Responding to some of the points raised above & a few other thoughts:
As regards to my hits & misses, I have been writing in some detail, of most of my investments carried out over the last ten years on ValuePickr, which is such a wonderful site that I think you can access it all. It will pretty much cover stocks, both, which worked out well & otherwise. I think I may have given my reasons for both getting in & out in most cases.
In terms of the number of shares in the portfolio, your top 10-12 stock ideas should be enough to absorb 90% your corpus. That too not equally. The weightage for different stocks should be in direct proportion to your conviction levels in each Co. 10-12 stocks is enough diversification as it forces you to take meaningful positions in stocks where you feel bullish. Frankly, there is no point in being right with your investment thesis if you don’t make it count.
A few thoughts on selling: For starters, losses don’t happen when you sell or book them. They have already happened when the share price fell. With that clarity in place, it becomes a lot easier to sell & cut losses.
I always found selling to be trickier than buying. Stocks tend to have a bad habit of going up after you sell! I try not to track stocks after I have sold them. It helped me in managing stress. Earlier, I used to put down in writing, my reasons for selling a stock as it brought a lot of clarity. Reasons could be any, like valuations getting stretched, lack of growth, a mistake in buying the stock in the first place or simply finding a compelling story so having to sell an existing stock.
Try not to fall prey to the easier option, that of adding to the number of stocks in your portfolio as they do not necessarily help your returns. I also found it easier to sell while the stock was going up than when it started to correct, more so as your scale of operations increase. When stocks are rising, as is the case in the current bull market, it’s all the more important not to get complacent & to keep revisiting your investment thesis & keep a close eye on the valuations to see if it makes sense to book profits. If its not a buy any more, it could be a sell!
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