Biggest mistake of my financial career!

[WannabeWealthy]

All:

Through normal entropy over the years, I managed to get a lot of shares of Nvidia in my stock portfolio.  I was up aLOT of money mid-year this year and I was enjoying being able to do some of the things I wanted to do that would cost years of income in order to accomplish.  Well, in late August, the tech stocks took a big nosedive and I was down $200k from my highs in August.  In a desperate panic, I sold all of my shares and rebalanced my portfolio to be more stable.  Just a month later, Nvidia stock went back to the all-time highs.  Not only did I sell and have to pay taxes in 2025, but I will not see that $200k for a long time.  I'm depressed at how I let losses scare me into panicking at such a critical time in my life where I planned on retiring in 5yrs.

I'm not making this thread expecting sympathy, but it sure hurts everyday thinking of all the money I lost that could have been used to put me in a very good position going forward.  Now all the fear of losing my job, etc.. continues to plague my mind.

[gs11rmb]

WannabeWealthy I'm sorry you are struggling.  I seem to recall similar posts from you about investing in other stocks that have done very well and then crashed  (unless I'm confusing you with another poster).  Perhaps it would be better for your own wellbeing to simply invest in index funds like the S&P500 and stop chasing the highs because you will inevitably also have to face the lows.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Oct 9, 2024 19:52:33 GMT -5 WannabeWealthy said:

All:

Through normal entropy over the years, I managed to get a lot of shares of Nvidia in my stock portfolio.  I was up aLOT of money mid-year this year and I was enjoying being able to do some of the things I wanted to do that would cost years of income in order to accomplish.  Well, in late August, the tech stocks took a big nosedive and I was down $200k from my highs in August.  In a desperate panic, I sold all of my shares and rebalanced my portfolio to be more stable.  Just a month later, Nvidia stock went back to the all-time highs.  Not only did I sell and have to pay taxes in 2025, but I will not see that $200k for a long time.  I'm depressed at how I let losses scare me into panicking at such a critical time in my life where I planned on retiring in 5yrs.

I'm not making this thread expecting sympathy, but it sure hurts everyday thinking of all the money I lost that could have been used to put me in a very good position going forward.  Now all the fear of losing my job, etc.. continues to plague my mind.

Look at it this way.  It could have continued to tank too.  No matter what the analysts claim to know, there's always an element of gambling involved with individual stocks.

But, even if you sold at the low in August/Sept you're still up a ton from the start of the year right?  Looks like it's more than doubled.

[jerseygirl]

Son suggested if I wondered about selling a stock that had made a lot, or lost a lot , sell half

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I had a chunk of Ulta I bought years ago.  When the price went up to 3x at what I bought it at, I sold it all.  The price dropped to lower than my initial purchase price, and I reinvested the 1/3 of the proceeds in buying it again.  

[movingforward]

I got burned on an individual stock about 12yrs ago and have stuck with mutual funds ever since. Sorry this happened to you as I know you are only a few years from retirement.

[souldoubt]

I've never gotten into individual stocks.  One reason being is that like the OP I'd be tempted to sell everything in a situation where the stock takes a dive.  In my head I've always said that if I bought shares that did well I'd sell 1/4, 1/3 or 1/2 once I could recoup my initial investment then ride out the rest.  I went to a conference years ago where a presenter made the comment that he bought bitcoin at like $250...then sold it when it went to $500.  For every story like that there's thousands where people hold onto an investment too long and up in the red.  There's a lot of former paper millionaires who didn't get out at the right time so it could always be worse. 

[MN-Investor]

WannabeWealthy - The question for you now is What did you learn from your action? What will you do differently in the future?

[countrygirl2]

My son said he sold a lot of his stock but kept the ones that pay dividends. Of course now it went up more, but I doubt he is upset, I think he is ok.

I do have one stock Walmart and it has served me well. I only check the value once a year when I get my statements.

The rest is in 401k's  and a fidelity fund, some mutual funds, bonds they are doing good, and the rest is in real estate not by choice and we hope to sell it eventually. 

We are ok, I put us on a budget and its going ok, with less waste. We were buying stuff we didn't need, both of us, so think we will be ok till we can sell the houses.

I hope everyone does great, we are pretty simple in our investing.

[obelisk]

Oct 9, 2024 19:52:33 GMT -5 WannabeWealthy said:

All:

Through normal entropy over the years, I managed to get a lot of shares of Nvidia in my stock portfolio.  I was up aLOT of money mid-year this year and I was enjoying being able to do some of the things I wanted to do that would cost years of income in order to accomplish.  Well, in late August, the tech stocks took a big nosedive and I was down $200k from my highs in August.  In a desperate panic, I sold all of my shares and rebalanced my portfolio to be more stable.  Just a month later, Nvidia stock went back to the all-time highs.  Not only did I sell and have to pay taxes in 2025, but I will not see that $200k for a long time.  I'm depressed at how I let losses scare me into panicking at such a critical time in my life where I planned on retiring in 5yrs.

I'm not making this thread expecting sympathy, but it sure hurts everyday thinking of all the money I lost that could have been used to put me in a very good position going forward.  Now all the fear of losing my job, etc.. continues to plague my mind.

I recommend getting back into Nvidia.  You will feel a lot worse when that 200K becomes 300 then 400K potential.

[tallguy]

I retired early several years ago.  I had a number in mind of what I would be comfortable with in my investment and retirement accounts.  In February of this year I hit five times that number, so decided to start playing with some individual stocks after many years of wanting to do so.  Most of my holdings are still in index funds, but I did put $20,000 each into a number of stocks.  Nvidia was one, and it has more than doubled.  

The reason to sell a stock is when your reason for buying it no longer holds.  Fear usually causes much worse results, and often the best alternative is to do nothing.  I plan on doing mostly nothing for years.   

[MN-Investor]

Nov 5, 2024 17:16:01 GMT -5 tallguy said:

The reason to sell a stock is when your reason for buying it no longer holds.  Fear usually causes much worse results, and often the best alternative is to do nothing.  I plan on doing mostly nothing for years.   

Another approach - Say you bought the stock for $20K and it's worth $30K today. If you had $30K cash instead of that stock today, would you buy that stock for the $30K or would you buy something else? If you'd buy something else, get rid of that stock and buy something else.

That also applies if you've lost money on a stock. For heaven's sake, don't hold on to a stock hoping to regain what you lost! Instead figure out what you would do if you had the cash from selling it. Would you actually invest in that stock again? Or is there a better option available?

(Of course, take tax ramifications into consideration if the stock is in a taxable account.)

[Rukh O'Rorke]

NVDA up about 20% since the op.

Wonder if he got back in or not?

[Artemis Windsong]

I bought 100 shares of Navidia.  When it went to $110, My heart sank instead of buying a great stock at fire sale price.

I missed the dance from the start but I'm in now. 

[obelisk]

I bought 3997 shares of NVDIA at 130USD.  I am an optimist for the long run.
Lets see how it does over the next 36 months.