business. And Focusing your portfolio seems like it too. Just not as fun, though.

We’ll end with Warren talking about why you shouldn’t be owning a bunch of stocks:

For more Warren wisdom, check out this book about Buffett’s stock market strategy.

Thank you for the read! I’ll talk to you later.

-Mikey

*Remember. This is not investing advise. This is for knowledge and entertainment only. I am a dummy. Do your own research.

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