Buy, Sell, or Hold

Buy, Sell, or Hold


What should you do when you start to feel that the markets are under pressure? You start to notice that some of the holdings in your portfolio are no longer in the green. Some are flat while others are in the red. Should you stay the course or should you sell?

First of all, if you are losing sleep regarding your portfolio, you should call your advisor. If you are a self directed investor, perhaps hiring an advisor to review your portfolio on a one time basis is an option for you. Some advisors offer this service. Either way your goal should be to reaffirm or reinforce your investment strategy and portfolio design.

In my own practice, portfolios are optimized while looking back through various market cycles. This gives insight into how the portfolio should perform over an extended period of time. Buy, sell, or hold decisions should be made to advance the long term objective you set for your initial portfolio. Be careful not to make decisions based on some frenzied television personality.

Financial news content can be a little confusing to investors. Most of the time there are two opposing views that appear to be in stark contrast when in fact the major difference is simply time horizon. While an active trader might not see the market as favorable the investor might see the market as ideal.

Investment decisions and trading decisions are not the same thing

Much of the investment discussion these days revolves around trading ideas and short term opportunities. This is in stark contrast to the more investment driven thought of the past. Tweets are moving markets. Are you missing out in your portfolio? I don’t believe so. Most of the time, too much activity in a portfolio leads to speculation and miss-timed moves. Investing is not unlike driving on an icy road. Hold the wheel as still as possible, don’t make any jerky moves, look ahead, and pay attention.

Never forget to keep your investment objective fresh in your mind and don’t be afraid to revisit your decision making process. Most importantly, be careful not to be influenced by the media.

Ryan

Tesla and a Bundt Cake, the new market indicators

Before you read this please let me tell you that I love the new Tesla. It is a fantastic automotive achievement. I am a big Bundt Cake fan as well. This entry is supposed to be fun.

Our capital market system is very complex. Conclusions regarding its readiness for deploying investment capital can be drawn in a multitude of ways. What do the indicators show? Is the market overbought? Is it oversold? Is the economy too frothy? Are we in a bubble of some kind? Invest or raise cash? Decisions decisions.

Let’s put aside the conventional indicators and look at some perhaps non-conventional indicators. So how is the economy doing anyway? Let’s take a look. While we don’t appear to be in any sort of bubble right now, some consumer behavior might lead us to believe otherwise.

I have noticed the overwhelming popularity of the new Tesla Sedan in my community. I would say this is a very positive sign for our economy. Normally when consumers spend $90,000 on a car, they require a range of greater than 300 miles. In this economy, we are content throwing  all elements of practicality to the wind in favor of the new techie ride. 

By the way, the new Dodge Dart has a range of 600 miles. Yep, for roughly 19k, you can double the range of the Tesla and when it gets low on gas, you can fill it up and drive another 600 miles. You don’t even have to wait for the recharge.

Speaking of recharging your new Tesla, I know where you might find one of those super convenient charging stations. I recently spied a new bakery that was selling the beloved Bundt Cake for Tesla like prices. $40 will get you a 10 inch Bundt Cake, just like Mom used to make. $65 will get you a two tier cake. Wow. That’s cheap. Only time will tell before we see the parking spaces right in front of the gourmet Bundt Cake shop equipped with Tesla charging stations.

So while you are looking at your Tesla app on your new Iphone or Andriod phone, you can call the bakery ahead of time to order a trunk load of high end gourmet Bundt Cakes. I don’t think I will be driving a Tesla soon. I have a new Windows Phone and it doesn’t have the Tesla app. Bummer.  I do sort of feel like making a Bundt Cake.  As the tag line goes, "let the Bundt Cake do the talking". 

Next time back to investment discussions.  Look for Buy, Sell, or Hold coming soon