A Special Event Coming Soon… Plus: How To Deal With Losses
Before we jump into today’s issue, I wanted to let you in on what we’ve been up to lately…
This week, I just wrapped up filming a conversation with my colleague John Persinos over at Investing Daily. We had a freewheeling discussion about his latest project, which deals with one of the most exciting emerging areas of the market.
We plan to release that video as soon as the production team does its thing. But I’ll give you a taste of what John had to say now…
In short, if you’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to get in on pot stocks, now is the time…
According to John, there’s never been a better time to stake your claim on the emerging cannabis industry. Despite a rough year for stocks, the industry has more momentum than ever — and there are more ways for investors to profit than ever before.
And that’s why he’s going to be hosting a special Town Hall on November 1st.
We’ll have a link for you to reserve your spot for this special free event in the coming days. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, here’s a timely piece from my colleague Jimmy Butts. As he put it, if you can understand the magnitude of what it takes to recover from a bad loss, you’ll be less likely to sit on a losing position for too long. In turn, by cutting bait and moving on, your results will likely improve drastically.
Enjoy,
Brad Briggs
StreetAuthority Insider
Sitting On A Bad Loss In Your Portfolio? Here’s How To Respond…
We’ve all been there… After a string of good days in the market, we open up our brokerage account to take a look. When we see a screen filled with green, it’s hard not to smirk and think we’re pretty smart.
But then there are the days when market volatility rears its ugly head. We open up our account to see a sea of red on our screen, and we begin to panic.
While there’s no doubt that we’ve had a pretty good run the past several months, it’s easy to forget what it was like back in March of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc on the market. To say that panic was ruling the market back then was something of an understatement.
We may not see panic like that for some time. But then again, who knows? Regardless of what happens, there’s something you need to remind yourself now (when the times are good). If you get in the habit of remembering it now, you’ll be much likely to remember it on those days when you see a bunch of red on your brokerage screen…
The emotion of losing money greatly overpowers the joy of making money.
Bouncing Back From A Loss
We know this from human psychology — it’s been studied extensively.
We can log into our brokerage accounts and have a dozen stocks that are in the green, some even by double- or triple-digits. Yet, you see a few stocks in the red and that’s where all the focus goes. We dwell on the losers, and frustration mounts. But here’s something to keep in mind…
Losers are part of the investing game. How you deal with them is what can make or break your portfolio. You’re never going to bat for a thousand.
Even the greatest investors in the industry suffer losses. For instance, Warren Buffett has made more than his fair share of mistakes. One of the “Oracle of Omaha’s” greatest losers was his purchase in 1965 of textile company named Berkshire Hathaway, which he estimated cost him around $200 billion.
But here’s the good news. You can learn a lot from your losses, arguably more than you can from your winners. However, when it comes to losers, most folks tend to make the same mistakes over and over again. They don’t have the discipline to cut them from their portfolio. The human tendency is to wait until the stock gets back to even, so you don’t have to sell for a loss. But red stocks don’t always go green.
Those losses often swell into even bigger losses, and soon they become a giant black eye in the portfolio. “Surely it can’t go any lower from here,” you tell yourself. And once it does, you find another excuse to just ride it out.
Losses happen. The trick is to control them.
I’ve shown this table before, but it’s worth showing again. Look at what it takes just to recover from a loss…
As you can see, if you suffer a 50% loss you need a 100% return just to get back to even. A 75% loser? Extremely difficult to recover from. We’re not talking about making a profit – or celebrating the fact you booked a triple-digit winner — we are just talking about getting your original investment back. That can be disheartening, as triple-digit returns are not exactly a regular occurrence.
Action To Take
It’s tough to know the best time to sell, regardless of whether you’re looking at a profit or a loss. Nobody knows the exact top or bottom of a stock, or even necessarily the “right” time to sell a stock. But here’s my advice for the next time you look at your portfolio and review the positions that are trading at a loss…
When you’re wondering whether it’s time to cut them loose or hold on tight – go back and review why you bought that stock in the first place.
Is your original buying premise still in place? What is the market seeing that you might be blind to? Keep an open mind and look at both sides of the equation. Look at the pros and cons of the company and its prospects.
The bottom line is that plenty of great investors get it wrong sometimes. What makes a great investor is that you must be willing, and disciplined, to cut your losses. Bailing on a loser doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means that you’ve succeeded… succeeded in avoiding even bigger losses.
P.S. For the past few months, my team and I have been researching the “next investment frontier” in tech…
I’m talking about the commercialization of outer space. You read that right. It’s not as crazy as it sounds — and it’s all thanks to Elon Musk’s latest project, named Starlink. It’s already rolling out across the globe, and it’s going to change the lives of millions of people (and make a killing in the process).
But there’s just one problem… It’s currently “off limits” to regular investors… Fortunately, we’ve discovered a little-known “backdoor investment” that can get you in on the ground floor, TODAY. (Without this “secret partner, Starlink will never get off the ground…)