RE:Some Thoughts on Investing from an Old ProHey Fantome (& Marner)
Excellent posts especially Fantome's - absolute great summary of what an investor should consider.
I've always said "each to his own and what is good for one person isn't necessarily good for another. The key is to develop a strategy and stick with it".
I've always only said that our buy & hold strategy really works well for me & my wife and that others may want to consider it. I think the biggest benefit to buying & holding good companies is that it
takes very little effort and if done properly, is
really stress-free.
If there is any adivce associated with my original post, it is only to at least consider buy & hold.
Ciao
Sarge
Fantome wrote:
1.......When it comes to investing there is not "one size fits all"
2......The key thing is to spend time to figure out your investment objectives and then develop a strategy to meet those objectives and then stick to it unless something fundamentallly different takes place in your life (divorce...spouse dies...one more kid than you expected (twins)...unexpected inheritance.....getting old {guess that one is not unexpected...lol})
3.....You don't necessarily need to have the same objective for all your money. Your money can be in different categories depending on the timeframe for the need for the money and whether or not you have enough money in one category to meet that particular objective
4....before you buy anything have a clear plan within your overall plan as to what you are going to do....this can range from buying at 10AM and selling by 3:30PM the same day to holding the stock for your Great Grandchildren to something in between like..."I will sell it if it goes up 20% or sell if it goes down 10%...also know why you are buying it (this may sound silly....but you would be surprised how many people buy something without really knowing why) whatever that decision is...stick with it..don't second guess yourself or change it based on emotion....your sanest moment is usually before you buy...not after...
5...From Point 4....you don't necessarily have to have the same strategy for your total holding in a particular stock.....you could for example have part of your holding that you will give to your Great Grandchildren and another part to take advantage of something like say what happened in 2008 and buy with a view to sell the extra amount when the SP goes up 20%
6....as a general rule....it is often a good idea to hold some proportion of your investment portfolio in cash to take advantage of the silliness that often happens....such as ENB trading around $35 recently
7...another general rule WRT your retirement savings in terms of developing your strategy is to figure out as best you can (gets easier as you get older) how much you need in retirement....I often told my clients that the best measure of this is that financially when you retire you don't know you are retired. With this information worked out...I have found that the best underlying strategy is to try to meet that number by taking the least amount of risk as possible. You don't want to be close to retirement and having (to use a football analogy) to kick a 50 yard field goal into a swirling headwind.